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The purpose of this paper is to use an eco-friendly service concept framework to demonstrate the effect of credible eco-certification signaling.

The authors examine a cross-sectional data set consisting of 2,481 hotel sites across the US. The authors measure the performance of the operations component of eco-friendly service by operations-driven resource efficiency (ODF), and the performance of the marketing component by customer-driven resource efficiency (CDF). A series of multivariate regressions compare these two resource efficiency measures between credibly eco-certified hotel sites and others.

The results indicate that credible eco-certifications achieve the signaling effect. Eco-certified hotels outperform others in both ODF and CDF measures; and eco-certified hotels still achieve higher CDF after controlling for ODF.

The findings suggest that eco-friendly service design requires not only eco-friendly operations but also a built-in credible signaling mechanism. This mechanism engages the customers in eco-friendly service coproduction and in doing so integrates the operations and marketing components of eco-friendly service strategy through eco-certifications.

This study is among the first to demonstrate empirically the signaling effect of credible eco-certifications in services. It increases understanding of eco-friendly service design and delivery by exploring the role of credible eco-certifications in linking customer benefits with the service organization's strategic intent.

There has been increasing consumer interest in recent times in the environmental providence of what they eat and drink. A number of different environmental wine certifications have been created and these include biodynamic, fairtrade, organic, natural and sustainable. The purpose of this study is to survey wine consumers in Australia about their interest in these eco-certifications and their willingness to pay (WTP) a price premium for wine with one of these eco-certifications.

An online survey was developed to capture the knowledge and attitudes of consumers and their socio-demographic characteristics about their WTP for eco-certified wine. Data from 454 wine consumers in Australia were collected and analysed. Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s chi-squared test analysed the significant factors which determine consumers’ attitudes towards eco-certified wines. Ordinal logistic regression with marginal effects was used to examine whether the WTP a premium for different certified wines differs significantly based on wine knowledge, attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics.

The findings of this study indicate that consumers often buy pro-environmental goods. The majority have a positive (greater than 0) WTP a premium for biodynamic, fairtrade, organic, natural and sustainable-labelled wines. The main factors influencing eco-certified wine purchase decisions by Australian consumers are previously bought eco-certified goods, previously bought eco-certified wine and respondent age. Income, education or previous wine knowledge did not positively influence WTP a price premium for eco-certified wines. Gender was not significant in the ordinal logistic regression.

Most studies in the literature use stated preference experiments to elicit WTP and these are valuable exercises, as they can provide an indication of consumer preferences for potential certifications, before they have been introduced to the market. In this study, we used an ordinal dependent variable in the logistic regression instead of a continuous variable (because of data limitations). Using ordinal dependent variables provides information on the probability or likelihood of occurring an event.

The study results provide the first price premium indications that Australian consumers are willing to pay for eco-certified wines (other than organic).

This study aims to analyze the wine industry’s response to changing societal attitudes towards the environment. Environmental considerations are now an increasingly important factor in both production and purchasing behavior. While many eco-certifications exist, there is still consumer confusion between the multitude of eco wine certifications, lack of clarity about what consumers think about the wines, and not enough data about their willingness to pay (WTP) for these environmental characteristics.

This study clarifies what the various wine eco certifications are, quantifies consumer knowledge and ascertains their WTP for five environmental or sustainable wine certifications, namely, biodynamic, fair trade, organic, natural and sustainable. The authors surveyed 456 wine drinkers in the USA.

The authors found that millennials, women, unmarried individuals, those purchasing eco-certified foods, low-income individuals and those looking to celebrate a special occasion have a higher WTP for eco-certified wines compared to respondents who are older, male, married, do not buy eco-certified goods, have higher incomes and are purchasing the wine for a regular occasion. They recommend marketing and targeting those in the former group for environmental or sustainable wines.

The study is the only research project, of this kind, to evaluate five types of eco-certifications for wine in a single WTP analysis.

This study aims to describe and understand how and to what extent hotel managers adopt sustainable development (SD) practices in their establishment, given the presence of barriers to the adoption of such practices by hotel establishments, and the lack of knowledge as to the ways and means by which an SD orientation is developed and implemented.

A qualitative research strategy was chosen to answer the research questions, that is, a multi-site case study of five Canadian hotels.

The study shows why and how hotel managers proceeded to develop and implement an SD orientation, as well as the contextual factors that affected the extent to which SD practices were adopted.

The initial elaboration and validation of a process model of SD adoption in hotel establishments constitute a conceptual building block upon which this complex phenomenon can be further studied.

This study demonstrates that in the hospitality industry, implementing an SD orientation is a strategy that can be enabled through the provision of required knowledge and expertise as well as appropriate tools and techniques to hotel managers.

In describing and understanding the dynamics of implementing a SD orientation in five Canadian hotels, this study has provided a conceptually and practically fruitful answer to the question of “how” and “to what extent” hotels adopt SD practices.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for identifying the need for ecotourism certification within ecotourism and sport tourism (EST) by discussing the overlapping characteristics on the dimensions of EST.

Qualitatively, the Social Exchange Theory was used to discover segments of tourists based on the two dimensions: EST.

The findings discovered four strategic segments (namely; vacation, green, action oriented and active tourists), their related activities, and the level of need for eco certification.

EST activities offer a unique opportunity for tourism managers to positively influence conservation in and around communities, protected areas and sport events. Applying and implementing a global eco certification is paramount to attract tourists and enhance credibility of sport tourism.

Identification of the four tourists segments and their relative need for certification is the novelty of the study. The labels of the identified tourist segments are: vacation tourist (low on ecotourism and low on sport tourism); green tourist (high on ecotourism and low on sport tourism); action-oriented tourist (high on ecotourism and high on sport tourism); and active tourist (low on ecotourism and high on sport tourism). The certification needs for green and action-oriented tourists are HIGH, for active tourist is MEDIUM, and for vacation tourist is LOW.

As net-zero pledges gain momentum globally, more and more accommodation businesses seek to quantify their carbon emissions. Building on Chan (2021), this study aims to explore what drives Australian accommodation providers to measure the carbon footprint of their businesses and what barriers hinder them from doing so.

Empirical data were collected by conducting ten semi-structured interviews with owners, senior executives, consultants, certification bodies and hotel management companies. The set of interviews represented different segments of the hotel industry and various accommodation types. Data were analysed with thematic analysis.

The major drivers for adopting carbon footprint analysis are as follows: the analysis being perceived as an important contribution to a company's corporate responsibility, the owner or manager's environmental concern, the assessment being a requirement for obtaining an eco-certification and the business benefits associated with implementing the initiative. The major barriers hindering adoption include the following: difficulties with data gathering, the lack of a standard methodology, a lengthy decision-making process and a lack of resources.

Based on the empirical findings and three theories on ecological responsiveness, this study develops a conceptual framework for implementing carbon footprint analysis in the accommodation context and recommends strategies to increase the adoption of carbon footprint analysis.

This study responds to Chan and Hsu's (2016) call for further research on carbon footprint in the hotel context and represents the first attempt to explore the drivers and barriers specifically associated with implementing carbon footprint analysis in the accommodation sector.

This paper provides a comprehensive view about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Austrian family firms. In detail, the conceptual understanding, motives for, institutionalisation, planning and the outcomes of CSR are investigated. The authors refer to socioemotional wealth and stewardship aspects as explanation approaches for CSR in family firms.

This study offers new insights into CSR in Austrian family firms based on qualitative data from 30 companies.

The findings demonstrate that despite numerous social, environmental and economic activities, referral to CSR is just in the beginning, indicating a lack of dissemination of the concept of CSR. The main motives for CSR engagement are image and reputation concerns, a strengthened regional embeddedness and employee-related improvements. Social CSR activities concerning employees and the close company surroundings dominate, whilst environmental CSR measures are often determined by the need for fulfilling the requirements of eco-certifications.

This paper contributes to the existing CSR literature by offering deeper insights into CSR in Austrian family firms (e.g. motives and outcomes of CSR), which are discussed under socioemotional wealth and stewardship aspects. Moreover, a broad range of implications for future research and corporate practice (e.g. family firms, owning family, policy) are discussed.

This paper investigates the incentives to coffee farmers to participate in certification schemes that require improved agricultural practices.

The authors ran a choice experiment among 250 Brazilian coffee farmers in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The authors’ findings show that both cash and non-cash payments are likely to incentive farmers' participation in a certification scheme. Besides price premium, incentives as long-term contracts and provision of technical would encourage producers to adopt eco-certification schemes. Our results also suggest that non-cash payments may be appropriate substitutes to a price premium to some extent.

The large coffee producers are over-represented in our sample compared to the population of Brazilian coffee farms. However, it seems reasonable to focus on these producers, as they are usually the ones who individually adopt strategies, since small farmers are induced by collective strategies (e.g. cooperatives).

The result regarding technical assistance makes sense given that Brazilian farmers generally have poor access to rural extension services.

We contributed in the literature about adoption of sustainable agriculture practices analyzing the requirements and motivations for farmer participation in certification schemes. We also contribute private and public strategies to encourage the adoption of sustainable practices.

The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the success of enterprise development activities initiated by a voluntary organization working in Kanyakumari District of India.

The paper was prepared in discussion with rural artisans and staff of voluntary organization.

It was found that the indigenous palm candy production gave better livelihood for the Nadar community whose prime occupation is harvesting of palm products. Even though the community was in the lowest ebb of the society, proper enterprise capacity building, value addition to palm product like palm candy, marketing and access to credit have paved way for the development of the community. The institutions promoted by Palmyrah Workers Development Society catered to the enterprise intervention of the community thereby increasing the income level of the families. Even though globalization is a threat for rural artisan products, the concept of green and fair trade is providing avenues for rural enterprise.

The study was restricted within a particular community and within a given geographical area.

Even though palm candy is having good market at international market, quality control and eco‐certification is a problem at field level.

The paper illustrates how a backward community has developed enterprise skills and achieved better livelihood options.

This paper aims to provide a review of hotel performance within the hospitality and tourism research domain. The authors use network analysis to examine two research questions. The first relates to ascertaining general trends within the hotel performance literature, and the second focuses on identifying the salient streams and sub-topics.

Articles were selected according to three criteria: keywords, journals and year of publication. The analysis embraces 20 years (1996-2015). These choices assure a wide coverage of the literature. Using these three criteria, the sample includes 1,155 papers. For the analysis, the authors created a network of papers designated as nodes, and the citations among the papers as links. A network approach recognizes the internal structure of the network by identifying groups of nodes (papers) that are more densely connected between themselves than to other nodes within the network (modules, clusters or communities).

The authors found 761 papers that were “connected” studies within the network. By contrast, 34 per cent of the sample (394 papers) consists of “unconnected” studies. Excluding outliers, the net sample was 734 articles. The authors identify 14 clusters, which they break down into several sub-topics. The authors conclude by providing some conclusions regarding trends and future research directions. With regards to salient topics, cross-citation and network analysis provide a detailed picture of where the literature comes from and where it currently stands. Conclusions are articulated at the theoretical and empirical levels.

Compared with previous hotel performance reviews, the approach followed by this study enables the discovery of an analytical research map, which is able to identify both clusters and sub-topics populating each segment. Researchers are able to position their work and identify issues that are in growth and decline.