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, Zizka's 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 (PEB).
The paper 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:
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 PEB in terms of sustainable/green employee actions and organization citizenship towards the environment, Zizka et al.’s conceptualization of extraordinary PEB grew in several ways.
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.”
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Dr. Laura Zizka et al.
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.
Key elements of green hotels include green human resource management (GHRM), 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.
To achieve higher standards of environmental responsibility, hotels need to not just follow trends, but set them.
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.
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 (E) Pro Environmental Behavior (PEB) 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.