Environmental management decision-making in certified hotels

• Published in: Journal of sustainable tourism 2011-04, Vol.19 (3), p.361-381
• Main Authors: Bonilla Priego, Maria Jesús, Najera, Juan José, Font, Xavier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: accommodation; Certification; corporate environmentalism; Decision making; Environmental management; environmental reporting; Hotels & motels; Management decisions; Motivation; Organizational behavior; Studies; 住宿; 公司环境主义; 环境报告; 环境管理; 认证
• ISSN: 0966-9582; 1747-7646
• DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2010.530350

This paper analyses environmental decision-making against two axes, motivations and decision-making processes, to understand the reasons for pro-environmental behaviour by the managements of Spanish Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)-certified hotels. Mixed methods were used to study perceptions of EMAS and reasons for being certified, with current and lapsed EMAS-certified firms triangulated against expert interviews and documentary evidence. Four groups of hotels were differentiated: Strategic hotels (22%) (with high levels of integrated environmental management), Followers (48%), Greenwashers (11%) and Laggers (19%) (with low levels of integrated environmental management). Most hotels were found to be internally driven in their purpose and ad hoc in their decision-making, with limited understanding of externally driven benefits and motivation for more systematic management systems. This questions the success of EMAS as both a continuous improvement management and as a market-based regulation tool for hotels. Few hotels overall related high environmental standards to the possibilities of gaining market advantage: most wished to avoid legal challenges. The paper also illustrates the ways in which hotels opportunistically switch certification systems to get what they see as a better deal.