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Abstract
In the pursuit of pro-environmental innovations, the hospitality sector is embracing sustainable practices as an important facet of its overall appeal. An establishment that bundles these environmentally friendly elements together i.e. a green hotel could be categorized as an eco-innovation/eco-innovative product in the hospitality sector. However, in order to ensure increased and sustained patronage in comparison to conventional or less environmentally friendly hotels, eco-innovative (green) hotels need not only to be developed and marketed, but also adopted by consumers. Utilizing the Diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, this study identifies the different characteristics of a green hotel that drive its perceived eco-innovativeness which influences visitors’ eco-innovation adoption and green consumption behavior at green hotels.
Although the demand for green hotels is on the rise, actual visits and participation in eco-friendly initiatives has been low. The existing hospitality literature has primarily focused on the role of environmental attitudes, knowledge and awareness being good predictors of actual green purchase/consumption, a correlation which is generally disputed in tourism and green business literature. Therefore, in order to boost actual green consumption, there is a need to investigate underlying determinants that influence intentions to stay at green hotel and participate in eco-innovative activities. For the purpose of this study, eco-innovation adoption denotes visitors’ intention to visit a green hotel and green consumption behavior signifies participation in eco-friendly programs.
The success of eco-innovative (green) hotels depends on support from patrons who are actively seeking novel experiences and are prepared to invest their time, money and efforts in pro-environmental initiatives. Understanding the characteristics of a green hotel or green hotel attributes that influences green hotel’s perceived eco-innovativeness is critical to tourism professionals and researchers hoping to better predict the success of green hotels. With a goal to contribute to research and marketing of eco-innovative (green) hotels, the primary objective of this study is to develop a scale to measure perceived eco-innovativeness in relation to green hotels. The secondary objective of this study within this goal is to ensure scale predictability. The study achieves these objectives by asking the following questions:
Research questions:
1) What are the characteristics of an eco-innovative hotel and how are they measured?
2) How do characteristics of an eco-innovative hotel drive/explain its perceived eco-innovativeness?
3) How does perceived eco-innovativeness influence visitors’ eco-innovation adoption of green hotel?
4) How does perceived eco-innovativeness influence visitors’ green consumption behavior at a green hotel?
5) How does visitors’ eco-innovation adoption of green hotel influence green consumption behavior at a green hotel?
To address the primary objective, personal interviews are conducted with hotel guests. Five characteristics of eco-innovative hotels that influence perceived eco-innovativeness emerge from the interview data, including : “Relative advantage”, “Compatibility”, “Complexity”, “Observability” & “Communication”. An expert panel review all scale items and the initial scale with 27 items is pilot tested in an Amazon Mturk sample to examine scale reliability and validity. Subsequently, to address the study objectives, 500 responses are collected via Amazon Mturk. A parsimonious model is derived with 19 items and the instrument is further validated in a model with Eco-innovation adoption and Green consumption behavior variables followed by Structural equation modelling. Results of the online study show that Perceived eco-innovativeness can be categorized using four dimensions: “Relative advantage”, “Complexity”, “Observability” & “Communication”.
Results of this study confirm that perceived eco-innovativeness has predictive validity. The newly derived scale thus provides a holistic and more comprehensive measurement of the perceived eco-innovativeness concept as applied to green hotels. Communication, Relative advantage & Observability dimensions were seen to influence Perceived eco-innovativeness more than Perceived complexity. The results model indicates a positive relationship between Perceived eco-innovativeness and Eco-innovation adoption & Green consumption behavior, which confirms that visitors with perceptions of newness, uniqueness and positive feelings (i.e. perceived eco-innovativeness) regarding green hotel attributes are likely to show higher inclination to visit a green hotel and participate in eco-friendly initiatives. This study contributions to theory as well as explores managerial implications for the tourism and hospitality industry. Future studies may investigate the influence of other variables such as consumer innovativeness, as well as the influence of characteristics of an eco-innovative hotel on other attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, such as perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty.
