Environmental Management System towards Environmental Performance of Hotel Industry: Does Corporate Social Responsibility Authenticity Really Matter?

Zahid Yousaf; Magdalena Radulescu; Abdelmohsen Nassani; Abdullah Mohammed  Aldakhil; Elena Jianu

doi:10.5755/j01.ee.32.5.28619

Authors

Zahid Yousaf Government College of Management Sciences, Pakistan
Magdalena Radulescu Department of Finance, Accounting and Economics, University of Pitesti, Romania
Abdelmohsen Nassani Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Mohammed Aldakhil Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Elena Jianu Department of Management and Business Administration, University of Pitesti, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.32.5.28619

Keywords:

CSR authenticity, Environmental Management Initiatives, Environmental Performance, Hotel Industry, Tourism Sector

Abstract

Environmental Management Initiatives (EMI), as part of the sustainability management movement, have become an integrated part of the organisational management practices and of the current research. Since the implementation of Environmental Management System (EMS), there have been many studies analysing this relationship with the environmental performance. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) also gained a great importance for the organisations’ performance, including their performance in the environmental area. However, previous studies analysed the direct link between those variables and environmental performance, while the mediating effect of those variables has not been tested yet because using a mediator in the relationship between two variables is a rather new approach in the research area used in the behavioural sciences area. This research analyses the role of EMI in defining the Environmental Performance (EP) of hotel industry, given the strong relationship between those two variables and the importance of the tourism sector for the economic development, both in the developed, but especially in the developing countries. It also investigates the CSR authenticity as mediator between EMI and EP link. Data was collected through a questionnaire of managers of the hotels in Pakistan. Correlation, Structural Equation Model and linear regressions were applied for testing the hypotheses and for checking the viability of the model. Findings revealed that EMI and CSR authenticity are important and significant determinants of EP in the hotel industry. Findings show that CSR authenticity acts as a mediator for the EMI and EP link. The stakeholder pressures and customers’ environmental awareness have forced the hotel industry to implement environmental standards and this shift of focus is more important in the hotel industry. The current research demonstrates that efforts of EMI is a prerequisite for enhancing CSR authenticity in the environmental area, and this, in its turn, contributes to the increase of the EP of hotel and tourism sector in a developing country. Given the lack of large financial resources of the developing countries, this model is an important outcome for the tourism industry that helps hotels to become green, to attract more clients and to gain competitive advantages.

Author Biographies

Zahid Yousaf, Government College of Management Sciences, Pakistan

Zahid Yousaf is an Assistant Professor in Government College of Management Sciences, Abbottabad-Pakistan. He is the author of more than 35 publications in different Peer-reviewed & SSCI research journals. His work has been published in Journal of Organizational Change Management, International Journal of Contemporary and Hospitality Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, European Journal of Innovation Management, Eurasian Business Review, Management Decision, Environmental Research, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, etc. He has presented various research papers at different international conferences.

Magdalena Radulescu, Department of Finance, Accounting and Economics, University of Pitesti, Romania

Magdalena Radulescu is a Full Professor Habilitated at the Department of Finance, Accounting and Economics, University of Pitesti, Str. Targu din Vale, no.1, Pitesti, Arges Romania. She is the Scientific Coordinator for Ph.D. Students at University “Lucian Blaga” of Sibiu in the Economics. She has published many papers in the Environmental area in Sustainability, Energies, Resources Policy, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Economic Research, Statistika journals. She is the Editor at Energies journal. She is a guest editor at Energies, Journal of Risk and Financial Management Journal, Frontiers in Environmental Science. She acts as a reviewer for Frontiers journals, MDPI journals, Wiley, Taylor&Francis, and Springer journals. Her research interests include Energy Policy, Renewable Energy, Environmental Tax, Carbon Neutrality.

Abdelmohsen Nassani, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Abdelmohsen A. Nassani is a Full Professor at the Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He is a Doctor of Business Administration. His research interests include Environmental Sciences, Business Management, Performance Management, and he published many papers in top journals in those fields.

Abdullah Mohammed Aldakhil, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Abdullah Mohammed Aldakhil is a Full Professor at the Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He is a Doctor of Business Administration. His research interests include Natural Resources Management, Sustainable Development, Business Management, Supply Chain, and he published many papers in top journals in those fields.

Elena Jianu, Department of Management and Business Administration, University of Pitesti, Romania

Elena Jianu is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Business Administration, University of Pitesti, Romania. She is a doctor in Management. Her research interests include Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Development, CSR. She published papers in many international journals indexed in international databases.