ABSTRACT
The appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the global health and economic crises and massively hit the performance of business firms worldwide. The ongoing pandemic has posed health care and economic challenges; however, the service industry was the hardest hit. The tourism, travel, and hospitality sectors faced a sharp decline and recorded more than 50% revenue losses. This study investigates the adverse economic effects on the industry and explores how innovative measures can help to restore the next normal position. The study explains that experts, professionals, and academics need to consider changes in the fundamental principles, main assumptions, and business organizations’ circumstances related to the service industry and practice framework to rebuild and establish the revival. Business firms have focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in handling the economic crisis. The existing literature lacks enough evidence of how multiple stakeholders perceive CSR activities’ effect on crisis management. Thus, focusing on strategic philanthropy and innovation, this study explores the effects of innovative transformation and CSR practices in the hospitality sector during the advent of the pandemic. It examines how global health emergencies and economic crises have affected service firms’ performance and business growth worldwide. The present study determines that CSR activities and innovative business approaches depend on firms’ innovativeness, environmental contexts, and the nature of CSR that affect productivity. This study offers helpful insights to regain the operational activities of the service industry, particularly the tourism and hospitality sector, and provides valuable recommendations to experts and hospitality business firms to reinvest in the industry to set it back to the next normal position.
