The relationship between top managers' environmental attitudes and environmental management in hotel companies

Environmental management and sustainability have been recent important issues in the hospitality industry. The hotel industry, as a main sector of the hospitality industry, has benefited from environmental initiatives through improving corporate image and increasing resource and energy efficiency. Among various environmental issues that have been addressed in the hotel industry, managerial influence on environmental management is rarely investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the current state of environmental management in the hotel industry. Further, this study also determined a relationship between top managers' personal environmental attitudes and organizational involvement in environmental management practices. To achieve the purpose of this study, this study examined currently adopted green practices, top managers' environmental attitudes, and their perception of advantages derived from environmental management. Hotels that participated in this study showed greater involvement in energy management, water conservation, and waste management practices than hotels examined by previous research in different geographical areas. The results of this study showed a correlation between top managers' environmental attitudes and organizational involvement in environmental management. It was also found that top managers' environmental attitudes were positively related to their perceived advantages of environmental management. These findings present various managerial and theoretical implications for related organizations and hotel management companies. The hotel industry should keep promoting green hotel practices to reduce negative impacts on the valuable environment and increase operational efficiency. In order to promote environmental management in the hotel industry, related organizations, governments, and stakeholders need to focus on raising top managers' environmental awareness as well as providing information on successful cases of environmental management.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Hospitality and Tourism Management

Department dc:contributor.department

Hospitality and Tourism Management

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Park, Jeongdoo

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• McCleary, Ken W.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Magnini, Vincent Paul
• Tegarden, Linda F.

• hotels
• top managers
• environmental management
• environmental attitudes

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-07242009-145711

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/34147