Sustainable development and stakeholder relations management: Exploring sustainability reporting in the hospitality industry from a SD-SRM approach

This paper explores the sustainability reporting of 170 hospitality companies from a SD-SRM approach. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the information that companies disclose in accordance with the sustainable development (SD) and the stakeholder relations management (SRM) theories and to identify the areas for improvement in the management and reporting practices of sustainability in the hospitality industry. The authors use the content analysis method to identify and describe the sustainability reporting of hotel chains and independently managed hotels in Spain. The findings show that the sustainability information reported by hospitality companies currently meets the basic principles of a SD-SRM approach. Nonetheless, the authors also identify areas for improvement, such as the orientation of the reporting to suppliers or the more equilibrated distribution of information among all corporate stakeholders. Based on these findings, the authors consider that the integration of information following the SD-SRM approach described in this paper could facilitate a better compliance of hospitality companies with the principles of the SD and SRM theories.     

The nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future Gen Y hospitality students’ career path decisions

This study explored tertiary hospitality students’ attitudes and overall perceptions about green and sustainable practices; and how these may impact their future career paths in the hotel industry. A thematic analysis with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with students in a hotel management school in Australia was used to identify patterns and interpretive themes. Results revealed positive attitudes among Generation Y hospitality students towards working in a green and sustainable hotel environment. Implications highlight the need for sustainability education in the curriculum of tertiary education providers and strong emphasis on sustainability practices in employee training programs. The results also suggest possible impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry and how this may affect future hospitality employees and leaders.     

Drivers and consequences of sustainability committee existence? Evidence from the hospitality and tourism industry

This study's objective is twofold: (1) to investigate whether board characteristics predict the existence of a sustainability committee, and (2) to examine whether the establishment of sustainability committees stimulates sustainability reporting, external assurance, and the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework in hospitality and tourism (H&T) firms. For this purpose, the data was derived from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for publicly traded H&T firms from 2013 to 2018. The results indicate that while board size is a significant predictor of sustainability committee establishment, female and independent directors are not. Furthermore, the H&T firms with a sustainability committee are more likely to issue a sustainability report, to get an independent assurance statement on sustainability reporting, and to follow GRI guidelines in configuring sustainability report content and structure. Overall, the results suggest important implications to help H&T firms achieve sustainable goals and to design their boards accordingly.     

An importance–performance analysis of sustainability factors for long-term strategy planning in Slovenian hotels

This paper explores the potential role of economic, environmental and social reporting in long-term strategy planning in the hospitality industry. The context of study is Slovenia. Following the development of a set of “sustainability” indicators, hospitality managers were asked to rate the importance of each indicator to sustainable operations and the performance of their firms in implementing management actions. Seven hotel performance factors were established across the triple bottom line. Using importance–performance analysis (IPA), key issues are identified as requiring the attention of stakeholders to support the sustainable development of Slovenia's hospitality industry. For managers, the 10 most important indicators include those related to economic performance, customer relationship and cost saving environmental activities: performance here, and in marketing, was perceived as poor. In contrast, actions taken to increase environmental awareness, and improve relationships with employees are seen by managers as less important, and even as possible overkills. Community relationships are seen as of low importance and where the industry performs relatively poorly. A major recommendation is that Slovenian hotel managers should focus on improving their economic performance: neglecting this could threaten hotels’ long-term survival. IPA analysis is shown as applicable to strategy making for sustainable development in hospitality industry contexts worldwide.     

Sustainable hospitality: a meaningful notion?

This paper explores the concept of sustainable hospitality. The relevance and status of this area of enquiry are assessed by discussing the current status of the concepts involved. These discussions are then linked to progress made in sustainable hospitality both in research and practical applications in the hospitality industry. At least six principal schools of thought within hospitality are noted: hospitality science, hospitality management, hospitality studies, the “three domain school”, the systems thinking school and the pragmatic tradition. This complexity and lack of clear definition are problems. The differences between sustainability and sustainable development, and between weak and strong sustainability add further complexities. This paper shows that progress in both sustainable hospitality and tourism has been limited by these problems. A series of technical, ethical and commercial problems are discussed. However, while sustainable hospitality as a research area is still in its infancy, it is concluded that it is very relevant within the wider context of sustainable tourism research, based on its impact and its specific position within the social–ecological–economic systems under investigation. Key areas of future work are suggested, notably to better understand the impacts of hospitality on the triple bottom line, and to explore systems approaches towards implementation.     

The appeal of sustainability in luxury hospitality: An investigation on the role of perceived integrity

This research investigates the effect of a luxury hotel's marketing communication strategy on consumers' willingness to book a room. In particular, the article compares two types of communication message: one that mainly highlights the hotel's attention to environmental sustainability and the other that focuses on customer service. The paper tests the hypothesis that a sustainability-focused communication leads to a higher willingness to book a room (compared to the customer service-focused strategy) because it increases consumers' perceptions about the hotel's integrity. Moreover, the study proposes that consumers' dispositional environmental concern magnifies this effect. One online and one realistic field experiment provide empirical evidence for the research hypotheses. This article contributes to the literature on sustainable luxury tourism and hospitality by proposing a novel theoretical framework, grounded in perceived hotel integrity, to explain why consumers might react positively when learning that a luxury hotel is committed to sustainability.     

How do dynamic capabilities explain hotel performance?

This research study explores the relationship between three dynamic capabilities and their impact on hotel performance. Specifically, we examine the relationship between human resource management (HRM), quality management (QM) and sustainability. In addition, we analyse how QM and sustainability explain hotel performance measured by occupancy rate, average daily rate (ADR) and revenues per available room (RevPAR). These capabilities can generate income, enabling hotels to adapt as quickly as possible to the changing environment. Findings show a significant relationship between HRM, QM and sustainability. The relationship between QM and hotel performance and between sustainability and hotel performance is fully mediated by the differentiation competitive advantage. Our results represent an advance in hotel theory and management because they integrate HRM, QM and sustainability, and show their ability to be a source of competitive advantage and profitability.     

Sustainability through food and conversation: the role of an entrepreneurial restaurateur in fostering engagement with sustainable development issues

Food justice, food cultures and people's engagement with healthy food production and consumption are key contemporary concerns, with a growing sustainable hospitality and tourism literature. Efforts range from narrowly focused initiatives, such as promoting organic produce and fair trade, to more holistic challenges to current systems through initiatives like the slow food and locavore movements, which may represent systemic alternatives. However, little analysis is available on how cafés and restaurants might become sites for experimentation in profitable and just sustainable hospitality, and places for sustainability engagement and education. Focusing on the evolution of a sustainable café in Adelaide, South Australia, this article explores how one entrepreneurial restaurateur uses his café to engage customers and community in a collaborative conversation about sustainable development, food, hospitality and tourism, helping transform our food culture and even lifeways. Our findings indicate the value of deep local embedding as a pathway to meaningful sustainability. The study offers insights into how hospitality and tourism can contribute to dialogues on alternative consumption which may offer visionary pathways to alternative futures. It also explores the role of pioneers in sustainable business and hospitality, their drivers and their views. A forthcoming global research initiative is discussed.     

Sustainability communication: The effect of message construals on consumers’ attitudes towards green restaurants

As consumer preferences for environmentally conscious products have intensified in recent years, scholars have begun to more deeply explore the complex relationship between green practices and consumer behavior in the hospitality industry. Recently, this stream of research has been extended to the restaurant industry where consumers have become increasingly concerned about corporate social responsibility in general, and sustainable operations in particular. However, while there is general agreement about the importance of promoting a company’s sustainability message from a consumer marketing standpoint, an essential underlying question remains unanswered: What is it about sustainability messaging that leads to positive consumer attitudes? The purpose of this research is to explore this question via the complementary theoretical perspectives of construal level theory and information processing theory. Data collected from a sample of restaurant consumers in the United States suggest that consumers process information differently according to variations in the construals of a company’s sustainability message. The results indicate that messages congruent with the consumer’s perception of sustainability result in a more positive attitude toward the company.     

The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy

CSR and sustainability engagement is growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention. Accordingly, restaurant stakeholders now demand restaurant companies to disclose relevant ESG information (i.e., materiality) to analyze risks and opportunities that ESG factors bring to firms over the long term. As established in stakeholder theory, restaurant materiality is shaped by a firm's key stakeholders and also by the industry's distinguishing factor, franchising. However, despite their importance and timeliness, materiality and franchising remain largely absent from scholarly discussion in the field of tourism and hospitality. Using a novel industry-specific materiality classification of sustainability initiatives, here we show that franchising positively moderates the impact of investing in immaterial sustainability on firm performance. The results provide early empirical validation of stakeholder theory in relation to restaurant materiality and franchising, and show the impact of allocating a firm's resources to material and immaterial sustainability issues on firm performance in the restaurant context.     

Influence of sustainable hospitality supply chain management on customers’ attitudes and behaviors

This study aims to identify the impact of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management actions on customers’ attitudes and behaviors including satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services utilizing data collected from U.S. consumers who frequently stay at hotels. Findings suggest that while both environmental and economic dimensions’ actions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management have positive influences on customer satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services, the social dimension actions are found to have a positive influence on customer satisfaction and a negative influence on customer willingness to pay a premium. Results also indicate that customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between social dimension actions and customer loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction positively influences customer loyalty, which ultimately increases customer willingness to pay a premium. The implications of the research findings are provided.     

A Causal Relationship Between the Balanced Scorecard Perspectives

Abstract

An increasing number of hotel organizations endeavor to achieve long-term competitive advantages in the marketplace through the implementation of strategic performance measurement systems. These systems are designed to integrate and monitor strategic objectives throughout the business processes. This paper investigates the causal relationships between the strategic performance measures of hotel organizations, using The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework. This comparative study illustrates how hotel organizations plan, improve and monitor their strategic performance targets through the use of comprehensive performance measurement systems. The paper also recommends specific approaches for the implementation of the BSC for hotel organizations.     

The influence of exploitative leadership on hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior: A moderated mediation model

Growing awareness of environmental sustainability in the hospitality sector has made employee green innovative behavior an important element of their establishment’s performance. Drawing from ego depletion theory, this paper aims to study how and when exploitative leadership influences hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior. We collected data from 467 full-time hospitality employees and their direct leaders in 96 teams, and examined a cross-level moderated mediation model employing multilevel path analysis. The results showed that exploitative leadership in the hospitality sector negatively associates with hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior, mediated by their emotional exhaustion. The results further showed that perceived organizational support moderates the influence of exploitative leadership on emotional exhaustion and subsequent green innovative behavior. Implications for theory and practice in the hospitality sector are discussed.     

Website Evaluation in Tourism and Hospitality

SUMMARY

Millions of dollars have been invested in Website development, often without much thought of how to evaluate the effectiveness of sites. This paper reports on the past, present, and likely future of one of the recommended approaches for evaluating tourism and hospitality Websites, the modified Balanced Scorecard approach. It traces the use of the approach from its beginning in 1999 to the present time. A thorough review of other approaches to Website evaluation is also provided. The article suggests that Website evaluation approaches can be classified into four groups based upon why and when the evaluation is done (formative vs. summative evaluation) and whether efficiency or effectiveness is being measured. It concludes with a call to action for industry leaders, academics, and consultants to develop a unified procedure for Website evaluation in tourism and hospitality.     

Understanding sustainability behaviour: The relationship between information acquisition,proactivity and performance

We use the concept of absorptive capacity to better understand the relationship between sustainability information acquisition, proactivity and performance. A quantitative analysis of a survey of 408 tourism enterprises in Catalonia (Spain) shows that: i) growth-oriented motivations are related to communication with industry-related sources, and to individual and informal channels, while lifestyle motivations are related to communication with other stakeholders; ii) sustainability implementation is related to communication with other stakeholders, to the use of collective and formal channels, and to the perceived usefulness of information; and iii) sustainability performance is related to the introduction of environmental and economic practices, to the use of both industry and broader sources of information, and to the perceived usefulness of information. We suggest that sustainability training and education may be more successful in achieving behaviour change when they are adapted to the absorptive capacity and learning styles of their target audiences.     

Sustainability practices of family firms: the interplay between family ownership and long-term orientation

Sustainability practices are critical for family firms, as they relate directly to the continuity of the business and relationships with important stakeholders, such as members of the local community. Nevertheless, not all family firms wish to adopt sustainability practices. To examine this, we draw upon the socioemotional wealth perspective in order to develop a theoretical model of the direct negative effects of family ownership on the adoption of sustainability practices. We also suggest moderating effects of long-term orientation (LTO) on this link. Our model is tested on a sample of 195 family firms in the tourism and hospitality sector. The results support our hypothesis that family ownership negatively influences the adoption of sustainability practices. Additionally, LTO moderates the relationship between family ownership and the adoption of sustainability practices, such that family owners with a high LTO are more likely to adopt this particular practice compared to those with a low LTO.     

Transformative Service Research in Hospitality

The goal of the paper is to investigate how sustainable hospitality companies accomplish the transformative potential of their business for improving the individual and collective well-being in the tourism and hospitality industry. Hence, we took into consideration the case of the Albergo Diffuso (AD), an innovative Italian model of hospitality. We adopted a case study approach based on 17 semi-structured interviews with key informants and a netnographic study analysing 1302 comments of previous guests - 286 in English and 1016 in Italian - on the popular booking website Tripadvisor. From the data analysis, five recurring themes emerged: Sustainability Concerns, Reciprocal Exchange, Mutual Network, Cultural Views, and Authentic Experience. These represent the Transformative Factors that impact on the individual and collective well-being from a hedonic and eudaimonic perspective in hospitality organisations.     

Mainstreaming sustainable tourism with user-centred design

Abstract

Efforts to design and communicate sustainable tourism products have been based on the premise of explicit market demand for sustainability. This study tests whether it is possible to design mainstream sustainable tourism products that circumvent customer scrutiny of their sustainability features, by making sustainability implicit (as part of quality product design) and communicating hedonistic benefits instead. This is akin to using the peripheral route of communication, as explained in the Elaboration Likelihood Model, as the central route emphasises the consumer-driven message of overall quality of experience; the approach lessens the need for customers to be conscious of the sustainability consequences of their actions. The methodology proposed to achieve this is user-centred design (UCD), which places insights into customer needs, values and demands at the heart of new product design. We designed sustainable tourist activities using UCD and then appraised customer demand for them. Although this may seem counterintuitive, the results show that it can be more effective than traditional methods in mainstreaming sustainable activities, through choice-editing of unsustainable ones and normalising the appearance and communication of sustainability, provided a focus on sustainability is maintained by the product provider.     

Paths to success: Benchmarking cross-country sustainable tourism

Given the complexity of the issues surrounding the concept of sustainable tourism, the current paper tries to provide a unified methodology to assess tourism sustainability, based on a number of quantitative indicators. The proposed methodological framework (Sustainable Tourism Benchmarking Tool – STBT) will provide a number of benchmarks against which the sustainability of tourism activities in various countries can be assessed. A model development procedure is proposed: identification of the dimensions (economic, socio-ecologic, infrastructure) and indicators, method of scaling, chart representation and evaluation on three Asian countries. This application to three countries shows us that a similar level of tourism activity might bring on different sorts of improvements to implement in the tourism activity and might have different consequences for the socio-ecological environment. The heterogeneity of developing countries exposed in the STBT is useful to detect the main problem that each country faces in their tourism sector.     

Sustainable development and hospitality education: employers’ perspectives on the relevance for graduate employability

This paper examines hospitality employers’ perspectives of sustainable development (SD) and the implications for hospitality education, particularly graduate employability. An exploratory approach is used in this research where semi-structured interviews were conducted with employers of hospitality graduates. The results established that respondents had mixed understandings of the meaning and relevance of SD. These employers are, however, gradually recognising the value of sustainability for their business. Though it is not currently a priority in terms of a critical employability skill specifically for the hotel sector, related industries seem more mindful of the implications of sustainability credentials. Thus, hospitality educators need to take appropriate actions in subject-specific areas where SD is critical to employment opportunities, creating more industry-ready graduates who are also globally aware citizens.