Corporate Environmentalism in the Hotel Sector: Evidence of Drivers and Barriers in Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

The linking of tourism businesses and their environmental impacts may be obscured by tourism's image as a 'soft' industry. This may explain why there are few studies of the drivers and barriers involved in corporate environmentalism, particularly within the context of developing countries where tourism is often a major foreign exchange earner. This paper narrows this gap by providing evidence about the drivers of and the barriers to corporate environmentalism in the hotel sector of Penang, Malaysia. Using qualitative data obtained via elite interviewing, document analysis and personal observation, the paper discusses the theoretical drivers of and barriers to corporate environmentalism in the study context. The findings indicate that without the introduction of more and stronger drivers, and without understanding and addressing the underlying barriers, instilling a sense of environmental responsibility in the hotel sector in Malaysia, as in other developing countries, may prove daunting.

The determinants of hotels' marketing managers' green marketing behaviour

“…This finding challenges the traditional wisdom that regulatory pressures are determinants of corporate environmental responsiveness (Cashore and Vertinsky, 2000;Hoffman, 1999;Kasim, 2007;Marshall et al, 2005;Rivera, 2004). This may be probably a sign of poor implementation and monitoring of environmental regulations in Egypt, typical of developing countries (Kasim, 2007;Rivera, 2002;Rivera, 2004;Rivera and de Leon, 2005;Utting, 2002). Parnell and Hatem (1999: 405) explain that:…”

Corporate social responsibility in tourism small and medium enterprises evidence from Europe and Latin America

“…While there is progress, there are also concerns about greenwashing (Self, Self, & Bell-Haynes, 2010). Although the literature on CSR in the sector is scarce, it has grown in recent years (Kang, Lee, & Huh, 2010), Research has focused on cost reduction and resource consumption in hospitality (Ayuso, 2006;Bohdanowicz & Zientara, 2009a;Kasim, 2007). The main motivation is to reduce costs to provide a competitive advantage (Knowles, Macmillan, Palmer, Grabowski, & Hashimoto, 1999;Stabler, 1997) while also legitimizing how they meet the growing expectations of demand in responsibility (Bremner, 2009;Cheyne & Barnett, 2001;Ian, 1996).…”

Managers' Views on Environmental Management: An Examination of the Taiwanese Airline Industry

“…For instance, some in-flight services may be cut back (e.g., not handing out milk and sugar unless requested), resulting in passenger misgivings. Therefore, avoiding such conflicts by maintaining a quality service for passengers while also fulfilling environmental responsibilities is an area that airlines need to think about carefully (Kasim, 2007).…”

“…Zutshi & Sohal (2004) summarized the barriers experienced by organizations when implementing environmental management as follows: cost consideration, lack of support and resources, unclear guidelines for environmental management implementation, lack of set guidelines for setting of objectives and targets, lack of guidelines on how to accomplish continuous improvement, and interpretation of terms present within the standard. Kasim (2007) investigated the barriers to implement environmental management in the hotel sector of Penang, Malaysia. He identified three major barriers: the nature of Malaysia's tourism industry and hotel sector, the lack of physical infrastructure support, and lack of conviction about corporate environmentalism.…”

“…Therefore, environmental management represents a window of opportunity for the company. It should also be noted that respondents generally reject the proposition that the company need only pay attention to environmental management when its profitability is good (Kasim, 2007). However, they also believe that service quality should not be sacrificed at the expense of promoting environmental management.…”