Green attributes of restaurants: What really matters to consumers?

This study examined which of a restaurant's green attributes consumers deem most important and how consumers’ attitudes toward various green attributes affect their behavioral intentions. Demographic effects on consumers’ preferences for green attributes and behavioral intentions were also assessed. A quantitative analysis of 382 usable questionnaires revealed that although consumers generally perceived environment-focused attributes to be most important, those who valued food- and administration-focused attributes were more likely to pay more, wait longer, and/or travel farther to dine at a green restaurant. Women tended to rate higher than men in all three categories of green attributes. Consumers in a family with at least one child valued food-focused attributes more than those living in a household without children. Younger consumers were more willing to pay more, wait longer, and/or travel farther to dine at a green restaurant. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed.     

Hotel customers’ environmentally responsible behavioral intention: Impact of key constructs on decision in green consumerism

Since rapidly growing numbers of customers prefer environmentally responsible products, efforts to “green” hotel operations are becoming increasingly important. The study reported here was designed to investigate guests’ intention formation when selecting an environmentally responsible hotel. The intention was to extend the Model of Goal-directed Behavior (MGB) by integrating several essential variables (environmental awareness, perceived effectiveness, and eco-friendly behavior and reputation) in explicating customers’ eco-friendly behavior. Findings from the measurement model indicated that study variables included a satisfactory level of reliability and validity. Results from the structural modeling revealed that the proposed theoretical framework had a strong ability to anticipate intention; incorporated constructs that played a vital role in hotel guests’ decision formation; and identified attitudes and desires that acted as mediators. The role of established variables in the original MGB was redefined. Our model had superior prediction power over the MGB, accounting for guests’ environmentally friendly buying behavior accurately.     

Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to green hotel choice: Testing the effect of environmental friendly activities

The present study proposed and tested Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to explain the formation of hotel customers' intentions to visit a green hotel. The findings showed the TPB model has a good fit to the data and better predictive power for intention than the Theory of a Reasoned Action model. Based on theoretical support and suggested modification indices, a refined TPB model was developed. Consistent with the theory, the results of a structural equation analysis revealed that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control positively affected intention to stay at a green hotel. Further investigation indicated the paths between these predictors and intention did not statistically differ between customers who actively practice ecofriendly activities and those who are not often engaged in environmentally conscious behaviors in their everyday lives. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Guests’ pro-environmental decision-making process: Broadening the norm activation framework in a lodging context

This study sought to provide a clear understanding of hotel guests’ post-purchase decision-making process, and whether it occurred in an environmentally responsible manner. Volitional, emotional, experiential, and habitual processes imperative in pro-social/pro-environmental consumer behavior were successfully integrated into the Norm Activation Model (NAM). Results of the structural model and metric-invariance test with 316 samples gathered via an online survey indicated that the extended norm activation framework comprising such important processes and interpretation of the NAM as a sequential model was more effective in predicting guests’ pro-environmental intention than the original NAM and the rival model, which offered an alternative interpretation of the NAM (moderator model). Additionally, the prominent role of moral norm was evident; this personal obligation served to mediate the proposed theoretical framework. Our results also generally supported hypothesized associations among study constructs. Our theoretical model provided a sufficient level of prediction power for guests’ pro-environmental intentions.     

Short-haul city travel is truly environmentally sustainable

With rising interest in and concern about climate change and environmental sustainability, and the significance of the tourism industry worldwide, the impact of tourism-related activities and behaviors on the environment has become a key area of research. In particular, transport related to tourism has come under scrutiny for its contribution to the ecological footprint of tourism of a destination, mostly accounted for by the dominance of air travel. This study contributes to research in this area by identifying the types of travel situations in which tourists make environmentally friendly choices about travel modes and, consequently, which types of tourism destinations should seek to develop and promote in order to minimize the environmental impact of the tourist sector on both an individual destination and global scale.     

Do Status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility really drive compensatory consumption?

This research aimed to empirically explore whether impulsive consumption in the hospitality industry could be explained as a form of compensatory behavior that individuals engage in to cope with pessimistic self-evaluations. In this study, these self-evaluations have been operationalized as status discrepancy and perceived socioeconomic immobility. To test the hypotheses, this study used a three-way factorial design in two consumption settings: (1) leisure activities and (2) restaurant visits. Across the two studies, the results indicated that satisfactory self-assessments, rather than status discrepancy or socioeconomic immobility, lead to impulsive consumption. Despite the reversed findings, this study verified that participants jointly reflect status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility in consumption contexts. Moreover, the findings suggest that millennials are more sensitive towards mobility information than older generations. This study sheds light on generational differences in impulsive consumption in the hospitality industry.     

An investigation of green hotel customers’ decision formation: Developing an extended model of the theory of planned behavior

The current study sought to extend the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which is rooted in the theory of reasoned action (TRA), to more comprehensively explain the formation of customers’ intention to revisit a green hotel. In particular, the extended TPB incorporates the critical constructs in the consumer behavior and marketing literature (i.e., service quality, customer satisfaction, overall image, and frequency of past behavior) into the original TPB model. Results of a structural analysis revealed that the new model provides a better fit with the data, and explains significantly greater amounts of variance in revisit intention in comparison to the TRA and TPB. Added constructs in the new model considerably contribute to improve our understanding of the complicated process of green hotel customers’ decision-making. In this study, all relationships appeared to be significant as conceptualized according to the theory. In addition, a mediating effect of satisfaction and attitude was found. The article includes discussions on theoretical and managerial implications.     

Sustainable hotel practices and nationality: The impact on guest satisfaction and guest intention to return

The purpose of this study is to identify how sustainable hotel practices impact the satisfaction and intention to return of hotel guests from different nationalities. Surveys were completed by hotel guests in a popular tourist destination in Mexico. Multiple regression and multinomial logistic regression were applied to test the hypotheses. Results of this study supported the research hypotheses that indicate green practices overall do have a positive relationship on guests’ satisfaction levels and return intentions for Mexicans, Americans and other nationalities. Additionally, it was shown that the relative importance of green practices differs according to the nationality of the guest.     

Does a Friendly Hotel Room Increase Senior Group Package Tourists' Satisfaction? A Field Experiment

This study uses a field experiment to investigate whether senior-friendly facilities in a hotel affect the satisfaction levels of senior tourists. This research also identifies the staff explanation effect with respect to tourists' satisfaction. A field experimental design was applied to examine the senior tourists' satisfaction with the group package tour. Senior-friendly attributes were obtained from the literature reviews, three focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Hotel rooms with senior-friendly facilities were designated as the first experimental group and senior-friendly rooms with staff explanation were designated as the second. A total of 397 valid questionnaires for senior group package tourists were retrieved. The results indicate that a room with facilities could significantly increase customers' satisfaction with respect to cleanliness, comfort, decoration, illumination, overall satisfaction, and room recommendation. However, staff explanation did not further increase or influence customers' satisfaction for a room with friendly facilities.     

The effect of destination social responsibility on tourist environmentally responsible behavior: Compared analysis of first-time and repeat tourists

Utilizing a Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study presents and examines an integrated model that investigates consumption emotions (positive and negative) and tourist-destination identification as mediating variables between perceived destination social responsibility and the environmentally responsible behavior of Chinese tourists (n = 539). Previous research has suggested that prior experience with a service can impact the relationships between constructs; as such, this study also investigates the potential moderating impact of visitation frequency on the proposed model. Findings indicate that consumption emotions (positive and negative) and tourist-destination identification do mediate the effect of perceived destination social responsibility and environmentally responsible behavior. Only positive emotions were found to significantly impact tourist-destination identification. A moderating effect for first-time, relative to repeat visitors, was found for some paths between the investigated constructs in the proposed model. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, limitations provided, and future research directions suggested.     

境外酒店环境行为研究述评

文章以国际学术界具有较高权威性和较大影响力的旅游、管理学研究期刊中检索到的1995~2012年间的48篇酒店环境行为学术文献为研究文本,运用文献计量学方法,对文献的数量变化、期刊、研究地域范围以及研究主题、研究方法及研究风格等信息进行统计、分析和比较,提炼和分析了境外学者在酒店环境行为研究中的成果和观点,为酒店企业环境行为的研究和发展提供参考依据。     

Modeling a green supply chain in the hotel industry: An evolutionary game theory approach

Despite extensive discussion of environmental management for hotels, little research has been done on the hotel industry’s green supply chain management. This study uses the evolutionary game approach to examine the generation of green behaviors and a green supply chain by hotels. Results show that most hotels do have an incentive mechanism for green growth; hotels with green behaviors are more profitable than those that are not. Furthermore, governments and hotel customers are critical in the “greening” of traditional hotel supply chains. The findings can assist governments in formulating effective environmental policies, provide a theoretical avenue in governing green practice, and guide stakeholders to understand the formation and evolution of green development in the hotel industry.     

Revisiting Attributes: How Important Is Green in the Consumer Selection of Hotel Rooms?

Consumers’ buying behavior is not always consistent with their positive attitude, particularly toward environmentally friendly products. In a survey of 197 travelers, the relative importance consumers ascribe to the attribute of green was assessed. Through a multi-methods study involving interviews, focus groups discussions, and forced-choice experiments that simulate market buying situation, it was found that consumers’ selection of hotel rooms is still much dictated by traditional choice factors. Through a conjoint analysis, it was found that consumers highly prioritized the price attribute. The green attribute was assigned a low relative importance of 4% among the respondents. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Are lodging customers ready to go green? An examination of attitudes,demographics, and eco-friendly intentions

This study attempted to answer the following research questions: (1) Do eco-friendly attitudes affect hotel customers’ environmentally friendly intentions to visit a green hotel, to spread word-of-mouth about a green hotel, and to pay more for a green hotel?; (2) If so, which facet of attitudes has the greatest impact?; (3) How do their expressed intentions differ across gender, age, education, and household income?; (4) How do such expressed intentions differ based on the existence of previous experience staying at a green hotel? A total of 422 cases were used to answer the research questions. Findings indicate that customers’ green attitudes are, in general, significantly associated with their expressed intentions to visit a green hotel, to spread word-of-mouth about a green hotel, and to pay more for it. Gender differences in such intentions were found, and the intentions were affected by their previous experiences with a green hotel. However, the eco-friendly intentions did not significantly differ across age, education, and household income.     

Green Marketing: Hotel Customers’ Perspective

Green marketing should appeal to the needs and desires of environmentally concerned customers. The aim of this study was to investigate hotel customers’ perceptions of hotels’ green marketing strategies. A questionnaire containing 30 statements was used to gauge respondents’ perceptions of different hotel green marketing strategies. Using exploratory factor analysis to identify interpretable orthogonal factors, five factors were identified and interpreted: (1) Green Partnership; (2) Development of Green Products and Services; (3) Genuine Green Products and Services; (4) Higher Price for Green Products and Services; and (5) Credibility of Green Promotion. Independent t-tests and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to examine significant differences between hotel customers’ ratings of the importance of the identified factors according to demographic variables. This is one of the first research studies to examine green marketing in the hotel industry. The discussion of the findings includes some practical implications to help hotel marketers implement more effective green marketing strategies.     

The Role of Expected Outcomes in the Formation of Behavioral Intentions in the Green-Hotel Industry

Despite customers' increasing environmental concerns and demand for green products in the lodging industry, there has been a lack of research undertaken to identify critical factors in hotel consumers' eco-friendly decision-making processes. The present study was designed to identify the expected outcomes of staying at a green hotel from a customer's perspective and to examine the relationships between the identified factors and behavioral intentions (i.e., visit intention and word-of-mouth intention). To achieve these objectives, this study used both qualitative (a focus group) and quantitative (survey and regression analysis) methodological approaches. A total of seven expected outcomes were identified through the focus group. An online survey of U.S. hotel customers was conducted. The results of the regression analysis evidenced that hotel customers' expected outcomes of staying at a green hotel had a positive influence on behavioral intentions, which demonstrated the role of expected outcomes as direct antecedents of behavioral intentions and as an immediate reason for choosing a green hotel over a non-conventional hotel. Findings from an additional analysis indicated that healthy guestrooms, eco-friendly practices, and reduced expenses were positively associated with visit intention. Further, healthy guestrooms, reduced expenses, organic foods, and environmental protection had a positive and significant impact on word-of-mouth intention.     

Do price promotions drive consumer spending on luxury hotel services? The moderating roles of room price and user-generated content

Price promotion, as price information, and user-generated content (UGC), as non-price information, play an important role in generating luxury hotel revenue. This study empirically investigates how price promotion influences actual consumer spending on luxury hotel services except room price, by considering the contingency role of room price and volume and valence of UGC. Combined data of daily settlements and Tripadvisor customer reviews of a regional luxury hotel chain are used for the analyses. The results indicate that, overall, price promotion negatively influences consumer spending on luxury hotel services and its negative effect is strengthened when the room is higher priced or the valence of UGC is high. Furthermore, a larger volume of intrinsic attribute-related UGC–amenity and location–with price promotion leads to more consumer spending than a larger volume of extrinsic attribute-related UGC–food and staff. The findings provide hotel managers with important insights into pricing and UGC management.     

Individual differences in self-attributed motives for tipping: Antecedents,consequences, and implications

A web-based survey of consumers finds that: (i) individual differences in self-attributed motives for tipping load on two factors – intrinsic and self-presentational motives,(ii) more people claim to tip for intrinsic reasons than for self-presentational reasons, (iii) demographic differences in motives for tipping are small, (iv) individual differences in self-attributed motives for tipping are rooted in more general dispositional tendencies toward conformity and feelings of gratitude, (v) intrinsic motives for tipping are associated with larger restaurant percentage tips and greater likelihood of non-restaurant tipping, and (vi) self-presentational motives for tipping are associated with smaller restaurant percentage tips.     

The influence of values and attitudes on green consumer behavior: A conceptual model of green hotel patronage

This study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework of consumer behavioral intentions in green hotels. Based on Schwartz’s values theory, using Stern’s nomenclature, in conjugation with value-attitude-hierarchy, ecocentric and anthropocentric ethic, and green signaling theory, this study identifies values (biospheric, altruistic, and egoistic) and attitudes (ecocentric and anthropocentric) that influence consumers’ green hotel visit intention, willingness to pay more, and willingness to sacrifice. This study adds to the extant literature by incorporating the consumers’ environmental concern perspective, the social-altruistic perspective, and the personal benefits and status perspectives in embracing green products. Understanding the interplay of biospheric, altruistic, and egoistic values and ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes on green hotel behavioral intentions will provide insights to better understand the green consumer and to better manage the green hotel.     

Environmentally responsible behavior in ecotourism: Antecedents and implications

This study explores the environmentally responsible behavior of tourists engaged in ecotourism. It proposes a behavioral model in which perceived value, satisfaction and activity involvement with respect to the eco-travel experience shape the tourist's environmentally responsible behavior. Unlike other studies that view environmentally responsible behavior as a generic trait, this study explores whether the level of environmentally responsible behavior can actually change as a result of the eco-travel experience. A total of 328 valid questionnaires were obtained and analyzed using partial least squares. The results show that perceived value, satisfaction and activity involvement can promote environmentally responsible behavior of tourists. While perceived value directly affects environmentally responsible behavior, satisfaction and involvement play the roles of partial mediators in the behavioral model. Thus, enhancing tourist's value perception about the eco-travel activity is the first in a sequence of steps that would strengthen environmentally responsible behavior via increasing the ecotourist's activity involvement and satisfaction levels. Finally, the implications for the key stakeholders in the ecotourism industry are discussed.