Knowledge agents as drivers of environmental sustainability and business performance in the hospitality sector

This study examines the role of knowledge agents as key enablers in the process of creating and updating the environmental knowledge base of a firm and, in doing so, having a positive effect on business performance. From the perspective of a hotel as the most important cog in the machinery of the hospitality sector, knowledge agents are those individuals who can provide information and knowledge that enables the firm to deal with environmental issues effectively. The paper describes an empirical, longitudinal study of 87 organisations in the Spanish hospitality industry. The results highlight the importance of the relationship between knowledge agents and environmental knowledge for business performance. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the role of knowledge agents is also relevant for the future management of the environmental knowledge base of a firm within the hospitality sector.     

Energy conservation in large-sized hotels: Insights from a developing country

Tourism can drive positive, transformative changes in modern societies, but also becomes a source of significant environmental externalities. This is often the case for developing economies where the problem is exacerbated by immature national sustainability agendas. Targeted research, accounting for the local context, is necessary to enable transition of developing countries towards more sustainable patterns of tourism development. This study targets the hotel sector in Iran, one of the most energy inefficient hotel sectors around the world, to explore its pathway towards environmental sustainability. The dominance of domestic ownership and control and the prevalence of international economic sanctions are the distinctive features of the Iranian hotel sector. The study pinpoints reconfigurations in technology, knowledge, legislation and behavioural norms as the determinants of the sector’s environmental sustainability quest. Domestic hospitality companies should champion transformative pro-environmental changes in the Iranian hotel sector until international economic sanctions are lifted.     

Survival in the lodging sector: An analysis at the firm and location levels

this paper studies the determinants of survival of 6494 Spanish hotel firms located in 97 national tourist destinations in the period 2005–2011. The characteristics of the firms and the tourist destinations where they are located have been studied through survival analysis techniques. This is relevant because the impact of the financial and economic crisis on the Spanish lodging sector has shown different effects among tourist destinations. The results confirm that the location significantly affects the probability of survival. In particular, the main determinant of firm survival is the level of occupancy in a tourist destination which has a positive effect. Also, we have found that a low level of competition reduces the average expected survival while the average profitability of a tourist destination has a positive effect on firm survival. Finally, the total effect related to destinations factors can reduce the expected survival by up to 90% (hazard ratio).     

Environmental awareness and initiatives in the Swedish and Polish hotel industries—survey results

Despite its importance, environmental stewardship is not always the top priority in the hotel industry in Europe. This study investigates the influence of the geo-political, economic and socio-cultural context of a country on the environmental attitudes and pro-ecological initiatives incorporated in this sector. To illustrate the differences, hotels in Sweden and Poland were targeted and a total of 349 hoteliers participated in an e-mail-based survey. The study reveals that hotel operators generally recognize the need for environmental protection and are involved in a number of activities. The economic situation and pro-environmental efforts initiated by the government were found to have an impact on certain aspects of hoteliers’ attitudes and actions. The survey has further indicated the two major directions that need to be followed when introducing environmental sustainability into the hotel industry. The first involves incorporating responsible technical and behavioural practices in the sector. The second highlights the necessity of initiating greater demand for “green” practices from the customers.     

Antecedents,mediation effects and outcomes of hotel eco-innovation practice

Eco-innovation is essential if we are to improve the environmental impacts of tourism firms. Building on the natural-resource-based view (NRBV) of the firm, we hypothesize that eco-innovation is the mediating factor between four firm-level antecedents (opportunity-recognizing and opportunity-capitalizing capabilities, top managers’ attitudes and stakeholder pressures) and three outcomes (cost and differentiation, with respect to a firm’s competitive advantage, and its resulting organizational performance). Partial least squares structural equation modelling is applied to the data from a survey with hotel managers in China, and confirms all of the hypotheses, except two, namely: i) that cost competitive advantage is positively related to hotel performance, and ii) that eco-innovation fully mediates the relationships between opportunity-recognizing capability and both dimensions of competitive advantage. Our contribution to the NRBV theory with a novel, integrated model to predict the mediating role that eco-innovation plays between firm-level resources and capabilities, and competitive advantages.     

Energy benchmarking in support of low carbon hotels: Developments,challenges, and approaches in China

Achieving effective and objective energy benchmarking for hotels is integral in fostering the sustainable development of the lodging sector. In this work, we reveal the major and minor streams of hotel energy benchmarking and ascertain that the most popular approach in benchmarking is normalized energy use intensity (EUI) based on floor level. Previous efforts to establish EUI indicators using subsystem average, data envelopment analysis (DEA), and regression technique are also studied. We propose that hotel energy benchmarking based on floor area is useful from the top-down management perspective. However, on a practical perspective, energy benchmarking based on facilities should be the first priority for hotel management or owners. Compared with the general energy benchmarking in the building sector, we find that the hotel sector lags behind in the adoption of computer modeling for benchmarking.     

The impact of hotel CSR for strategic philanthropy on booking behavior and hotel performance during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some hotels have engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to help overcome the crisis. Given that most existing research examines the impact of hotel CSR on a single stakeholder, how hotel CSR activities in a crisis are perceived by multiple stakeholders is unknown. Drawing on the concept of strategic philanthropy, this study examines the impact of hotel CSR activities during the pandemic, such as providing accommodations to healthcare workers, on hotel firms' market value and prospective hotel customers’ booking behavior. Adopting mixed-methods approach, this study finds negative impacts of hotel CSR for strategic philanthropy on firm market value and customer booking behavior. The study result indicates that the value of hotel CSR depends on the nature and environmental contexts of CSR. Specific theoretical and practical implications are provided.     

Social responsibility and total quality in the hospitality industry: does gender matter?

This empirical study examines the role of gender diversity in top management teams (TMTs) and their impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is an underexplored topic within the hotel sector. Based on stakeholder theory, we argue that the relationship between gender diversity and hotel performance is indirect and mediated by CSR. Our study also analyses how the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and CSR influences hotel stakeholder results, and hence business performance. Using a sample of Spanish hotels, we provide evidence that gender diversity in TMTs increases the level of implementation of CSR within the hotel industry. The results show that the impact of gender diversity on hotel performance is mediated by CSR. The findings also suggest that the adoption of TQM and CSR management philosophies improves the capacity of hotels to benefit their stakeholders, and that this improvement has a positive effect on hotel performance.     

Corporate Environmentalism in the Hotel Sector: Evidence of Drivers and Barriers in Penang,Malaysia

The linking of tourism businesses and their environmental impacts may be obscured by tourism's image as a ‘soft’ industry. This may explain why there are few studies of the drivers and barriers involved in corporate environmentalism, particularly within the context of developing countries where tourism is often a major foreign exchange earner. This paper narrows this gap by providing evidence about the drivers of and the barriers to corporate environmentalism in the hotel sector of Penang, Malaysia. Using qualitative data obtained via elite interviewing, document analysis and personal observation, the paper discusses the theoretical drivers of and barriers to corporate environmentalism in the study context. The findings indicate that without the introduction of more and stronger drivers, and without understanding and addressing the underlying barriers, instilling a sense of environmental responsibility in the hotel sector in Malaysia, as in other developing countries, may prove daunting.     

Measuring hotel performance using the balanced scorecard: A theoretical construct development and its empirical validation

A key contribution to the performance measurement literature was the introduction of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in 1992. However, despite its appealing rationale in capturing different aspects of performance and its wide and increasing use in a range of industries, there has been no rigorous psychometric development and testing of performance scales from the BSC perspective in the hospitality industry. In order to contribute to fill this gap, this study adopted a two-stage design seeking to develop and test a scale of organizational performance using the BSC in the hotel sector. In Stage 1, the authors generated and refined the scale items, recognizing unique characteristics of the hotel sector. In Stage 2, the scale has been assessed in terms of dimensionality, validity, and reliability. The findings suggest that managers do make a meaningful distinction between five aspects of hotel performance. Unexpected results, contributions, limitations, directions for future research, and managerial implications are all discussed.     

旅游饭店顾客绿色消费行为研究

绿色饭店的建设不仅要靠饭店自身的努力,也需要顾客的积极配合。为了解饭店顾客对绿色饭店品牌和绿色环保行为的认知程度,分析绿色饭店认知与消费意愿之间的关系,考察顾客个人特质与绿色饭店认知程度和绿色环保措施认可程度的关系,本研究对国内饭店业顾客的消费态度和意愿进行了实地调研。研究结果表明:目前我国饭店顾客有一定的绿色消费意识,但并未完全转化为真正的绿色消费行为,且不同的顾客之间存在较大差异。     

This hotel is family-run! Enabling positive consumer response via perceived hospitableness

Family-run businesses are key players in the hotel industry and provide accommodations in many tourism regions such as the Austrian Alps. To date, research has failed to see the family firm status as a source of competitive advantage for the hospitality industry, despite often being used in practice to attract customers. Through the theoretical lens of signaling theory, this study therefore conducted experiments using fictitious hotel websites with participants from a German online panel (Austria’s largest incoming market) to investigate the effectiveness of family firm brand signals. The results confirm positive effects of communicating the family firm image on consumer response such as word-of-mouth, willingness to pay a price premium, and booking intention. We highlight that this effect is explained by perceived hospitableness. As such, we demonstrate that hotels can capitalize on their unique status by communicating their family firm image.     

Total quality management, market orientation and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental factors

With the market competition of hotel industry being heated, it is critical that hotels have a breadth of resource and more flexible forms to meet the needs of a changing marketplace. In the past, the relation of total quality management (TQM), market orientation, and performance are equivocal. These mixed results may be due to some factors or not to include the environmental factors. This study adopts the Input-Processing-Output (IPO) concept model to construct all variables research model. The research surveyed samples of 588 and used Structural Equation Model and discriminate analysis for analysis and testing. The results show that TQM positively affects hotel performance. Market orientation positively affects hotel performance. Market orientation has the mediating effect between TQM and hotel performance. External environment factors truly play a moderator between TQM, market orientation and hotel performance, especially when external environment factors greater changes are going to help to build relationship with customer, to enhance hotel performance and further to gain chance of hotel's survival.     

Capital structure in the hospitality industry: The role of the asset-light and fee-oriented strategy

An asset-light and fee-oriented strategy (ALFO), which reduces risk and facilitates firm growth with minimum capital investment, has increasingly gained attention from industry practitioners and academic scholars alike, especially in the service sector like the hospitality industry. We empirically examine how ALFO is employed and how it is related to the capital structure, i.e. the proportion of debt and equity financing, in hospitality firms. Using a sample of 982 firm-year observations over the period 2002–2016, we find that ALFO is widely used by the hospitality industry, and as expected, the fee-income ratio and the degree of franchising have increased, while asset tangibility and capital intensity have decreased. Interestingly, although ALFO is positively related to long-term debt ratios of hospitality firms, our sub-sector analyses indicate that the relationship is only significant in the restaurant sector and not in the hotel sector. Our study contributes to the literature by identifying an important industry-specific variable that affects the capital structure of hospitality firms.     

Comparing Voluntary Policy Instruments for Sustainable Tourism: The Experience of the Spanish Hotel Sector

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the voluntary policy instruments most commonly applied by the hotel sector: codes of conduct, best environmental practices, ecolabels, environmental management systems (EMSs) and environmental performance indicators. Based on a qualitative study of Spanish hotel companies that have applied one or more of these voluntary tools, each instrument is reviewed and analysed with regard to incentives and obstacles experienced during its practical implementation. In the comparative assessment of all the tools studied, formal certification systems such as ecolabels and EMSs appear to be the most effective instruments. At a conceptual level, ecolabels and EMSs are the tools with the broadest scope and the only ones that guarantee an improvement of the company’s environmental (and sustainable) performance. At the practical level, the present research shows that, although both of these instruments involve higher costs and complexity than the other tools studied, they offer a wider range of tangible and intangible benefits.     

不保与盈利：环境管理对酒店绩效的影响

环境管理对酒店绩效的影响越来越受到人们的关注。国外学者使用了不同的方法来研究其关系,但至今没有一个明确的定论。以“波特假说”为代表的学者认为,环境管理所带来的效益可以弥补环境管理所需的费用,并让酒店产品产生差异化,增加新的竞争力。然而,一些学者却认为,对环境管理的投入会减少酒店的利益和酒店的竞争力。因为其所节约的成本不足以弥补所要付出的费用。为了对这两种观点在实践中的表现进行验证,该文通过对广州高星级酒店的调查,获取第一手数据,借SPSS统计软件的相关功能,确定酒店环境管理对其绩效的影响表现。结果显示,酒店环境管理的投入越多,其对绩效的积极影响越明显。同时,酒店环境管理中的几个变量对酒店绩效存在着不同程度的影响,可得到酒店环境管理对其绩效产生影响的回归方程。最后,文章提出了一些建议及研究展望。     

Internationalization of US multinational hotel companies: Expansion to Asia versus Europe

Internationalization has been a major expansion strategy for many US corporations including hotel companies. Some researchers argue that internationalization adds value to firms while others hold an opposite perspective. This study examines impacts of general internationalization of US multinational hotel companies (MNHCs) on firm value, estimated by Tobin's Q. Second, the study examines differences between internationalization of US MNHCs in different regions, that is, Asia and Europe. Lastly, the study tests a curvilinear relationship between internationalization and firm value.     

Does better service induce higher profitability? Evidence from Taiwanese Hospitality Industry

We adopt Wang et al. (2006) service quality measure to examine how the qualities of various hotel services affect hotel's profitability using panel data in the Taiwanese international tourist hotel sector. The empirical results indicate that there is a non-linear relationship between food and beverage service quality and hotel profitability, while the effect of room service quality on hotel profitability is not significant.     

Consumers’ willingness to pay for green initiatives of the hotel industry

This paper examines hotel guests’ willingness to pay a premium for environmentally friendly and sustainable practices of the U.S. hotel industry. Specifically, the goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between the level of U.S. hotel guests’ environmental concern, measured by the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) and their willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for hotels’ “green practices.” This study found that U.S. hotel guests with higher degrees of environmental concerns declare a higher willingness to pay premiums for hotels’ green initiatives. This avowed willingness supports the social identity theory and the means-end theory. In addition, based on the affect-based complementarity proposition, this study also examined the effect of hotel type on WTP in the U.S. hotel industry, and found that luxury and mid-priced hotel guests are more willing to pay premiums for hotels’ green practices than economy hotel guests.