Green attributes of restaurants: Do consumers, owners, and managers think alike?
Section snippets
Introduction: the research background
Green practices, as a “value-added business strategy,” can greatly benefit a hospitality company (Kim et al., 2018). Research has reported that a hospitality business’ green initiatives will (a) attract consumers’ attention (Schubert et al., 2010), (b) make sustainable impacts on the natural environment (DiPietro et al., 2013; Dutta et al., 2008), (c) lower its operating costs (Susskind, 2014), (d) improve its corporate image and customer review ratings (Peiró-Signes et al., 2014; Namkung and
Method
The current research is designed to contrast restaurant stakeholders’ perceptions of green initiatives and expectations about consumers’ patronage behavioral intentions. A cross-sectional survey method that allows for measuring attitudes and expectations/intentions as well as for quantitatively comparing responses is deemed appropriate to address the proposed questions. To answer RQ1, we adopted the 12 green practices of restaurants that were identified and tested by Kwok et al. (2016) in a
Sample demographics
Males comprised 51.3% of the sample. The sample was predominantly White (78.7%; managers: 71.3%; owners: 82.5%; consumers: 80.1%). Nearly 59% had received a bachelor’s degree or more advanced education. The sample ranged in age from 18 to 82 years old, with an average age of 40.14 (SD = 13.80).
Stakeholder differences in perceived importance of green attributes
To answer RQ1, we adopted the Huynd-Feldt correction procedure (Huynd-Feldt epsilon=.74) in the factorial repeated-measures ANOVA after performing the Mauchly’s sphericity test (Mauchly’s W=.18, χ2
Implications
Referring to the stakeholder theory, we designed a study to compare the perceptions held by the three key stakeholders regarding the important green attributes of a restaurant within one research setting. The results add new insights to the literature by identifying the perception gaps among the three stakeholders. It is important to note that what restaurant owners/managers believe may not necessarily align with what consumers truly value. For example, while owners highly valued serving
Disclosures
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Acknowledgement
We highly appreciate Lanlan Hu’s assistance in the data collection process of this study. This study was funded with internal funds made available by both the authors’ institutions.
Linchi Kwok, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). He received an M.S. and a Ph.D. degree in Hospitality Administration at Texas Tech University, as well as an MBA at Syracuse University. His research interests include information technology and service operations.
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Linchi Kwok, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). He received an M.S. and a Ph.D. degree in Hospitality Administration at Texas Tech University, as well as an MBA at Syracuse University. His research interests include information technology and service operations.
Yung-Kuei Huang, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Leisure Industry and Health Promotion at National I-Lan University, Taiwan. He received an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. degree in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from National Chengchi University, Taiwan. His research interests include employee proactivity, consumer-employee interface, and slow tourism.