green marketing: hotel customers’ perspective
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Green Marketing: Hotel Customers’ PerspectiveEric Siu-wa ChanPublished online: 14 Nov 2014.
To cite this article: Eric Siu-wa Chan (2014) Green Marketing: Hotel Customers’ Perspective, Journal of Travel & TourismMarketing, 31:8, 915-936, DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2014.892465
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GREEN MARKETING: HOTEL CUSTOMERS’PERSPECTIVE
Eric Siu-wa Chan
ABSTRACT. Green marketing should appeal to the needs and desires of environmentally concernedcustomers. The aim of this study was to investigate hotel customers’ perceptions of hotels’ green marketingstrategies. A questionnaire containing 30 statements was used to gauge respondents’ perceptions ofdifferent hotel green marketing strategies. Using exploratory factor analysis to identify interpretableorthogonal factors, five factors were identified and interpreted: (1) Green Partnership; (2) Developmentof Green Products and Services; (3) Genuine Green Products and Services; (4) Higher Price for GreenProducts and Services; and (5) Credibility of Green Promotion. Independent t-tests and one-way analysis ofvariance were conducted to examine significant differences between hotel customers’ ratings of theimportance of the identified factors according to demographic variables. This is one of the first researchstudies to examine green marketing in the hotel industry. The discussion of the findings includes somepractical implications to help hotel marketers implement more effective green marketing strategies.
KEYWORDS. Green marketing, hotel, factor analysis, customers’ perceptions
INTRODUCTION
A number of hotels use the label “greenhotel” as a marketing ploy to attract customers(Pizam, 2009), as a green hotel image isbelieved to play a critical role in customers’decision-making processes and behavioral inten-tions (Prendergast & Man, 2002). Scholars havealso noted that some customers are willing topay more for environmentally friendly products(Laroche, Bergeron, & Barbaro-Forleo, 2001).Therefore, many hotel managers are striving toincrease their bottom lines with different envir-onmental services or programs and improve thegreen image of their hotels (Chan & Wong,2006a). For instance, more and more
international hotels in Hong Kong have receivedgreen certification such as ISO 14001 and GreenGlobe 21 because of the pressure from theircustomers (Chan, 2011; Clark, 1999). Thedemand from customers creates opportunitiesfor hotel business to promote their green pro-ducts and services. Despite this, many compa-nies have become cautious about launchingenvironmentally based promotions for fear ofbeing accused of “green washing” (Peattie &Crane, 2005), as some environmental and con-sumer groups have criticized them for usingmisleading environmental claims to create envir-onmentally friendly images in the minds of thepublic. During the green purchases, some custo-mers are disappointed and confused about the
Eric Siu-wa Chan is an Assistant Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The HongKong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR (E-mail: [email protected]).
Address correspondence to: Eric Siu-wa Chan, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The HongKong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR (E-mail: [email protected]).
The author would like to acknowledge the support of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (ProjectReference: A-PJ64) and thank the participating hotels for their input and feedback on this project. Theconstructive comments of both the editor and anonymous reviewers are also acknowledged with gratitude.
Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 31:915–936, 2014© 2014 Taylor & FrancisISSN: 1054-8408 print / 1540-7306 onlineDOI: 10.1080/10548408.2014.892465
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environmental promises as a result of their per-ceived low quality of green products and ser-vices. For instance, hotel guests may feelconfused and question the real motives behindthe hotel’s green initiatives when they find theTV in guestrooms being left on to “greet” themupon check-in (Chan & Hawkins, 2010). Theyare left wondering which companies are genu-inely environmentally friendly, or whether theyare only paying lip service to environmentalprotection. Therefore, it is important to examinehow a hotel’s green marketing strategies areevaluated from the customers’ perspective inorder to select the right green marketing strate-gies, which is an important step for companiesaiming to compete with others to win the “greenwar” (Ginsberg & Bloom, 2004) and to justifythe investments in new green products and ser-vices, and their promotions.
Yet little research has examined customers’perceptions of hotels’ green marketing strate-gies. Although some environmental manage-ment literature claims that green marketingshould appeal to the needs and desires of envir-onmentally concerned consumers (Zinkhan &Carlson, 1995), there is no empirical evidenceon how customers evaluate a hotel’s green mar-keting strategy. Therefore, the main aim of thisstudy is to investigate hotel customers’ percep-tions of hotels’ green marketing strategies toprovide hoteliers with essential insights to facil-itate the development of green marketing stra-tegies. To support this research aim, the studyaddresses the following research objectives:
1. to examine how hotel customers implicitlyassess the relative importance of selectedattributes of a green marketing strategy; and
2. to assess if there are significant differencesbetween the hotel customer demographiccharacteristics in relation to the identifieddimensions of green marketing strategies.
LITERATURE REVIEW
What is Green Marketing?
The idea of green marketing emerged in thelate 1980s (Peattie & Crane, 2005). The term
“green marketing” describes an organization’sefforts at designing, promoting, pricing, anddistributing products that will not harm theenvironment (Pride & Ferrell, 1993). Welford(2000) defines it as the management processresponsible for identifying, anticipating, andsatisfying the requirements of customers andsociety in a profitable and sustainable way.When greening the marketing strategy of ahotel business, El Dief and Font (2010) statethat a hotel needs to consider the impact ofgreening on branding, segmenting, targeting,and product positioning while green productopportunities must be incorporated into themanagement of the marketing mix (Font &Carey, 2005).
Green Marketing Strategies
In order to create an analytic framework,Mathur and Mathur (2000) used four categoriesof green marketing: (1) green products, (2)recycling, (3) green promotions, and (4)appointment of environmental policy managers– to analyze the wealth effects of green market-ing strategies. Ginsberg and Bloom (2004) usedthe primary marketing-mix tools of product,price, place, and promotion (4Ps) to dividegreen marketing into four main strategies: (1)lean green strategy, (2) defensive green strategy,(3) shaded green strategy, and (4) extreme greenstrategy. The green strategy adopted by a com-pany may affect customers’ perceptions of themotive behind its green marketing. For instance,companies adopting the lean green strategy nor-mally do not promote the green initiativesactively, as reducing costs through differentenvironmental programs is the main objectiveof the strategy. On the other hand, companiesmay reduce the chance to be accused of “greenwashing” when employing the extreme greenstrategy that fully incorporates environmentalissues and responsibility into their business stra-tegies. Apart from the four main strategies,companies have also implemented variousgreen marketing strategies such as, for example,developing green products, creating greenadvertisements, setting higher prices for envir-onmentally friendly products, and identifying
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more environmentally friendly ways to deliverproducts to market to meet the demands oftheir targeted green customers (Kangun,Carlson, & Grove, 1991; Porter, 1991; Bohlen,Diamantopoulos, & Schlegelmilch, 1993).
Green Marketing in Hotels
In the hotel industry, hotels promote theirgreen products and services, such as the greenattributes in guestrooms, the organic foodingredients used in food and beverage outlets,and the green awards on their websites. Asmentioned above, many hoteliers use the label“green hotel” as a marketing ploy to attractcustomers (Pizam, 2009). Manaktola andJauhari (2007) stated that marketing a hotel’senvironmentally friendly practices canincrease its competitiveness by helping toposition it differently in the competitivearena. As people are becoming more willingto pay more for environmentally friendly pro-ducts (Kapelianis & Strachan, 1996; Larocheet al., 2001), having a green image is believedto play a critical role in customers’ decision-making processes and their behavioral inten-tions to purchase (Prendergast & Man, 2002).Lee, Hsu, Han, and Kim (2010) echoed that agreen hotel’s overall image positively affectedby cognitive image and affective image cancontribute to more favorable behavioral inten-tions. Han and Kim (2010) further proved thata hotel’s service quality, satisfaction, andoverall image have a significant positive asso-ciation with customers’ revisit intention.Overall hotel image can likely be developedthrough effective green marketing strategiesfrom which a green image can be established.Despite this, many companies have becomecautious about launching environmentallybased communication campaigns to promotetheir green products for fear of being accusedof “green washing” (Peattie & Crane, 2005).
Previous green marketing-related studies inthe hotel industry are mainly about guests’ pre-ferences for green guest room attributes (Millar& Baloglu, 2011); the influence of a hotel’sgreen image on customer behavioral intentions(Lee et al., 2010); the intention to pay
conventional hotel prices at a green hotel (Kim& Han, 2010); and the intention to revisit agreen hotel (Han & Kim, 2010). Research intothe evaluation of green marketing in the hotelindustry is seen as less attractive. It is unclearhow hotel customers evaluate hotels’ greenmarketing strategies.
Motivations and Barriers
The majority of green marketing studies havefocused on concepts and approaches (Peattie &Crane, 2005; Peattie, 2001; Polonsky, 1994;Rex & Baumann, 2007), the evaluation ofgreen marketing strategies (Polonsky &Rosenberger, 2001; Rivera-Camino, 2007), andtheir application (Gurau & Ranchhod, 2005;Johri & Sahasakmontri, 1998; Teisl, Roe, &Hicks, 2002). Some studies have also tried toidentify the driving forces behind the imple-mentation of green marketing. For instance,Shearer (1990) indicated that one of the maindriving forces is that some organizations per-ceive it to be an opportunity to achieve theirobjectives. Other driving forces include a com-pany’s moral obligation (McIntosh, 1990), pres-sure from governmental bodies and competitors(Delmas & Toffel, 2008), potential to improverevenues (Bansal & Roth, 2000; Kuo & Dick,2010), cost saving (Kuo & Dick, 2010), andbuilding a positive image (Saha & Darnton,2005). Notwithstanding, certain barriers, includ-ing the perplexing nature of environmentalinformation and its low credibility, have alsobeen found to influence the effectiveness ofgreen marketing (Moisander, 2007). Thisimplies that customers’ perceptions of a greenmarketing strategy play an important role in thesuccess of the campaign. Strong (1996) notedthat consumers were becoming increasinglyenvironmentally and socially aware, and termssuch as “green consumerism” and “ethical con-sumerism” that appeared in the mid-1990sreflect that consumers increasingly demand asay in the production, processing, and resour-cing of products (Lee, 2008). Therefore, it isessential to investigate customers’ perceptionsof green marketing, especially the influence ofgreen marketing on these stakeholders.
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Green Marketing and Customers
Some previous studies have investigated therelationship between green marketing and cus-tomers. For instance, Lee (2008) conducted asurvey of 6010 adolescents in Hong Kongregarding their green purchasing behavior,environmental attitudes and concerns, perceivedseriousness of environmental problems, per-ceived environmental responsibility and effec-tiveness of environmental behavior, and socialinfluence and concern for self-image in envir-onmental protection. She found that social influ-ence was the strongest predictor of adolescents’green purchasing behavior, followed by envir-onmental concerns, and concern for self-imagein environmental protection. Johri andSahasakmontri (1998) employed a case studymethodology with questionnaire-based surveysto analyze the green marketing strategy of theBody Shop and Oriental Princess in Thailand,and their effects on consumer attitudes andbrand loyalty. They found that consumerstended to base their decisions to purchasegreen products such as cosmetics and toiletrieson basic attributes such as value for money,product performance, and so on. In contrast,Ginsberg and Bloom (2004) concluded thatconsumers were unlikely to compromise onproduct attributes such as convenience, avail-ability, price, quality, and performance whenbuying green products. In a survey of 22 censustracts in 17 municipalities in a North Americancity, Laroche et al. (2001) found that consumerswho cared about their relationships with othershad a certain predisposition to be environmen-tally friendly. They also found that consumerswho considered environmental issues whenmaking a purchase were more likely to spendmore on green products, and consumers whowere female, married, and with at least onechild were more likely to pay for a green pro-duct. In terms of consumers’ concerns about thequality of environmental products, D’ Souza,Taghian, and Lamb (2006) investigated theinfluence of environmental labels on consumersand found that some consumers will still buygreen products even if they are lower in qualitythan alternative products. Such consumers relyon the environmental information on labels
before making a purchase. Conversely, someresearchers have found that only a small propor-tion of green customers actually purchase eco-friendly products in the marketplace because ofthe high monetary and non-monetary costs andinconvenience (Maibach, 1993; Roberts, 1996).Another study by Jain and Kaur (2004) foundthat respondents in India had high levels ofenvironmental concern and behavior despitelow levels of environmental awareness. Theyconcluded that a true green consumerism wasstill in the nascent stage in this developingcountry, as few people had the time to engagein environmental activism and fight againstenvironmental degradation, because of overpo-pulation, abject poverty, mass unemployment,high levels of illiteracy, uneven distribution ofincome and wealth, and a lack of transportationand health-care facilities.
Summary of the Literature Review
The literature review revealed that differentscholars have developed different concepts toexplain what green marketing means. From thereview, four main strategies of green marketing,mainly developed from the primary marketing-mix tools of 4Ps, are identified. They are (1)lean green strategy, (2) defensive green strategy,(3) shaded green strategy, and (4) extreme greenstrategy.
Previous studies indicate that there are differ-ent driving forces to green marketing which canbe mainly divided into external forces and inter-nal forces. While some studies indicate thatcompanies implementing green marketing nor-mally achieve better revenues, the trigger forimplementing green marketing seems to becost saving and a positive company image,and the pressure of external stakeholders suchas governmental bodies and competitors. On theother hand, the perplexing nature of environ-mental information and its low credibility willinfluence the effectiveness of green marketing.
Previous studies also indicate that customers’green purchasing behavior is often influencedby several factors, such as environmental atti-tudes, concerns, perceived seriousness of envir-onmental problems, and social influence. Some
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will rely on the environmental information onthe label, and will be influenced by environ-mental labels before making a purchase.However, some customers will not compromiseon product attributes such as price and qualitywhen buying.
Although green marketing issues are dis-cussed in the literature, it is notable that pre-vious studies have usually focused oncompanies that produce manufactured productssuch as cosmetics and toiletries. However, a fewstudies have investigated how the introductionof green marketing in a hotel that mainly sellsintangible products – services to customers –influences hotel customers. Despite the claimsthat green marketing should appeal to the needsand desires of environmentally concerned con-sumers (Zinkhan & Carlson, 1995), there is noempirical evidence on how customers evaluate ahotel green marketing strategy. In view of thescarcity of previous studies on hotel customers’perceptions of specific attributes of hotel greenmarketing, this study attempts to bridge this gapby investigating the views of hotel tourists.
METHOD
A self-administered questionnaire was devel-oped, comprising 30 perception statementsabout selected attributes of hotel green market-ing in accordance with the primary marketingmix – green products, green distribution, greenproduct pricing, and green promotion.Respondents were asked to indicate how impor-tant they perceived the attributes to be.Statements of green product were developedfrom previous studies by Bhat (1993),Manaktola and Jauhari (2007), Tsai and Tsai(2008), and Peattie and Crane (2005).Statements of green distribution were developedfrom previous studies by Rivera-Camino(2007), Pizam (2009), Zafiropoulos, Vrana,and Paschaloudis (2006), Patten & Crampton,(2003), Biloslavo and Trnavcevic (2009), andNoci (1997). Statements of green pricing weredeveloped from previous studies byWohlgemuth, Getzner, and Park (1999),Manaktola and Jauhari (2007), Peattie andCrane (2005), Wong, Turner, and Stoneman
(1996), and Fuller (1999). Statements of greenpromotion were developed from previous stu-dies by Tang, Fryxell, and Chow (2004),Mathur and Mathur (2000), Rex and Baumann(2007), Mendleson and Polonsky (1995),Carlson, Grove, and Kangun (1993), deBoer(2003), and Peattie and Crane (2005). A pilottest of the questionnaire was conducted with 15hotel managers and tourists, who found nomajor problems with the questionnaire andonly suggested a few minor changes to thewordings. For instance, the statement “Theimage of business partners should be consistentwith the green image a hotel wants to project”was amended to “The image of business part-ners such as travel agencies, tour operators,wholesalers and airlines etc. should be consis-tent with the green image a hotel wants toproject”, to make the statement more specificand easier to understand.
A large-scale, face-to-face survey was con-ducted at popular tourist attractions in HongKong, such as Star Avenue, the Tung Chungfactory outlets, and the Peak, where tourists areeasily located. In order to avoid any misunder-standing, three trained student helpers explainedthe research objectives and the broad terms ofthe study to the interviewees before they com-pleted the questionnaire. The interviewees werethen asked to rate each item on a 5-point scale,ranging from 1 = “strongly disagree” to5 = “strongly agree”, to measure the level oftheir agreement with the importance of eachattribute.
The survey was conducted over threemonths, from October to December 2011,using a convenience sampling method. Thedata collection period was quite long becauseof the difficulty in recruiting participants. Atotal of 1035 usable questionnaires were even-tually collected.
The collected data were analyzed using theStatistical Package for the Social Sciences(SPSS). Descriptive statistics were calculatedin the first stage of the analysis. The mean,standard deviation, and frequency were alsocalculated to determine the distribution andranking of each attribute. Factor analysis wasconducted using principal components analysiswith varimax rotation to identify the underlying
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dimensions of customers’ perceptions of hotelgreen marketing strategies. Following the factoranalysis, independent samples t-tests and analy-sis of variance (ANOVA) were employed toexamine the significant differences and correla-tions between preferences and demographicvariables.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 summarizes the demographic profilesof the respondents. Over half of the 1035respondents were experienced hotel customers.The gender distribution was 49.6% male and49.6% female; nine respondents failed to pro-vide gender information. Almost 65% ofrespondents were in the 20–39 years agegroups, and the majority (89.1%) had a highschool or above education. Of the 1035 respon-dents, 66.2% were Asian and 33.4% were non-Asian. Only 6.5% of the respondents stated thatthey would not consider selecting an environ-mentally friendly hotel to stay in, whereas themajority indicated that they would (55.7%) ormay do (37.9%).
Exploratory Factor Analysis
Principal component factor analysis followedby varimax rotation was used to analyze the 30perception statements and identify the main con-structs that reflect hotel customers’ perceptions ofgreen marketing. This method was employedbecause it has been found to yield the most inter-pretable results (Loker & Perdue, 1992). A factorloading greater than 0.5 was established as thecriterion (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black,1998); statements with loadings lower than 0.5on all factors, or a loading of 0.5 or higher onmore than one factor, were eliminated. TheKaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of samplingadequacy indicated a practical level of commonvariance (KMO = 0.947), while Bartlett’s test ofsphericity was found to be 13347.842, with a0.000 significance level. These results indicatedthat the data were correlated and suitable for factoranalysis. Eigenvalues were used as the basis foridentifying meaningful factors and the cut-off was
TABLE 1. Demographics of Hotel CustomerRespondents
Demographic variable Number ofrespondents
No. (%)
Hotel experience (n = 1035)An inexperienced hotel customer 81 (7.8)Not very experienced as a hotelcustomer
226 (21.8)
Above average experience 177 (17.1)An experienced hotel customer 471 (45.5)A very experienced hotel customer 74 (7.1)Missing 6 (0.6)
Gender (n = 1035)Male 513 (49.6)Female 513 (49.6)Missing 9 (0.9)
Age (years) (n = 1035)20–29 353 (34.1)30–39 317 (30.6)40–49 183 (17.7)50–59 111 (10.7)59> 37 (3.6)Missing 34 (3.3)
Education level (n = 1035)Junior school 107 (10.3)High school 391 (37.8)Diploma or degree 416 (40.2)Master or above 115 (11.1)Others 4 (0.4)Missing 2 (0.2)
Nationality (n = 1035)Asian 685 (66.2)Non-Asian 346 (33.4)Missing 4 (0.4)
Average monthly household income (n = 1035)HKD 9,999 (USD 1,281) or less 59 (5.7)HKD 10,000 (USD 1,282) – HKD
19,999 (USD 2,563)98 (9.5)
HKD 20,000 (USD 2,564) – HKD29,999 (USD 3,845)
81 (7.8)
HKD 30,000 (USD 3,846) – HKD39,999 (USD 5,127)
53 (5.1)
HKD 40,000 (USD 5,128) – HKD49,999 (USD 6,409)
37 (3.6)
HKD 50,000 (USD 6,410) – HKD59,999 (USD 7,691)
36 (3.5)
HKD 60,000 (USD 7,692) – HKD69,999 (USD 8,973)
29 (2.8)
HKD 70,000 (USD 8,974) or above 77 (7.4)Refused 0 (0.0)Missing 565 (54.6)
Considering selecting anenvironmentally friendly hotel to stayin (n = 1035)Yes 576 (55.7)No 67 (6.5)Maybe 392 (37.9)
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set as 1.0. Originally, six factors comprising 24perception statements with eigenvalues greaterthan 1 were identified and accounted for 58.5%of the variance: Factor 1 (10 items), Factor 2 (6items), Factor 3 (2 items), Factor 4 (2 items),Factor 5 (2 items), and Factor 6 (2 items).However, Factor 5 was removed as it had aCronbach’s alpha value of only 0.38, suggestinglow reliability. After removal of Factor 5, thereliability coefficients of the remaining five fac-tors ranged from 0.59 to 0.92, exceeding therecommended value of 0.50 (Nunnally &Bernstein, 1994; Nunnaly, 1967). Thus, goodinternal consistency was found among the percep-tion statements within each factor, though thevariance accounted for dropped slightly to 55%.The five identified factors were then interpretedand labeled according to the characteristics of thestatements:
Factor 1: Green Partnership;Factor 2: Development of Green Products
and Services;Factor 3: Genuine Green Products and
Services;Factor 4: Higher Price for Green Products
and Services; andFactor 5: Credibility of Green Promotion.The results in Table 2 reveal that the relative
mean scores for each of the identified factorswere skewed towards the positive end of thescale, with a mean of 3.30. A higher meanvalue suggests that respondents perceived thatparticular dimension of a hotel’s green market-ing strategy as more important. As shown in thetable, “Green Partnership” had the highest meanscore (3.63), followed by “Development ofGreen Products and Services” (3.42) and“Genuine Green Products and Services” (3.35),whereas “Credibility of Green Promotion” hadthe second lowest (3.08), and “Higher Price forGreen Product and Services” the lowest (3.04)mean score.
The Top Two Perception Factors
Green partnership. “Green Partnership” was thehighest ranked among the five factors identified.Ten statements loaded onto this factor, with areliability alpha coefficient of 0.92. This suggests
that “Green Partnership” is the most importantfactor contributing to hotel customers’ percep-tions of green marketing in hotels. This findingalso confirms the finding of Lee, Le, Genovese,& Koh (2012) that the selection of partners suchas suppliers and distributors is an important stepin creating a truly green and efficient supplychain. Although the respondents agreed thathotel green marketing should begin with greenproduct design, hotel companies should alsoselect business partners that reflect the hotel’sgreen image, as hotel customers are likely touse such information to evaluate how green ahotel company is, while their buying decisionsare often determined based on the emotions sur-rounding the company brand and image (Lynch& De Chernatony, 2004). Notwithstanding,choosing the right partner is not a simple task.As Homburg, Schneider, and Fassnacht (2002)stated, it is very important to find business part-ners with a similar business philosophy in termsof price and quality positioning, marketing andsales orientation, and organizational culture.With a green product and service, hotel market-ers should use environmentally friendly distribu-tion channels to market hotels’ green initiativesto customers directly and thus gain a greenimage.
The respondents perceived that it is impor-tant for a hotel to join commercial green mar-keting and central reservation associations thatadvertise and promote green hotels to help themreach green travelers. They also agreed that theInternet is an effective channel to market ahotel’s green initiatives to its customers directly.Most respondents also perceived that the greenimage of a hotel’s business partners, such astravel agencies, tour operators, wholesalers, air-lines and so on, should not be neglected. Inview of this finding, hotel marketers shouldseriously consider selecting the aforementioneddistribution channels for green promotion. Theyshould also carefully select green partnerswhose image should be consistent with thegreen image the hotel wants to project. Forinstance, to project a consistent green image tothe public, the Island Shangri-la Hotel in HongKong only uses ISO 14000 certified companieswhen purchasing gasoline for its fleet oflimousines.
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TABLE
2.Fac
torAna
lysiswith
Varim
axRotationan
dReliabilityAna
lysis
Attributes
Mea
nFac
tor
load
ing
Com
mun
ality
Fac
toran
dov
erallm
ean
Eigen
-va
lue
%of
varia
nce
Cum
ulative
varia
nce
Cronb
ach
Alpha
Hotel
gree
nmarke
tingsh
ould
beginwith
gree
nprod
uct
design
(e.g.Roo
moc
cupa
ncyse
nsor
tosa
veen
ergy
usein
agu
estroom
).
3.64
0.79
0.75
Fac
tor1:
Green
Partnersh
ip(3.63)
11.02
36.73
36.73
0.92
The
Internet
isan
effectivech
anne
ltomarke
taho
tel’s
gree
ninitiatives
tocu
stom
ersdirectly.
3.76
0.75
0.64
Aho
tels
houldus
een
vironm
entally
friend
lydistrib
ution
chan
nels
toga
inagree
nim
age.
3.68
0.74
0.61
Green
hotels
canelev
ateindu
stry
mem
bers’po
sitiveim
age
andrepu
tatio
nto
attrac
tgree
ntourists,who
norm
ally
deman
dgree
nac
commod
ationwhe
ntrav
elling.
3.75
0.72
0.68
Hotel
compa
nies
shou
ldco
llabo
rate
with
environm
entalg
roup
sto
prom
otetheir“green
imag
e”effectively.
3.73
0.69
0.59
The
imag
eof
busine
sspa
rtne
rssu
chas
trav
elag
encies
,tour
operators,
who
lesa
lers,an
dairline
setc.
shou
ldbe
cons
istent
with
thegree
nim
ageaho
telw
ants
toprojec
t.
3.65
0.68
0.56
Joiningco
mmercial
“green
”marke
tingan
dce
ntralres
erva
tion
asso
ciations
that
adve
rtisean
dprom
ote“green
”ho
tels
help
hotels
toreac
hgree
ntrav
ellers.
3.59
0.67
0.58
Green
hotelp
rodu
ctsmay
prov
idean
oppo
rtun
ityforprod
uct
diffe
rentiatio
n.3.66
0.66
0.55
Hotel
gree
nprod
uctpe
rforman
ceplay
sake
yrole
ininflue
ncing
hotelc
ustomersto
stay
attheho
tela
gain.
3.22
0.57
0.63
Som
eho
telsattempt
tode
velopgree
nce
rtifica
tionprog
ramsto
gain
gree
ncu
stom
erco
nfide
nce.
3.58
0.55
0.47
Env
ironm
entallab
el(e.g.ISO
1400
1)is
aneffective
prom
otiona
ltool
intheho
telind
ustry.
3.50
0.64
0.55
Fac
tor2:
Dev
elopmen
tofGreen
Products
and
Service
s(3.42)
1.91
6.37
43.10
0.78
Hotelsprov
ideprod
ucts
andse
rvices
that
dono
harm
tohu
man
health.
3.55
0.57
0.56
Hotel
compa
nies
oftenus
eec
o-labe
lson
pack
aging,
and
show
them
ontheirco
rporateweb
site.
3.47
0.57
0.49
Hotel
compa
nies
carryou
tex
tens
iveprod
uct-sp
ecificmarke
trese
arch
nece
ssaryto
ensu
retheirgree
nprod
ucts’su
cces
s.3.30
0.55
0.55
(Con
tinue
d)
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TABLE
2.(C
ontin
ued)
Attributes
Mea
nFac
tor
load
ing
Com
mun
ality
Fac
toran
dov
erallm
ean
Eigen
-va
lue
%of
varia
nce
Cum
ulative
varia
nce
Cronb
ach
Alpha
Hotel
compa
nies
shou
ldch
arge
aprem
ium
foren
vironm
ental
prod
ucts
toreco
verad
ditio
nalc
osts
incu
rred
intheir
prod
uctio
n,marke
ting,
anddisp
osal.
3.23
0.55
0.54
Hotelsse
ekto
bringinno
vativegree
nprod
ucts
tomarke
t.3.48
0.53
0.50
Hotelshe
rearesinc
erelyinstitu
tingprog
ramsthat
save
water
anden
ergy
,redu
ceso
lidwas
te,us
ereso
urce
sec
onom
ically,an
dprotec
ttheplan
et’s
ecos
ystem.
3.24
0.68
0.63
Fac
tor3:
Gen
uine
Green
Productsan
dService
s(3.35)
1.36
4.53
47.63
0.59
Hotel
gues
tsde
sire
gree
nprod
ucts
andprac
tices
.3.46
0.64
0.58
Hotel
custom
ersag
reeto
payahigh
erpriceforec
o-facilitiesin
hotels.
3.02
0.86
0.79
Fac
tor4:
Higher
Price
forGreen
Products
andService
s(3.04)
1.16
3.86
51.49
0.76
Cus
tomersag
reeto
payhigh
ergree
npricing,
with
partof
the
amou
ntdo
natedto
gree
nac
tivities
.3.06
0.80
0.73
Hotel
custom
ersaresc
eptical
abou
tenv
ironm
entala
dvertising
andclaims.
3.19
0.85
0.78
Fac
tor5:
Credibility
of
Green
Promotion
(3.08)
1.05
3.51
55.00
0.68
Env
ironm
entalc
laim
sin
adve
rtisem
ents
areoftenmet
with
criticism
from
compe
titorsan
dco
nsum
erorga
niza
tions
.2.96
0.70
0.68
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Development of green products and services.The second-ranked factor was “Developmentof Green Products and Services”. Developingand applying green products and services in ahotel company is not an easy task and requires acertain level of research effort and skill. It isclear from the statements loaded onto this factorthat respondents perceived environmental labelssuch as ISO 14000 as effective promotionaltools for green products and services in thehotel industry. The use of so-called eco-labelson packaging and hotel corporate websites wasalso perceived as important. This finding sug-gests that the use of green labels is likely to bean effective tool to help hotel customers easilyidentify environmentally friendly hotels. It alsoconfirms Ayuso’s (2006) assertion that eco-labels are one of the most common environmen-tal instruments applied by the international hotelindustry, although tourists do not normally spe-cifically demand such eco-labels on the pro-ducts they select (Miller, 2003). This could beone of the reasons why hotels increasingly seekaccreditation from internationally recognizedenvironmental management system, to showthat they meet standards such as ISO 14000and Green Globe 21 (Chan & Wong, 2006a).Such eco-labels represent a “package” that iden-tifies the hotel as an environmentally friendly orgreen hotel (product), and is a possible strategyto help a green hotel stand out from the crowd.
The respondents perceived that it is impor-tant for a hotel to carry out extensive product-specific market research to develop innovativegreen products that are harmless to humanhealth, and thus ensure the green products’ suc-cess. Therefore, hoteliers should partner withgreen experts/external consultancy firms tocarry out more product and service tests to over-come their lack of expertise in environmentalmanagement (Chan & Hawkins, 2012). Duringa hotel’s daily operations, hotel marketersshould encourage front-line employees, whohave frequent contact with hotel customers, toprovide feedback and suggestions to the com-pany. This two-way communication processhelps a hotel to improve its green products andservices, and maximize customer satisfaction.As communication improves, the number ofhotel guest complaints – such as complaints
about the use of water restrictors in bathroomsto reduce water flow and pressure – maydecrease. With “co-created” green productsand services, hotel marketers could effectivelypromote the environmental features of their pro-ducts and services to potential customers, whichmay help them to prioritize environmental con-siderations when making purchasing decisions.
Other Perception Factors
In addition to the two top perception factorsthat were perceived by hotel customers as theimportant factors in hotel marketing strategy,this study also identifies the other perceptionfactors corresponding to the success of a hotelgreen marketing strategy from customers’ pointof view. Based on their mean scores, the threeother perception factors listed in order are: (1)Genuine Green Products and Services, (2)Credibility of Green Promotion, and (3)Higher Price for Green Products and Services.
According to Olson, Walker, and Ruekert(1995), appealing product offerings are the cen-trepiece of successful green marketing strate-gies. Miles and Munilla (1995) have alsoindicated that more and more progressive com-panies are following an “eco-marketing” orien-tation in an effort to gain a competitiveadvantage by positioning their products in theemerging “green consumer” segment. Genuinehotel green products and services can to someextent play an important role in influencingcustomer purchase. Therefore, many hotelenvironmental policies are increasingly focus-ing on green products and services nowadays.For instance, the Fairmont Banff Springs,awarded the 2012 Environmental Hotel of theYear by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, will offerdisposable-free service and paperless service tohotel guests upon request; the hotel is alsocommitted to purchasing local, organic, andsustainable food products wherever possible. Itis not the claim to be green by only having apolicy of washing fewer towels and linen whichmay lead to consumer skepticism (El Dief &Font, 2010), and negatively affect their emo-tional experiences. All these measures reflectthe importance of genuine green products and
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services in hotel green operations. From thefindings, it is clearly noticed that hotel guestsnot only desire green products and practices, butthat they also really want hotels to sincerelyinstitute different environmental programs toprotect the planet’s ecosystem.
The findings also indicate the importance ofcredibility of green promotion. Some hotelguests are sceptical about environmental adver-tising and claims, which are often met withcriticism from competitors and consumer orga-nizations. This echoes the advocacy byLeonidou, Leonidou, Palihawadana, andHultman (2011) that a firm’s environmentalclaims should be detailed, specific, and truthful.To improve the credibility of green promotion, ahotel can consider establishing formal or infor-mal alliances with some environmental associa-tions or groups (Johri & Sahasakmontri, 1998)in addition to the offerings of genuine greenproducts and services to avoid the accusationof being “green washing”. Having internation-ally recognized eco-labels accredited is likely tobe one of a number of good green marketingstrategies to build up customers’ confidence inhotel’s green products and services.
Pricing can be an effective marketing tool inefforts to influence the level of demand. Thatcould explain why green hotel prices do notsignificantly differ from those of comparableconventional hotels (Kim & Han, 2010)although some green products and servicesmay need extra costs to develop. However, thefindings from this study indicate that highergreen pricing may be a feasible marketing strat-egy as it has been found that some respondentsagreed to pay a higher price for eco-facilities inhotels, especially when part of the amountwould be donated to green activities, and mostrespondents agreed that hotels should charge apremium for green products and services torecover the additional costs incurred in theirproduction, marketing, and disposal. It isthought that the pricing strategy can allowhotel guests to support the development ofrenewable energy sources and environmentalprotection by paying a small premium on theirbills. This finding may encourage hotel market-ers to impose extra charges on their green pro-ducts and services, which is not yet common
practice in the hotel industry. This is also in linewith Mendleson and Polonsky’s (1995) asser-tion that consumers not only want to purchaseproducts that are less environmentally harmful,but are also willing to pay more to do so.Nevertheless, more in-depth research is requiredto understand the “green” buying behavior ofhotel customers, and under what circumstancesthey are willing to pay extra for green hotelproducts and services. Some studies, such asMoore, Murphy, and Watson’s (1994) indicatedthat an individual’s ecological behavior inten-tion and the actual ecological behavior are onlymoderately related. This implies that hotel cus-tomers’ actual buying behavior may be differentfrom their willingness to pay a higher price forgreen products/services.
Green Marketing Versus Customers’Emotional Experiences
Emotion is most often defined with referenceto a list: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, andsurprise (Cabanac, 2002), which normally occurwith the achievement of sub-goals, loss of agoal, frustration of a goal by another person,conflict of goals, and perception that somethingis noxious or toxic (Oatley & Johnson-Laird,1987). White and Yu (2005) and Babin andBabin (2001) have stated that customers’ emo-tions elicited by products are one of the strongpredictors of consumer behaviors. The emotionsthat customers experience during the consump-tion of a product/service are also one of theimportant components of customer responseseventually influencing customer satisfaction(Dubé & Menon, 2000). In hotel business, itwas found that hotel customers’ emotionswould mainly be affected by factors such asthe physical environment and design of a hotel(Barsky & Nash, 2002), and the service offront-line hotel staff (Mattila & Enz, 2002).Despite this, it is thought that the green market-ing strategies identified in this study are alsolikely to affect customers’ emotional experi-ences as a result of the importance of environ-mental protection nowadays. For instance, thedevelopment of green products and services,their genuineness, and the credibility of green
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promotion may influence hotel customers’ emo-tional response to direct product/service experi-ences, which is likely to affect their buyingbehavior as well as satisfaction. The wholerange of green marketing activities in which ahotel is involved is likely to contribute to cus-tomer emotions eventually. This may requirefurther investigation of the role of green market-ing strategy in emotional experience theory, butthe factors unquestionably have a role in elicit-ing hotel customers’ emotional experiences.
ANOVA and t-testing
In order to gain a better understanding of thesignificant differences among the five green mar-keting factors and the demographic variables,independent samples t-tests and one-wayANOVA were conducted. The findings did notfind any differences in “Higher Price for GreenProducts and Services” and “Credibility of GreenPromotion” across gender, nationality, andhousehold incomes components. It indicates animportant implication that there may be no needto separate gender, nationality, and householdincome levels while doing segmentation and tar-geting since the level of agreement with “HigherPrice for Green Products and Services” and“Credibility of Green Promotion” are the samefor all these demographical components.Notwithstanding, statistically differences were
found between hotel customers’ perceptions ofthe importance of other green marketing strate-gies depending on their gender, age, educationallevel, household income, nationality, hotelexperience, and intention to select an environ-mentally friendly hotel to stay in.
Female Versus Male Customers
As Table 3 shows, female customers per-ceived factors such as “Green Partnership”,“Development of Green Products andServices”, and “Genuine Green Products andServices” as more important to them than malehotel customers. This seems to suggest thatfemale hotel customers care more about ahotel’s green products and services than malecustomers, as well as caring about the image. Infact, some previous studies have found thatwomen tend to be more environmentally con-scious than men (Arora-Jonsson, 2011;Banerjee & McKeage, 1994; Hayes, 2001).More in-depth research is needed to explorefemale hotel consumers’ desire for green pro-ducts and services, as a hotel marketer mayconsider first introducing green products andservices to the “female-only” guest floorbecause of the higher possibility of acceptance.The introduction of “female-only” guest floorhas recently become common in the hotelindustry, as it was argued that women travelers,
TABLE 3. Comparison of Means (t-test) for Hotel Customer Perceptions of Green Marketing
Male Female t P Comparisons
Mean SD Mean SD
Green Partnership 3.505 0.765 3.679 0.743 −3.706 0.000* Female > MaleDevelopment of Green Products and Services 3.354 0.685 3.463 0.694 −2.522 0.012* Female > MaleGenuine Green Products and Services 3.230 0.818 3.465 0.879 −4.429 0.000* Female > MaleHigher Price for Green Products and Services 2.988 0.889 3.094 0.934 −1.849 0.065 –
Credibility of Green Promotion 3.046 0.835 3.090 0.835 −0.841 0.401 –
Non-Asian Asian t P Comparisons
Mean SD Mean SD
Green Partnership 3.932 0.630 3.427 0.763 11.307 0.000* Non-Asia > AsiaDevelopment of Green Products and Services 3.428 0.689 3.404 0.694 0.534 0.593 –
Genuine Green Products and Services 3.425 0.838 3.313 0.867 1.975 0.049* Non-Asia > AsiaHigher Price for Green Products and Services 3.137 1.051 3.002 0.834 2.095 0.037* Non-Asia > AsiaCredibility of Green Promotion 3.311 0.835 2.937 0.809 6.937 0.000* Non-Asia > Asia
*Significance at the 0.05 level is shown in italics.
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especially business travelers, demand differenttypes of products and treatment during theirstay at hotels (Withiam, 1997, 2000). Forinstance, the Novotel Atlantis Shanghai inShanghai specially opened a dedicated execu-tive floor where special amenities such as nailclippers, facial tissues, umbrellas, electronicirons, coat hangers, floral arrangements, and agarment dryer are provided to cater for theneeds of a growing number of female businesstravelers (Chan & Wong, 2006b). It is believedthat “female hotel customers” are likely to bethe segment that hotel marketers should startwith whenever a new green product/service isintroduced and promoted, especially whenwomen have a dominant role in the familydecision-making process for tourism productsin addition to the growth of women businesstravelers (Kim, Mattila, & Baloglu, 2011).
Asian Versus Non-Asian Hotel Customers
It can also be seen from the table that “GreenPartnership”, “Development of Green Productsand Services”, “Genuine Green Products andServices”, and “Credibility of GreenPromotion” were rated as more important bynon-Asian hotel customers than by Asian hotelcustomers. This confirms Choi and Chu’s (2000)conclusion that Western travelers’ overall satis-faction is primarily derived from the quality fac-tor whereas Asian travelers are more influencedby the value factor. The “green quality” of ahotel’s business partner, its green products andservices, and their development and promotionare important toWestern travelers, who generallyhave a higher level of environmental awarenessthan Asian travelers (Chan, 2008). Hotel market-ers should therefore pay special attention whenmarketing their green products and services toWesterners. Misrepresentation in promotionmust be avoided, otherwise Western travelersmay accuse hotels of “green washing”, asdescribed by Peattie and Crane (2005). The find-ing may also help to explain why hotel customersfrom Asian countries, who are seemingly lessconcerned about environmental protection, raisemore complaints against hotels’ environmentalpractices (Chan & Hawkins, 2010) compared to
their Western counterparts, who tend to associateenvironmental values with altruism (Oliver &Lee, 2010).
Inexperienced Versus Experienced HotelCustomers
“Genuine Green Products and Services” wasrated as less important by experienced hotel cus-tomers than by less experienced customers.Nevertheless, very experienced hotel customersrated this factor as very important. Respondentswho were not very experienced/above averageexperience rated “Higher Price for GreenProducts and Services” as more important thaninexperienced/experienced hotel customers.“Development of Green Products and Services”and “Credibility of Green Promotion” were ratedas more important by customers with less experi-ence of staying in hotels. Customers who werevery experienced at staying in hotels also valued“Credibility of Green Promotion” as important(Table 4).
Given the above findings, it seems that cus-tomers with less experience of staying in hotelsare more sensitive to the genuineness and pri-cing of a hotel’s green products and services,and the credibility of its promotions and distri-bution channels. They perceived these factorsvery differently from the experienced hotel cus-tomers. This finding is plausible, and is consis-tent with Khalid and Helander (2004), whostated that customers who are inexperiencedwith a product may focus primarily on theirholistic impression of the product because itsvisual features are more salient than its func-tionality. However, as customer familiarityincreases, customer expertise is also likely toincrease. The findings of this study echo theclaim that very experienced hotel customersvalue “Genuine Green Product and Services”and “Credibility of Green Promotion” as impor-tant. Perhaps these very experienced hotel cus-tomers had been “misled” in the past because ofthe misrepresentation of some hotel promotionalstrategies. Therefore, hotel marketers must behonest when introducing and promoting theirgreen products and services, as such informa-tion is likely to affect frequent hotel guests’
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TABLE
4.Com
paris
onof
Mea
ns(ANOVA)forHotel
Cus
tomer
Perce
ptions
ofGreen
Marke
ting
Group
no.
ab
cd
e
Fac
tor
Hotel
expe
rienc
eInex
perie
nced
Not
very
expe
rienc
edAbo
veav
erag
eex
perie
nce
Exp
erienc
edVery
expe
rienc
edANOVA
(Sign.
value)
LSD
multip
leco
mpa
rison
Sam
plesize
(81)
(226
)(177
)(471
)(74)
Green
Partnersh
ip3.90
63.69
84.08
93.23
44.04
80.00
0*Ga>
Gb,
Ga<
Gc,
Ga>
Gd,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb>
Gd,
Gb<
Ge,
Gc>
Gd,
Gd<
Ge
Dev
elop
men
tof
Green
Produ
ctsan
dService
s3.77
03.53
63.67
43.17
13.50
20.00
0*Ga>
Gb,
Ga>
Gd,
Ga>
Ge,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb>
Gd,
Gc>
Gd,
Gd<
Ge
Gen
uine
Green
Produ
cts
andService
s3.42
63.48
23.51
43.18
83.46
00.00
0*Ga>
Gd,
Gb>
Gd,
Gc>
Gd,
Gd<
Ge
Highe
rPric
eforGreen
Produ
ctsan
dService
s2.84
63.11
73.24
02.96
23.05
40.00
2*Ga<
Gb,
Ga<
Gc,
Gb>
Gd,
Gc>
Gd
Credibilityof
Green
Promotion
3.36
43.09
73.27
42.85
73.37
80.00
0*Ga>
Gb,
Ga>
Gd,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb>
Gd,
Gb<
Ge,
Gc>
Gd,
Gd<
Ge
Group
no.
ab
cd
e
Fac
tor
Age
grou
p(yea
rs)
20–29
30–39
40–49
50–59
59>
ANOVA
(Sign.
value)
LSD
multip
leco
mpa
rison
Sam
plesize
(353
)(317
)(183
)(111
)(37)
Green
Partnersh
ip3.66
63.45
03.64
53.64
84.02
20.00
0*Ga>
Gb,
Ga<
Ge,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd,
Gb<
Ge,
Gc<
Ge,
Gd<
Ge
Dev
elop
men
tof
Green
Produ
ctsan
dService
s3.49
13.29
13.43
83.49
23.52
70.00
2*Ga>
Gb,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd,
Gb<
Ge
Gen
uine
Green
Produ
cts
andService
s3.33
93.35
33.32
23.32
43.66
20.26
7
Highe
rPric
eforGreen
Produ
ctsan
dService
s3.06
93.05
52.93
43.10
82.94
60.41
8
Credibilityof
Green
Promotion
3.05
72.94
53.15
93.24
83.08
10.00
6*Ga<
Gd,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd
(Con
tinue
d)
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TABLE
4.(C
ontin
ued)
Group
no.
ab
cd
e
Fac
tor
Edu
catio
nleve
lJu
nior
scho
olHigh
scho
olDiplomaor
degree
Mas
teror
abov
eOther
ANOVA(Sign.
value)
LSD
multip
leco
mpa
rison
Sam
plesize
(107
)(391
)(416
)(115
)(4)
Green
Partnersh
ip2.82
63.19
74.03
04.07
24.61
40.00
0*Ga<
Gb,
Ga<
Gc,
Ga<
Gd,
Ga<
Ge,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd,
Gb<
Ge
Dev
elop
men
tof
Green
Produ
ctsan
dService
s2.95
43.22
23.69
93.42
04.58
30.00
0*Ga<
Gb,
Ga<
Gc,
Ga<
Gd,
Ga<
Ge,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd,
Gb<
Ge,
Gc>
Gd,
Gc<
Ge
Gen
uine
Green
Produ
cts
andService
s2.93
03.17
73.59
13.43
54.62
50.00
0*Ga<
Gb,
Ga<
Gc,
Ga<
Gd,
Ga<
Ge,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd,
Gb<
Ge,
Gc<
Ge,
Gd<
Ge
Highe
rPric
eforGreen
Produ
ctsan
dService
s3.01
42.97
33.08
83.13
54.25
00.02
1*Ga<
Ge,
Gb<
Ge,
Gc<
Ge,
Gd<
Ge
Credibilityof
Green
Promotion
2.51
92.87
13.30
23.36
53.62
50.00
0*Ga<
Gb,
Ga<
Gc,
Ga<
Gd,
Ga<
Ge,
Gb<
Gc,
Gb<
Gd
Group
no.
ab
cd
ef
gh
Fac
tor
Ave
rage
mon
thly
hous
ehold
inco
me
HKD
9,99
9(U
SD
1,28
1)or
less
HKD
10,000
(USD
1,28
2)–
HKD
19,999
(USD
2,56
3)
HKD
20,000
(USD
2,56
4)–
HKD
29,999
(USD
3,84
5)
HKD
30,000
(USD
3,84
6)–
HKD
39,999
(USD
5,12
7)
HKD
40,000
(USD
5,12
8)–
HKD
49,999
(USD
6,40
9)
HKD
50,000
(USD
6,41
0)–
HKD
59,999
(USD
7,69
1)
HKD
60,000
(USD
7,69
2)–
HKD
69,999
(USD
8,97
3)
HKD
70,000
(USD
8,97
4)or
abov
e
ANOVA
(Sign.
value)
LSD
multip
leco
mpa
rison
Sam
plesize
(59)
(98)
(81)
(53)
(37)
(36)
(29)
(77)
Green Partnersh
ip3.97
84.11
93.84
54.10
84.03
24.11
74.13
24.06
30.02
2*Gb>
Gc,
Gc<
Gd,
Gc<
Gf,Gc<
Gg,
Gc<
Gh
Dev
elop
men
tof
Green
Produ
cts
and
Service
s
3.74
93.85
83.60
23.61
33.66
23.73
63.56
93.54
60.05
1
(Con
tinue
d)
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TABLE
4.(C
ontin
ued)
Group
no.
ab
cd
ef
gh
Fac
tor
Ave
rage
mon
thly
hous
ehold
inco
me
HKD
9,99
9(U
SD
1,28
1)or
less
HKD
10,000
(USD
1,28
2)–
HKD
19,999
(USD
2,56
3)
HKD
20,000
(USD
2,56
4)–
HKD
29,999
(USD
3,84
5)
HKD
30,000
(USD
3,84
6)–
HKD
39,999
(USD
5,12
7)
HKD
40,000
(USD
5,12
8)–
HKD
49,999
(USD
6,40
9)
HKD
50,000
(USD
6,41
0)–
HKD
59,999
(USD
7,69
1)
HKD
60,000
(USD
7,69
2)–
HKD
69,999
(USD
8,97
3)
HKD
70,000
(USD
8,97
4)or
abov
e
ANOVA
(Sign.
value)
LSD
multip
leco
mpa
rison
Gen
uine
Green
Produ
cts
and
Service
s
3.60
23.92
43.41
43.70
83.32
43.59
73.43
13.26
60.00
0*Ga<
Gb,
Ga>
Gh,
Gb>
Gc,
Gb>
Ge,
Gb>
Gg,
Gb>
Gh,
Gd>
Ge,
Gd>
Gh
Highe
rPric
eforGreen
Produ
cts
and
Service
s
3.16
13.16
32.99
43.17
02.97
33.16
72.86
23.09
10.77
7
Credibilityof
Green
Promotion
3.44
93.15
83.13
03.29
33.41
93.29
23.50
03.36
40.15
1
Group
no.
ab
c
Fac
tor
Con
side
ringan
environm
entally
friend
lyho
tel
tostay
in
Yes
No
May
beANOVA
(Sign.
value)
LSDmultip
leco
mpa
rison
Sam
plesize
(576
)(67)
(392
)Green
Partnersh
ip3.61
43.84
23.53
10.00
6*Ga<
Gb,
Gb>
Gc
Dev
elop
men
tofG
reen
Produ
cts
andService
s3.41
53.66
23.36
70.00
5*Ga<
Gb,
Gb>
Gc
Gen
uine
Green
Produ
ctsan
dService
s3.38
73.47
03.28
20.08
8
Highe
rPric
eforGreen
Produ
cts
andService
s3.13
52.84
32.95
40.00
2*Ga>
Gb,
Ga>
Gc
Credibilityof
Green
Promotion
3.03
53.44
03.04
50.00
1*Ga<
Gb,
Gb>
Gc
*Significa
nceat
the0.05
leve
lissh
ownin
italics;
ANOVA–on
e-way
analysis
ofva
rianc
e;an
dLS
D–Fishe
r’sleas
tsign
ifica
ntdiffe
renc
e.
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repurchase intentions. The differences betweeninexperienced and experienced hotel customersmay also suggest more effective ways for hotelmarketers to manage the development andmaintenance of customer loyalty.
Older Versus Younger Hotel Customers
Table 4 also shows that older respondents alsoattached greater importance to these four factors.This finding supports the suggestion that greenconsumers are generally older than average(Roberts, 1996; Vining & Ebreo, 1990). To moti-vate younger customers to buy or try a hotel’sgreen products and services, a hotel marketermay consider Lee’s (2008) suggestion thatusing buzz marketing encourages young consu-mers to discuss environmental messages withtheir peers, and to recommend good environmen-tal products and services to their friends throughface-to-face or new media communications.Buzz marketing also associates green productsand services with a trendy and cool image thatcultivates a “feel good” purchase experienceamong young consumers; by conveying the mes-sage that “saving the earth is our responsibility”,the perception of environmental responsibilitywill affect their purchase decisions.
Higher Versus Lower Education Level andHousehold Incomes
Hotel customers with higher education levelsrated all five factors as more important thancustomers with lower education levels (seeTable 4). This may be because more educatedcustomers are more capable of processing theenvironmental information relating to the pro-ducts/services and differentiating them fromless friendly alternatives. Respondents withhigher household incomes rated “GreenPartnership” as most important, whereas thosewith lower household incomes valued “GenuineGreen Products and Services” more (see Table4). These findings are in line with the study byHenion (1972), which found that consumerswith medium or high incomes were more likelyto act in an ecologically compatible manner due
to their higher levels of education. Chan (2000)also concluded that heavy green consumerswere more likely to have a higher educationand a higher household income. Therefore,hotel marketers may consider targeting thewealthier and more educated when promotingtheir green products and services to the market.If the target market is people with lower house-hold incomes, hotel marketers should avoidmisrepresentation in advertising their productsand services because this group of customers,with relatively tight budgets, are more likely toconsider buying a genuine green product andservice. Marketers should emphasize howpotential buyers and the environment will ben-efit from using a specific green product andservice.
Intention Versus No Intention of Selecting aGreen Hotel
It can also be seen from Table 4 that thoserespondents who had no intention of stayingin an environmentally friendly hotel rated“Green Partnership”, “Development of GreenProducts and Services”, and “Credibility ofGreen Promotion” as more important thanthose respondents who would/might considerselecting an environmentally friendly hotel.This finding implies that potential green cus-tomers will be less motivated to select a so-called green hotel to stay in if the greenmarketing strategy, in terms of the product/service, promotion and distribution channels,is not truly developed.
Conversely, respondents who intended toselect an environmentally friendly hotel to stayin rated “Higher Prices for Green Products andServices” as more important. This may be dueto the respondents’ self-image, as they are prob-ably more concerned about environmental pro-tection and would not mind paying more forgreen products and services. The extra costmay also reflect their support for environmentalprotection. Therefore, hotel marketers could ser-iously consider implementing discriminatorypricing when introducing a green product andservice to the market after careful and compre-hensive research. In fact, some previous studies
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have also found that consumers who are con-cerned about the environment are willing to paymore for green products and services (Autio &Wilska, 2005; Bang, Ellinger, Hadjimarcou, &Traichal, 2000; Laroche et al., 2001; Nomura &Akai, 2004).
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONSFOR FUTURE RESEARCH
This study represents a preliminary investiga-tion into hotel customers’ perceptions of greenmarketing. The empirical findings indicate thathotel customers generally agree that “GreenPartnership” is the most important factor in ahotel’s green marketing strategy, followed by“Development of Green Products andServices”, “Genuine Green Products andServices”, “Credibility of Green Promotion”,and “Higher Price for Green Products andServices”. These factors suggest that hotelsshould focus on the green image of their busi-ness partners, the quality of their green productsand services, and the possibility of introducinggreen pricing strategy when planning greenmarketing strategies. The findings imply thatthere may be a relationship between the strate-gies in the green marketing life-cycle and cus-tomers’ emotional experiences. Hence, activitiesinvolved in the strategies must be carefullyplanned and truly developed, or it may triggerhotel customers’ negative emotion, especiallywhen the accusation of “green washing” is com-mon nowadays.
In terms of demographic differences, femalehotel customers were found to place significantlymore emphasis on green partnership, develop-ment, and genuineness of green products andservices when evaluating a hotel green marketingplan. They are more likely to be the pioneers inaccepting a hotel’s green products and services. Itwas also noted that non-Asian hotel customersand older hotel customers rate the identified fac-tors as more important. Hotel marketers musttherefore avoid misrepresentation when “selling”green strategies to them, or they may be accusedof “green washing”. In addition, inexperiencedhotel customers are more sensitive to the credibil-ity of green promotion and distribution channels
as well as the genuineness and pricing of theproducts and services. Therefore, having an inter-nationally recognized eco-label accredited islikely to be an important strategy to elevate ahotel’s green image and to enhance customers’confidence of green products and services.
The findings provide useful insights for hotelmanagers to ensure their green marketing stra-tegies attract their target green travelers.Understanding how hotel customers perceivegreen marketing strategies should allow hotelmarketers to differentiate themselves from theircompetitors, increase green hotel customer loy-alty, improve the green image of their hotels,and improve the effectiveness of their greenmarketing campaigns, thus achieving a compe-titive advantage.
An effective hotel marketing strategy can helpto generate hotel bookings. Similarly, the appro-priate contents of a hotel green marketing strategycan directly contribute to hotel managers’ abilityto achieve higher profitability. Therefore, the find-ings of this study contribute to hotel operations byproviding hotel managers with practical informa-tion on how to develop their green marketingstrategies according to the needs of their custo-mers, thus gaining a large proportion of theirbusiness from the green sector.
Due to the non-random sampling approach, theresearch findings should be interpreted carefully.The findings may not be comprehensive enoughto reflect all hotel customers’ perceptions of hotelgreen marketing, and thus cannot be generalized.Despite the acceptance, the relatively lowCronbach’s alpha value (0.59) of the factor –“Genuine Green Products and Services” alsoreflects that good internal consistency may notbe found between the two perception statementsloaded into the factor. Nevertheless, the findingsshould provide valuable insights for hotelmarketers.
Future studies could repeat this research in alongitudinal design to examine whether custo-mers’ perceptions of hotel green marketingchange over time. It would also be worthwhilecomparing and contrasting the differencesbetween customers’ perceptions and hotel market-ers’ perceptions, and examining the possibility ofintroducing higher green pricing in the hotelindustry. Examining the impact of green
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marketing strategies on hotel customers’ emo-tional experiences could also be considered, asthe emotions are likely to influence customersatisfaction and repeat patronage despite the fun-damental component – consumption emotions.
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SUBMITTED: October 12, 2012FINAL REVISION SUBMITTED:
October 10, 2013ACCEPTED: October 31, 2013REFEREED ANONYMOUSLY
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