What Generation Y in Greece thinks about Green Hotels
| Date | 12 October 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2015-0010 |
| Published date | 12 October 2015 |
| Pages | 268-280 |
| Author | George Karavasilis,Dafni-Maria Nerantzaki,Panagiotis Pantelidis,Dimitrios Paschaloudis,Vasiliki Vrana |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
What Generation Y in Greece
thinks about Green Hotels
George Karavasilis, Dafni-Maria Nerantzaki, Panagiotis Pantelidis,
Dimitrios Paschaloudis and Vasiliki Vrana
Department of Business Administration,
Technological Education Institute of Central Macedonia, Serres, Greece
Abstract
Purpose –Environmental awareness has significant impact on hotel selection. As hotel customers’
become more ecologically conscious tend to prefer hotels that have environmental policies in place.
The purpose of this paper is to examine customers’perceptions of what a green hotel should do or
should be and exploring intentions to choose a green hotel.
Design/methodology/approach –An empirical research study was conducted using an online
survey. The questionnaire used investigates what a green hotel should do or should be environmental
concerns, eco-friendly attitudes, eco-friendly activities, awareness, overall image, intention to pay more
and intention to visit a green hotel. In total, 159 completed and usable questionnaires were received.
Findings –Findings reveal that potential customers’are highly environmentally conscious. However,
they are not fully aware about green hotels and do not always intent to visit a green hotel, or are willing
to pay more.
Originality/value –Hotel customers’perceptions towards intention to visit a green hotel are different
among various ages and geographic locations. Thus, the study focuses on perceptions of Generation Y
in Greece. Hotel managers should be aware of customers’buying behaviour towards green practices
and communicate more, green hotel practices.
Keywords Sustainability, Tourism, Management
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In this date and age, as global environmental concerns are growing, environmental
laws are increasing in number and pressures from the market are rising; nearly every
industry embraces sustainable business practices (DiPietro et al., 2013; Jones et al., 2014;
Rahman et al., 2012). Compared to other industries, hospitality industry does not
over-pollute the environment and does consume huge amounts of non-renewable
resources, even if many of the services provided are highly resource intensive in the
vein that hotels are consuming significant amount of energy, non-durable products and
water (Bohdanowicz and Martinac, 2003; Chan and Wong, 2006; Chan et al., 2014).
Despite this fact, social responsibility has grown in the hotel sector dra matically
(Han and Chan, 2013) and hotels have started to carry their environmental and social
obligations and to incorporate sustainability efforts and practices into their daily
operations (Smerecnik and Andersen, 2011). Sustainability efforts “refer to
incorporating sustainability thinking into all its areas of discipline –supply chain,
marketing, finance and product development –as well as devising new business
models and strategy grounded in sustainability”(Kiron et al., 2013). Sustainability in
hospitality industry involves wise use and conservation of resources in order to
maintain their long-term viability, minimization of negative impacts and maximization
of positive impact (Kapiki, 2012), demonstration of commitment to the community and
support of social equality (Albert, 2014). Green hotels are “environmentally friendly
properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save
World Journal of
Entrepreneurship, Management
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 11 No. 4, 2015
pp. 268-280
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2042-5961
DOI10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2015-0010
Received 17 February 2015
Revised 22 March 2015
Accepted 6 April 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
268
WJEMSD
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