Analysis of the social dimension of sustainable entrepreneurial management in the hotel industry (Case study: 4 and 5 star hotels in Tehran)

Entrepreneurship is a crucial element in the social, organizational and personal success. One of the important approaches in entrepreneurship is social entrepreneurship which seems to be a beneficial instrument in reaching businesses' social sustainability. Social dimension is one of the most important one in sustainability. Also, in tourism industry, there is an extensive interaction between people and many social consequences, therefor, more importance would be attached to the social challenges. Hotels as one of the most important sectors of tourism industry have various impacts on the society and the environment but implications of tourism businesses (including hotels) commitment to the social sustainability principles in Iran are limited. So that, current paper will answer the following question: what is the level of attention to social aspects of sustainable entrepreneurship management in Iran’s hotels? In order to answer this question, surveys and observation were used in 17, 4 and 5 star hotels of Tehran. Moreover, 5 objective indicators related to hotels’ sustainable social activities were observed and the outcomes were compared with the surveys results. Questionnaires were distributed among 17 managers, 213 employees, 96 guests and 196 neighbors of hotels. One sample T test, two sample T test and ANOVA analysis were used in order to test the research hypothesis. Gained results indicate the difference between surveys outcome and the observed facts.