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This study aims to investigate the influence and impacts of stakeholders on the awareness and attitudes towards environmental management practices (EMPs) among hotel managers in Malaysia.

A total of 159 hotel managers participated in the survey. Structural equation modelling using the partial least squares (PLS) technique was used to test the hypotheses.

Owners and regulators influence hotel managers' environmental awareness and attitudes and their adoption of EMPs. Managers with a greater environmental awareness are more likely to adopt basic EMPs, while those with a greater environmental attitude are more likely to adopt advanced EMPs. In addition, stakeholder influence on managers' awareness and attitudes differs for hotels with and without an environmental policy.

Other types of accommodation and stakeholders, demographic variations of hotels and different data collection methods could provide additional insights into the hotel sustainability issue.

Coercion may be needed to translate hotel managers' environmental awareness and attitudes into practices. Therefore, regulators should provide rules and penalties to enforce mandatory requirements and incentives to encourage environmental sustainability initiatives.

The joint effort among stakeholders could create a societal norm that appreciates and maintains a sustainable environment and tourism industry.

This study emphasises the importance of stakeholder salience theory to understand the association between stakeholder influence on managers' awareness and attitudes and the adoption of EMPs by hotels in Malaysia. It is one of only a handful of studies that focuses on stakeholders' influence on environmental stewardship from managers' perspectives.

The gravity theory of trade explains the potential for trade between nations, but its application to trade in halal food has been questioned by previous studies. This study aims to investigate this issue and the role of trading partners’ economic strength and their distance from one another to identify Malaysia’s potential to export food to key halal markets.

The gravity theory of trade was used to examine Malaysia’s top 10 food exports to key halal markets from 2000–2017. The gravity panels were estimated using the Hausman-Taylor modelling technique to control for endogeneity within the model.

The application of the gravity theory of trade to a halal market context provides mixed results. Although the high economic strength (gross domestic product) of the trading partners enhances halal trade, the distance between the partners does not affect the volume of halal food exports. Moreover, the study identifies Malaysia’s potential to export only a few food commodities to key halal markets.

This study challenges the applicability of the gravity theory of trade to the halal food market. The study extends the model with additional controls for behavioural aspects and applies it to commodity-specific segregated trade in halal food. The findings underscore the need to extend the theory beyond its current focus when explaining trade opportunities in halal markets.