What’s holding hotels back from doing more than basic eco-friendly gestures, like reusing towels or reducing plastic, and embracing sustainable hospitality by adopting a green culture into their business? This article takes inspiration from a recent publication by Dr. Laura Zizka et al. that delves into current hotel green challenges.
Addressing the difficult issues of ‘guest guilt’ and greenwashing, her work points an encouraging finger at the role of employee engagement, emphasizing the importance of hoteliers stepping up the pro-environmental communication – directing it not just at the guests but, more importantly, at their employees. Here we list some actionable insights for hospitality SMEs looking to harness effective measures that put the ‘extraordinary’ into pro-environmental behaviors.
How to improve green practices in your hotel: 5 questions to ask yourself
The research study seeks to answer key questions: How can hotel leaders shift the way they think about PEB, from a standard responsibility to an extraordinary opportunity? How can hotels inspire their employees to see environmental efforts as not just tasks, but as significant, celebrated actions? Are hotels ready to push beyond traditional PEB and embrace more innovative solutions for the future?
To address these questions, key themes from existing literature were studied, alongside workshops with industry professionals who shared insights into their current sustainability practices and identified areas where they could improve or innovate. 24 international hoteliers were asked:
- What environmental initiatives are currently being implemented at your hotel?
- How does your property stand out in terms of sustainability, and what could be done to improve?
- What pro-environmental behaviors do you believe can create a competitive advantage? What challenges have you faced when trying to implement more sustainable practices?
- What would you define as extraordinary environmental actions, and how do you recognize and reward these behaviors?
Green culture in the hotel
Their feedback offered a practical lens through which to understand both the successes and limitations of current PEB efforts and where opportunities exist for truly extraordinary initiatives.
Added to past research that studied employee pro-environmental behavior in terms of sustainable/green employee behavior and organization citizenship towards the environment, Zizka et al.’s conceptualization of extraordinary PEB grew in several ways.
- Nature of action: E-PEB actions are voluntary, driven by sideways and bottom-up strategies that rely on innovation or continual process improvements, thus providing opportunities for businesses to shape and lead employee or community perspective, potentially leading to a competitive advantage;
- Level of involvement: High, encompassing all levels of the organization;
- Sustainability advocacy: A desire to influence others to adopt pro-environmental behavior;
- Alignment with organizational values: Alignment with holistic goals and values of social and environmental responsibility;
- Level of effort: While the level of effort is high on the part of the employees because of the engagement and passion, it is not perceived as a high or cumbersome extra-role.
From ordinary to extraordinary sustainable hotel initiatives
This table highlights the results of the industry workshops. The PEB column shows actions that hoteliers observed in their or other properties which they believe could offer a competitive advantage. The E-PEB column comes directly from their responses to the question about what designates extraordinary PEB.
“If international hospitality professionals can cite extraordinary examples, differentiate between traditional and extraordinary behaviors, and identify those PEB actions that could lead to a competitive advantage, then there is hope for the hospitality industry.” -Dr. Laura Zizka et al.
Environmentally friendly hotels rely on a supportive environment
E-PEB is defined as an extraordinary level of employee engagement in sustainability activities, driven by an emotional attachment to environmental responsibility. Employees who are emotionally engaged in sustainability go beyond performing basic eco-friendly tasks and are encouraged to become passionate advocates for their organization’s environmental goals.
However, for employees to actively participate in E-PEB, it’s essential that their organization creates an environment that nurtures positive attitudes, new skills and sustainable behaviors. While personal motivation certainly plays a role, much of this engagement stems from how well the organization supports these efforts.
Green culture starts at the top
Key elements of green hotels include green human resource management, the presence of a strong green culture, a clear sustainability strategy and development plan, and a sense of person-organization fit. When these factors align, they can create a positive atmosphere that encourages employees to integrate PEB into their daily tasks. Tailor-made training and sustainability workshops are a good indication of an organization’s strategic investment in developing E-PEB for its staff.
Whereas traditional PEB was predominantly individual, the E-PEB recommended is holistic and inclusive, directed at all employees at all levels – especially the top. This new framework features a continuous feedback loop that is activated between internal stakeholders to model E-PEB, strengthen each member’s sense of belonging by listening to employee opinions (especially those on the frontline) and participating in activities that matter to them, thus allowing a sense of agency to develop. Consequently, employees will be motivated to sell the organizations extraordinary PEB efforts as they are now part of their value system.
This further extends to create a healthy organizational climate where employees find meaning in their work duties and develop trust in the organizations’ goals as they are trained and recognized for pushing green practices forward.
Key takeaways for hoteliers
To achieve higher standards of environmental responsibility, hotels need to not just follow trends, but set them.
- A fresh approach is required, involving all employees, to go beyond the usual pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) and aim for extraordinary actions.
- E-PEB means addressing both internal practices and external activities in a more holistic way, involving everyone from front-line staff to leadership.
- Emotions and empathy are crucial in engaging all employees in these initiatives.
- A practical checklist should be provided to help hotel stakeholders integrate extraordinary environmental actions into their operations.
To create opportunities for extraordinary pro-environmental behaviors to flourish, hotel management, HR and employees must collaborate closely. Green practices should be reinforced through regular training sessions and a clear development plan for staff. Inviting employees to participate in sustainable problem-solving and prompting HR to ensure that green policies are supported at recruitment stage are measures that can help to attract and retain employees who share the company’s environmental values.
Viewing E-PEB as an opportunity
The research emphasizes that transforming PEB into an extraordinary opportunity requires a collective, holistic effort. When sustainability becomes embedded in the culture of an organization, extraordinary behaviors follow. Moving from PEB to E-PEB represents a powerful shift, pushing the hotel industry towards a more sustainable future where employees are at the forefront of promoting environmental awareness.
Extraordinary Pro Environmental Behavior in the Hotel Industry was a paper publication carried out in collaboration with Dias, Álvaro Lopes (Business Research Unit at Lisbon University); Ho, Jo Ann (School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia); Bernard Simpson, Shaniel (Howard Feiertag Dept. of Hospitality & Tourism Virginia Tech); Singal, Manisha (Howard Feiertag Dept. of Hospitality & Tourism Virginia Tech.
