Environmental knowledge and consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels: the mediating role of consumption values

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to explore the effect of environmental knowledge on consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels through consumption values. The research data was collected using the questionnaire survey. The results showed that environmental knowledge is significantly related to consumption values of consumers, which in turn has significant impacts on the visiting intentions. Moreover, this study also found that consumption values mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and the intentions to visit green hotels. According to the results, the implications, limitations, and the directions of follow-up research were discussed.     

Understanding guests’ behavior to visit green hotels: The role of ethical ideology and religiosity

The main aim of this study is to develop and test a model to understand guests’ behavior to visit green hotel by merging the theory of planed behavior (TPB) with theories of ethics and religiosity in a single model. Furthermore, it examines the moderating role of ethical ideology. This research utilized a quantitative method to assess the suggested conceptual framework. Data were gathered from 871 participants and analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). According to the study results, the suggested model shows a favorable prediction level of guests’ behavior, which confirmed the superiority of the proposed model. Our study indicated that TPB and ethical theory adequately explain guests’ behavior to visit green hotel. Ethical ideology was found to be a key driver of guests’ green decision-making process. Our study makes several contributions to the practice and theory by providing useful insights on drivers of consumers’ behavior to visit green hotels in the Egyptian hospitality environment.     

The influence of restaurant co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence on employees’ turnover intentions: The mediating role of job attitudes

The current study examines the influence of co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence on employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions in a casual dining restaurant setting. The warmth and competence dimensions represent two fundamental social dimensions that people often use to evaluate other individuals or groups. The current findings determined that co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence had significant effects on employees’ job satisfaction, which in turn improved their organizational commitment.Furthermore, job satisfaction and organizational commitment mediated the relationships between co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence and employees’ turnover intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

How managerial ties affect hotels’ proactive environmental practices in China: The contingent role of institutional environments

Despite the increasing attention of environmental management in the hotel industry, few studies have examined how managerial ties impact hotels’ adoption of proactive environmental practices (PEPs) in China. Drawing on institutional theory, this study develops a model that investigates the differential effects of political ties and business ties on PEPs in the presence of important institutional factors. Using a primary survey and multiple secondary datasets on 190 Chinese hotels, we find that political ties inhibit a hotel’s adoption of PEPs whereas business ties facilitate PEPs. Moreover, advanced legal development and high levels of regional pollution reduce the impacts of both political ties and business ties on PEPs. We also test the relationship between PEPs and hotels’ financial performance. These findings provide novel insights into how managerial ties shape a hotel’s strategic behaviors for environmental protection under the influence of institutional environments in emerging economies.     

How do green attributes elicit pro-environmental behaviors in guests? The case of green hotels in Vietnam

This study aims to identify green-hotel attributes and determinants that contribute to guests’ intention generation for visiting a green hotel and practicing pro-environmental actions during their hotel stay. The study’s results find five dimensions (Customer benefit, Energy efficiency, Water efficiency, Recycling policy and Green characteristic) that underlie 24 green-hotel attributes. Out of the five dimensions, Customer benefit, Energy efficiency, and Green characteristic are found to positively affect pro-environmental value and attitude that in turn enhance intention to practice environmentally friendly actions and visit a green hotel, while pro-environmental value does not trigger pro-environmental attitude. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

How psychological and contextual factors contribute to travelers’ propensity to choose green hotels?

Despite the growing popularity of green hotels, there remains a dearth of research examining travelers’ intentions to choose green hotels. The study addresses this research gap by developing and testing an integrated model of green hotel behavior in an emerging market of India. We use a sequential approach of SEM and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis on 347 responses collected from Indian travelers to gain a more in-depth understanding of the role of biospheric value, green trust, willingness to pay premium, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in determining green hotel intentions. The findings show that presence of green trust is a significant and necessary condition for green hotel choice. Additionally, absence of willingness to pay premium, biospheric value, attitude, and subjective norm were found to deter travelers from choosing green hotels. These findings offer unique insights for managers in developing marketing strategies to enhance travelers’ green hotel adoption.     

Will we have the same employees in hospitality after all? The impact of COVID-19 on employees’ work attitudes and turnover intentions

A crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world leaving long-lasting effects on almost every aspect of human lives. The aim of this study was to test how different effects of COVID-19, expressed through job insecurity, employees' health complaints occurred during isolation, risk-taking behavior at workplace and changes in the organization, may impact work-related attitudes (job motivation and job satisfaction) and turnover intentions of the employees in hospitality industry. Based on the data collected from 624 hospitality workers from Serbia, the results indicated that job insecurity and changes in the organization were predictors of all outcomes, in a negative direction, while risk-taking behavior acted as a predictor of job satisfaction only, also in a negative direction. The significance of demographic characteristics, as control variables, showed that age and marital status had significant impact on job motivation and turnover intentions. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

Loss or gain? The role of message framing in hotel guests’ recycling behaviour

Abstract

One of the major challenges for the tourism sector is enacting sustainable behaviours. A key strategy for hoteliers is developing persuasive messages, with the goal of encouraging guests’ voluntary participation in green programmes. Through the lens of prospect theory and construal level theory, the present study investigates to what extent a loss or gain-framed message influences recycling of hotel guests via a field and a laboratory experiment. The field experiment tests the moderating effect of message construal level (concrete or abstract) on the message frame that activate pro-environmental behaviour, while the laboratory study delves further into the mechanism by showing that perceived self-efficacy is the mechanism behind the activation of these behaviours. The findings from both studies suggest that hotel guests are more likely to engage in recycling behaviour when a concrete message is paired with a loss-framed message, because of a greater perceived self-efficacy. These results help to understand the theoretical psychological mechanisms and offer managerial implications for operators on how to engage guests to be active partners in sustainable tourism behaviours.     

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.     

An examination of green intention: the effect of environmental knowledge and educational experiences on meeting planners’ implementation of green meeting practices

Environmental sustainability has become an important concern in staging meetings and events. This paper introduces the Convention Industry Council's Green Meetings Report and goes on to investigate whether prior knowledge and educational experiences related to environmental sustainability are influential factors in planners’ commitment to engaging in ecologically friendly behavior. Using a nine-point questionnaire, 278 delegates at North America's largest one-day event for meeting planners were sampled. Regression analysis showed that the intention to implement green meeting practices is positively influenced by both prior knowledge of and educational experience with greening practices. In particular, educational experiences were found to be a strong influential factor contributing to meeting planners’ intention to implement green meeting practices. By providing operational definitions of knowledge and education, it proves that knowledge gained by an unstructured format was less effective than the impact of education on green intention. Accordingly, this study not only highlights academic discussions on environmental knowledge-building through formal education but also derives managerial implications for the meeting and event industry by outlining ways to incorporate continuing professional education in sustainable meetings and events. A range of ideas for the content of that professional education is presented, along with the possibilities for e-learning.     

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.     

Consumer aggression and frontline employees’ turnover intention: The role of job anxiety,organizational support,and obligation feeling

In the hospitality industry, frontline employees' turnover poses a challenge because it involves immense human and financial costs. This study innovates by investigating the impact of consumer aggression on frontline employees' turnover intention using conservation of resources and social exchange theories. A survey conducted with 300 frontline employees working for 15 hotels confirms that (1) their job anxiety mediates the relationship between their perceived consumer aggression and their intent to quit; (2) their perceived organizational support reduces the positive relationship between their perceived consumer aggression and their job anxiety; and (3) their felt obligation reduces the positive relationship between their job anxiety and their intent to quit. We discuss managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions.     

Core self-evaluations and job performance: The mediating role of employees’ assimilation-specific adjustment factors

This study investigates a new multiple mediation model, in which the relationship between core self-evaluations (CSE) and job performance is mediated by assimilation-specific adjustment comprising task mastery, fitting in, standing out, role negotiation, interpersonal relationships, and membership identification. Self-report data from luxury hotel/resort samples on China's Hainan Island indicate that: (1) the specific indirect effects of CSE on job performance are significantly and respectively transmitted by task mastery and standing out, when the rest four assimilation-specific adjustment factors simultaneously present in the multiple mediation model, and (2) the total indirect effect of CSE on job performance is collectively and significantly transmitted by all the six assimilation-specific adjustment factors. These findings as well as their implications are discussed within the context of organizational assimilation research, core self-evaluation theory, and human resource development practices in the hospitality and tourism domain.     

Does psychological capital make employees more fit to smile? The moderating role of customer-caused stressors in view of JD-R theory

This study draws on job demand-resource theory to examine the indirect effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) on emotional displays (i.e., positive affective delivery and breaking character) via emotional demands–abilities (ED–A) fit. The moderating effect of customer-related social stressors (CSS) was further assessed. 209 matched responses from airline frontline ground staff and their supervisors indicated that ED–A fit mediated the relationship between PsyCap and positive affective delivery. CSS amplified the relationship between ED–A fit and positive affective delivery. An analysis of moderated mediating effect indicated that the indirect effect of PsyCap on positive affective delivery via ED–A fit was stronger when CSS was high rather than when it was low. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings, as well as limitations and avenues for future research.     

Effects of employees’ social exchange and the mediating role of customer orientation in the restaurant industry

This study aims to investigate the consequences of customer-employee exchage at work based on the social exchange theory. Moreover, it is to understand how the social exchange leads to employees’ prosocial service behaviors by investigating the mediating role of customer orientation. This study applied quantitative research design using cross-sectional survey approach by targeting frontline employees who had customer interactions in the full-service restaurant industry. The results present that the more employees have social exchange with customers, the more they tend to show customer service behaviors within and beyond their role requirements. In addition, customer-employee exchage leads to employees prosocial service behaviors indirectly by increasing the level of customer orientation. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in the study.     

The role of green human resource management in driving hotel’s environmental performance: Interaction and mediation analysis

Previous studies have paid little attention to the links between green human resource management (GHRM) and environmental performance, especially examining an interaction and mediation analysis in the hospitality management. Therefore, the study bridges this research gap by extending the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity theory to explore the direct, indirect, and interactive roles of GHRM practices. A survey of 220 respondents at hotels suggests that: (1) training and employee involvement are critical tools in directly stimulating employee commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour towards the environment (OCBE), and hotels’ environmental performance; (2) OCBE plays an essential role in mediating the effects of training and performance management on environmental performance; and (3) the vital interaction of training and employee involvement significantly strengthens environmental performance. However, unexpected results are found: (1) performance management is an unimportant consideration in analysis of direct and interactive influences and (2) employee environmental commitment does not mediate the GHRM-environmental performance relationship.     

Do employees’ satisfied customers respond with an satisfactory relationship? The effects of employees’ satisfaction on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty in a family restaurant

The purpose of this study is to understand the interrelationships among employees’ satisfaction and customer's satisfaction and loyalty in a family restaurant. The study was administered to 69 employees and 258 customers. The results showed a positive relationship between employees’ satisfaction and customer satisfaction. However, employees’ satisfaction did not have a significant, direct impact on customer loyalty, but showed an indirect influence via customer satisfaction. In addition, customer satisfaction was positively associated with customer loyalty. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

Paradoxical leadership and hospitality employees’ service performance: The role of leader identification and need for cognitive closure

Based on the social identity theory, this study examined the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employees’ service performance in the hospitality industry. Data were collected from a multisource, time-lagged survey of 72 leaders and 556 employees in eight full-service hotels in China. Using hierarchical linear modeling, paradoxical leadership was found to be positively related to employees’ leader identification, which consequently enhanced their service performance. Furthermore, the level of an employee’s need for cognitive closure moderated the relationship between paradoxical leadership and leader identification such that paradoxical leadership exerted a stronger positive influence on leader identification for those employees with a lower need for cognitive closure. These findings have implications for both paradoxical leadership and hospitality management practices.     

The roles of attitude,subjective norm,and perceived behavioral control in the formation of consumers’ behavioral intentions to read menu labels in the restaurant industry

Increases in food-away-from-home purchases brought public awareness to policies for improving nutritional value of foods served at restaurants. As a result, offering choices to consumers that affect health and wellness has become a growing concern in the food industry and restaurants, as evidenced by provisions for nutritional labeling to guide consumers’ food purchasing decisions for healthy eating. This study pursues an empirical examination of the consumers’ behavior toward reading nutritional labeling at casual-dining restaurants. The study tests the conceptual framework of the proposed effects of constructs on consumers’ behavioral intentions. Findings indicate that the variable of attitude acts as a mediator in the relationship between subjective norm and behavioral intention. This study is meaningful to academia by offering insights into the relationship between consumers’ behavior and nutritional information in the context of restaurants and is beneficial to the restaurant industry by offering implications for establishing marketing strategies to improve consumers’ perceptions of menu items.     

What is happening in Paris? Airbnb,hotels, and the Parisian market: A case study

Airbnb has been the subject of heated discussions among tourism and hospitality scholars. In order to understand the true impact of P2Psharing on the tourism and hospitality landscape, it is important to understand that market in detail first. Therefore, in this paper, we explore the development of the Airbnb market over the last seven years in Paris, the most popular destination for Airbnb guests with more than 40,000 accommodation rentals. This research note is a summary of our findings on the Paris market. Our study shows different growth and seasonality patterns for Airbnb and hotels and dissimilarities in the geographical location of the offers. The findings indicate that the two products are not in direct competition and that their relationship might be more complex than previously thought. We trust that exploring the nature of the competitive relationship would be a valuable avenue for further investigation.