Master Thesis - The Importance of Sustainable Business ...

1 The Importance of Sustainable Business Practices in the Viennese Accommodation Industry Submitted by Ma rita Raderbauer to the University of Exeter as a Thesis for the degree of Master of Sciences September 2011 This dissertation is an original piece of work, I acknowledge that I have read and understood the un iversity rules concerning plagiarism.. September 20112 Table of content Table of content .. 2 List of figures .. 5 List of tables .. 5 Abbreviations .. 6 Abstract .. 7 1 chapter One - Introduction .. 8 Research background .. 8 Aims and objectives .. 10 Structure of the study.

2 10 2 chapter Two - Literature review .. 12 Introduction .. 12 Sustainable development and Sustainable tourism .. 12 Sustainability in the tourism industry .. 13 Industry self-regulation .. 14 Sustainable Business Practices .. 15 Definition of Sustainable Business practices .. 15 Attitudes towards sustainability .. 16 Determining factors of attitudes .. 16 Sustainable Business practices in the accommodation sector .. 18 Economic Dimension of Sustainable Business practices .. 19 Socio-cultural Dimension of Sustainable Business practices .. 20 Environmental Dimension of Sustainable Business practices.

3 22 Strategic implementation of Sustainable Business practices .. 23 Benefits of the implementation of Sustainable Business 23 Cost reduction .. 23 Public relations .. 24 Employee 24 Consumer demand .. 25 Barriers to the implementation of Sustainable Business practices .. 25 Costs .. 26 Complexity of concept .. 26 Information and support .. 26 Conclusion .. 27 3 3 chapter Three - Background about tourism in Vienna .. Introduction .. Economic Importance .. Accommodation industry .. Tourism policy in Vienna .. Initiatives towards Sustainable Business Sustainable development in Austrian politics.

4 Support for Sustainable Business practices .. Austrian Eco-label .. EcoBusinessPlan Vienna .. Conclusion ..4 chapter Four - Methodology .. Introduction .. Mixed Method approach .. Attitude measurement .. Quantitative method .. Questionnaire design .. Piloting .. Sampling .. Data collection .. Methods of data analysis .. Qualitative method .. Semi-structured interviews .. Interviewee selection .. Data collection .. Method of data analysis .. Summary of research methods and data collection ..5 chapter Five - Results and Findings .. Introduction.

5 Objective One .. Objective Two .. Objective Three .. Objective Four .. Conclusion .. 28 .. 28 .. 28 .. 28 .. 29 .. 30 .. 30 .. 31 .. 31 .. 32 .. 32 .. 33 .. 33 .. 33 .. 35 .. 36 .. 36 .. 38 .. 38 .. 39 .. 40 .. 41 .. 41 .. 43 .. 43 .. 43 .. 44 .. 45 .. 45 .. 45 .. 50 .. 58 .. 62 .. 65 4 6 chapter Six - Conclusion .. 67 Introduction .. 67 Implications of research findings .. 67 Practical recommendations for action .. 69 Research contribution .. 69 Recommendations for future research .. 70 Limitations of the study .. 70 7 Bibliography .. 71 8 Appendices.

6 78 Appendix 1 Table of Industry Initiatives .. 78 Appendix 2 Questionnaire .. 80 Appendix 3 Interview Schedule .. 83 Appendix 4 Spearman s Correlation between Attitudes, Actions, Benefits and Barriers .. 85 Appendix 5 Frequency distributions .. 86 Appendix 6 Scale values grouped by Classification .. 87 Appendix 7 Scale values grouped by 88 Appendix 8 Scale Values grouped by Ownership .. 89 Appendix 9 Scale values grouped by Eco-label .. 90 Appendix 10 Scale values grouped by size .. 91 5 List of figures Figure Map of districts Vienna .. 39 Figure Sustainable Business Practices.

7 48 List of tables Table Difficulties of human resource management concerning sustainability .. 20 Table Summary of accommodation businesses .. 28 Table Arrivals, Overnights and Room occupancy for June 2011 .. 29 Table Research Objectives and Approaches .. 35 able Quantitative Questionnaire Design .. 37 Table Methods used for statistical 40 Table Qualitative Interview 42 Table Summary of Interviewee s Business characteristics .. 43 Table Scale values for Attitude and Action section .. 45 Table Characteristics of Sample .. 51 Table Characteristic of businesses grouped by classification.

8 53 Table Summary of responses to Benefit section .. 58 Table Summary of responses to Barriers Section .. 62 6 Abbreviations Bmwfj Bundesministerium f r Wirtschaft, Familie und Jugend Ministry for economy, family and youth CSR Corporate Social Responsibility GRP Gross Regional Product LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design HV sterreichische Hotelier Vereinigung Austrian Hotelier Association UNWTO United Nation World Tourism Organization WCED World Commission on Environment and Development WTTC World Travel and Tourism Council 7 Abstract This study investigates the Importance of Sustainable Business practices in accommodation businesses in Vienna.

9 Research and industry initiatives mainly focus on environmental measures while ignoring the economic and socio-cultural dimension of sustainability. Recognising the Importance of a holistic understanding to define Sustainable Business practices for the accommodation industry, this research includes all dimensions of sustainability. It intends to examine relationships between attitudes and actions as well as differences in attitudes and actions related to the Business characteristics. A mixed method approach was chosen and the results of the quantitative questionnaire (n= 59) and the qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=7) were integrated to ensure a more complete understanding of the data.

10 The results showed that the general attitude towards sustainability was very positive for all businesses. No relation was found between the general attitude and the actions taken. It can be summarized that higher classified, medium size, hotels, and businesses that were part of a corporate chain took significantly more actions compared to low classified, micro size, guesthouses, and businesses that were owner-managed. A high implementation of Sustainable Business practices correlated with a high level of benefits perceived, more strategic planning and a less intense perception of barriers.