Determining the impact of green management policies on hotel performance: A manager’s perspective.

Abstract

This paper examines the possibility of a link between green management policies and hotel performance in two Sub-Saharan developing countries from the manager’s perspective. The impact of green management policies on hotel performance has raised ongoing debates in which no conclusive positions have been arrived at. Green management policies, regulations, and goals in hotels are to some extent formulated in response to genuine environmental concerns of stakeholders who include (internal stakeholders) customers, employees, shareholders, owners, suppliers, and (external stakeholders) academics, government agencies and competitors (Weng et al., 2015:4997). The research design used to carry out this study was a multiple case study based on its appropriateness to assist the researcher to determine the impact of green managemnt policies on the performance of hotels. This study was carried out on the assumption that managers in hotels have an understanding of the views of the stakeholders as they exert pressure on the hotel to formulate policies to become green. Qualitative research was employed in order to gain a rich understanding of the impact of green management policies on hotel performance. Interviews were carried out on three star hotels. Content analysis was performed to process the data which were displayed in tables accompanied with some descriptive narrative. The interviews revealed that in most hotels green management policies are unavailable, suggesting that there is a lack of awareness, yet green initiatives are being implemented in the hotels, mainly to save resources and for cost reduction. The study revealed that only a few managers in the hotels that were studied have formulated green management policies. Some of the performance factors that emerged from the study include cost reduction, employee edification, and business competitiveness. This study determined the impact of green management policies on hotel performance from the perspective of the manager in the countries that were studied. The study made a distinct contribution to the literature by identifying the perceptions of hotel managers with regard to the implementation of green management policies.

Keywords

• Hotels
• green management policies
• hotel performance
• stakeholders’ perspective
• hotels managers