FOREIGN

Effects of Environmental Awareness on Green Practices: A Study Among Homestay Operators in

Selangor

1.
Review Environmental changes and the effects that occur as a result of human daily activities
are a major issue affecting the ecological system. Increasing the awareness of each individual on
the importance of preserving and conserving the environment is the foundation that would lead
to the love for the environment. Environmental awareness has a broad meaning; it not only
implies knowledge of the environment but also the attitudes, values and skills needed to solve
problems related to the environment. Moreover, awareness of the environment is an initial step
that leads to more responsible behavior (Sengupta, Das, & Maji, 2010). This awareness of green
practices has greatly influenced several sectors of the economy and with no exception, to the
tourism sector as well (Andereck, 2008; Tsai, Wu & Wang, 2014). Entrepreneurs in this economic
sector have begun to focus on green practices that can minimise resource consumption, reduce
waste and subsequently eliminate environmental pollution. Moreover, the hospitality and
accommodation sector is one of the sectors in the tourism industry that contributes
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 10,
2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 908 significantly to environmental issues, especially
during production and through day-to-day operations, involving the consumption of resources
such as water and energy (Chikita, 2012; Nezakati, View, & Nezakati, 2015; Zengeni, Zengeni, &
Muzambi, 2013). Homestay is a community-based industry that offers tourists a natural
experience in the local rural lifestyle (Jabil Mapjabil, Siti Asma Mohd Rosdi, Munir Shuib, &
Sharmini Abdullah, 2011). Visitors who participate in homestay programmes will experience for
themselves the peacefulness of the countryside as well as enjoy the deliciousness and diversity
of traditional food in Malaysia. Previous studies have shown that there are three core
components of green practices - energy management, waste management, and water
conservation (Chan, Wong, & Lo, 2009; Mensah, 2006; Styles, Schönberger, & Martos, 2013;
Zhao, 2011). Due to energy consumption in homestays and other accommodation requiring high
costs, energy management is the most important practice to control electricity consumption in
hotels without compromising customer satisfaction (ICF International, 2008; Kannan & Kannan,
2016; Mendes & Santos, 2014). In the accommodation sector, water is used for bathing, hygiene
requirements, cleaning, laundry, cooking, drinking and gardening, among others (Alonso-
Almeida, 2012; Bohdanowicz, 2006). However, according to Bohdanowicz (2006),
accommodation operators only monitor water expenditure as a whole without paying attention
to each part of consumption due to lack of adequate monitoring and reporting. Moreover, this
waste management weakness tends to produce greenhouse gases (GHG) (Rüd & Marth, 2012).
Therefore, water conservation is also an effective practice to preserve the environment.
Garbage heaps from the tourism industry, especially from the accommodation sector, are
considered one of the negative effects on the environment (Radwan, Jones, & Minoli, 2012;
Zorpas, Lasaridi, Voukkali, & Loizia, 2012). According to Wang (2012) and Mensah (2006), waste
management is recognised as a green practice that promotes the protection of environmental
quality, image formation, organisational reputation, and cost efficiency in the accommodation
sector. Doody (2009) also identified several barriers to implementing green practices in the
 hotel and accommodation industry, such as lack of knowledge among hotel operators or
homestay operators on environmental issues and strategies, managerial attitudes, employee
support, financial problems, customer attitudes, operations and law. Environmental knowledge
is a term used to imply knowledge of environmental problems and possible solutions to them
(Zsoka, Szerenyi, Szechy, & Kocsis, 2013) In addition, the study conducted by Sabri & Teoh
(2006) was to determine the relationship between environmental awareness and practices in
conserving the environment. The study was conducted on 80 employees of Schmidt
BioMedTech Sdn Bhd. The findings of the study proved that more than 70% of respondents have
a high level of concern for the environment. However, the level of green consumption practice
was still shown to be moderate. Environmental studies conducted in higher education
institutions show that the awareness and level of practice among students in Malaysia is at a
good level (Zurina & Norjan, 2003). However, students' willingness to practice environmental
practices is still low. The findings of this study are in line with the study of Abu Samah (2008)
who stated that students have a good awareness of environmental problems but this awareness
is not translated into actual practice. Based on a study conducted by Safari, Salehzadeh, Panalhi
& Abolghasemian (2018), it was shown that environmental knowledge and awareness influence
the green behaviour of individuals. This means that as environmental knowledge and awareness
increases within an organisation, green behaviour also increases. Their study also found that
individual attitudes, environmental commitment and green practice commitment also influence
an individual's green behaviour.

2. Examining the influence of restaurant green practices on customer return intention (2009)
Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2009

Recently, concerns for the environment seem to be too little too late, one must consider that
the issues surrounding this expanding concept of “green living” has been around for centuries.
Concepts which are known today including conservation, erosion, necessity of reduction of use
and others have all been seen before. Information which was gathered then is in some ways the
starting point for what environmentalism is today The concept of environmentalism in its
rudimentary form can be traced back to the 14th century when the word “conservancy” was
first adopted in Britain (Grove, 2002). Then the word referred strictly to regulating fisheries and
navigation in a river or port but today the concept of conservancy has led to conservation which
is most commonly used in conjunction with references to the environment (Merriam Webster
Online Dictionary, 2008a). In an attempt to gain an understanding of environmentalism today
and how the restaurant industry has achieved a “green” outlook, we must examine the history
of environmentalism and the legislation which has brought us to where we are as a country
today. In the 14th century Britain was responding to the early consequences of merchant
capitalism and global trading which consequently had a negative effect on precious natural
resources. Conservation became an important concept when sugar and other intensive crops
were grown on islands, specifically around the Indian Ocean including the East and West Indies.
This led to soil erosion and drought which was thought to be caused by the lack of nutrients in
the soil from constant production. While major 7 production had begun to take its toll in the
West and East Indies, the Caribbean had already been in the throes of the effects of
 globalization (Grove, 2002). Globalization and environmental concerns worked hand in hand as
the need to develop impeded on land, natural resources and wildlife. Globalization in its early
phases involves the extinction of small indigenous cultures and the import of foreign animals to
work the land and provide food, clothing and a means of preservation. This method of taking
over a place, specifically islands contributed to the extinction of the indigenes of the Canary
Islands and the Dodo bird. This far reaching concept would eventually begin to threaten these
islands as watering and supply stations for travelling ships which would spark the colonial
governments to take action to ensure survival, not only of themselves but of the island and its
agricultural production (Grove, 2002). A series of studies relating to deforestation, pollution and
climate control, marine life conservation and tree planting were conducted by two French
authors, Pierre Poivre and Bernardin de Saint Pierre. Poivre and Saint Pierre outlined their
specific environmental concerns on the island they inhabited in the French colony of Mauritius.
Their research and achievements concerning the environment were later used in the Caribbean
to aid with similar problems of drought, deforestation and over development (Grove, 2002).
Environmentalism in America According to Gordon MacDonald, the first time many American
heard about air pollution was through comedian Jack Benny and his radio show during which
“he made numerous jokes about Los Angeles smog and its impacts of people and pigeons”
(MacDonald, 2003). While Jack Benny’s jokes were purely meant for entertainment a real
problem was lurking and not only in southern California but also in other valleys 8 across the
country. Air pollution was recognized as a real threat that proved to have deadly consequences
in Donora, Pennsylvania in 1948 when 20 people died and 600 were hospitalized due to
industrial air pollution (MacDonald, 2003). This incident in particular which was sparked by the
manufacturing and industrial sectors specifically impacted the automobile and industrial
manufacturing industries and began a long list of regulations which we see in effect today with
the advent of hybrid cars and nuclear power plants (MacDonald, 2003). While the first
legislation for air pollution was passed by Congress in 1955 it wasn’t until 1969 that a
government agency was placed in charge of defining regulations concerning the environment.
The development of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969 gave way to the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) which
aided in regulation development, and allocated specific environmental responsibilities to
different Departments within the government. Pesticide regulations therefore fell to the
Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare which would
provide internal checks and balances to avoid having the advocates for pesticides use from
determining their regulations (MacDonald, 2003). Since 1955 there have been many changes in
environmental policy. Whether it be concerning DDT(a pesticide which was once widely used to
control insects in agriculture and insects that carry diseases) which was banned in 1972, or the
passing of several pollution, clean air, clean water and energy acts. It is safe to say that the
environment has become more of an issue today than it was in the past (Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry, 2007).

3. A perceptual study of the impact of green practices implementation on the business function
Bized 2010: 1; Bosch, Tait & Venter 2006: 32; Ghorpade 2004: 235; Seese, Weinhardt & Schlottmann
2008: v) use different classifications for the business functions. These classifications assisted the
researchers in grouping the functions into six logical groups so as to eliminate duplication of activities, as
well as to simplify the analysis of the empirical results. The functions were grouped as follows:
manufacturing/operations; marketing/sales; purchasing/supply chain management; distribution/logistics;
finance/information technology; and general management/human resources. Table 1 outlines the impact
of going green on the business functions, based on the literature study conducted.
Enter
Although various authors (for example, Chan 2000: 7; Frooman 2005: 3; Peattie 2001: 129) have
attempted to investigate green business practice implementation and the role played by demographical
variables, contradictory results have been reported. Ferraro (2009) is of the opinion that being ‘green’ and
green concerns are extremely diverse and that not all environmentally responsible businesses are the
same. This often makes it difficult to define green businesses and consumers; however, demographical
variables could assist in explaining what constitute a green business or consumer. Gilg, Barr and Ford
(2005: 481) concur that putting aside the arguments relating to the definition of ‘green’, limited research
has been done to assess the influence of demographic variables on green practice implementation.
D’Souza, Taghian and Khosla (2007: 69) investigated consumer’s intention to purchase green products
and businesses’ green purchasing systems and found that demographic profiles could play an important
role. Chitra (2007: 173) states that due to increased awareness of green business practices, there is a need
for businesses to implement green elements in their product profile and recommends that the influence of
demographic variables should be investigated. Despite these claims, Williams (2005) argues that there is
little evidence that demographics influence green business practice implementation perceptions.

4. THE GREEN RESTAURANT IN PRACTICE: EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR TOWARDS

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE May, 2014

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The environment is being attacked daily by human life and
restaurants are a part of the problem (Choi & Parsa, 2007). To remedy this problem, restaurants
are now promoting and implementing sustainability initiatives (Choi & Parsa, 2007). Americans
are beginning to view sustaining the environment as a lifestyle rather than an issue, which
increases the need for restaurants to incorporate sustainability initiatives into their companies
(Goodland, 1996). Environmental sustainability is an important practice for the restaurant
industry in the United States because restaurants generate great amounts of waste, use a large
amount of energy, and deplete natural resources to operate (Barclay, 2012; U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 2010). Restaurants add to the attack of the environment through operation,
construction, and design. The waste that restaurants produce includes: food waste, paper &
paperboard, plastics, metals, and glass (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). In the
United States, food waste is the greatest contributor to landfills and incinerators with the
restaurant industry 2 accounting for 15% of that food waste (Barclay, 2012). Over 36 million
tons of food waste was generated in 2011, with only 4% of that amount composted and not
hitting the landfills or incinerators (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012a). Restaurants
also account for a large sector of commercial buildings in the United States and are three times
more energy exhaustive per square foot than other commercial buildings (U.S. Department of
Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2013). A large amount of consumption in
restaurants is due to the long hours of operation, large amounts of equipment, and demand;
however, most of this consumption is often wasteful (Sustainable Foodservice Consulting, 2013).
Reducing waste and energy usage in restaurants is a vital issue needing to be addressed by the
hospitality industry because restaurants are contributing to the problems of depleting the
Earth’s resources. Restaurants have found many ways to introduce environmentally friendly
initiatives, but a challenge in the hospitality industry is changing the behavior and mindset of the
employees (Checkley-Layton, 1997). Employees must be willing to follow the initiative policies
and truly believe the ideal of environmentalism in order to really make a change (Sirota,
Mischkind, & Meltzer, 2005). The success of the initiative depends on the employee response
and without the support of the employees, the restaurants’ sustainability initiatives will not be
successful (Govindarajulu & Daily, 2004). The Theory of Planned Behavior states that broad job
attitudes impact specific job attitudes, which lead to intention of behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Job
attitudes can predict important behavior, such as employee performance and employee
deviance, but are not exactly intentions to engage in behavior (Judge & Kammeyer- Mueller,
2012). Job attitudes are one’s feelings toward, views about, and connection to one’s job and the
attitude of job satisfaction is the expression of gratification and positive feelings about one’s job
(Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). Attitudes toward a behavior can predict intention, which
predicts action including the action to properly follow policy and procedures (Judge &
Kammeyer- Mueller, 2012). Using this logic, it is 3 assumed in this study that employees who
have a positive attitude towards the sustainability initiative will support and uphold the policies
and programs of the initiative. Employee values that do not equal the organization’s values are
less satisfied in their jobs (Edwards & Cable, 2009). It is assumed in this study, that employees
who value environmental sustainability and work in companies that also value environmental
sustainability will have higher job satisfaction. Higher employee affect toward the organization
will lead to supportive behaviors for the organization (Lee, Wong, Foo, & Leung, 2011). This
study assumes that employees who are environmental ambassadors will behave positively in
restaurants that hold the same beliefs about the environment and uphold the environmental
sustainability initiatives. Environmental sustainability is defined as maintaining or at least not
depleting natural capital, which includes environmental assets such as soil, atmosphere, forests,
water, and wetlands that deliver a stream of useful goods and services which can be renewable
or nonrenewable, and marketed or non-marketed (Goodland, 1996). The restaurant industry
can focus on environmental sustainability through responsible procurement, efficient building
and materials, waste management, water conservation, and energy management (Lewis,
Cacciola, & Dennill, 2011). The North American Industry Classification System (2012) defines
restaurants as an establishment primarily engaged in providing food services to patrons
including all full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, cafeterias, grill buffets, buffets,
snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars, bagel shops, carryout restaurants, and buffet eating
places. Restaurants in this study will be based on this definition
 5. BUSINESS: CHALLENGES AND PRACTICES

The literature provides different lists of the characteristics that de ne

green consumers. Some authors distinguish four types of consumer characteristics – de-
mographic, socio-economic, psychographic, and behavioral (Kotler et al., 2005), while
others denote ve types – demographic, knowledge, values, attitudes, and behavior
(Laroche et al., 2001). Still others name habits, personal capabilities, values, beliefs
and norms as the most important green consumer characteristics (Jansson et al., 2010).
The environmental marketing research has not provided consistent results concerning
relationships between the particular consumer characteristics and the environmentally
friendly behavior and does not support the idea of a “typical” consumer involved with
environmental issues in either non-purchase conservation behavior or in green purchase
consumption pattern.
The consumer’s main demographic characteristics are age and gender. Research con-
ducted in 1996 indicated that a green consumer was older than the average, while other
research done several years later, in 1999, have produced the exactly opposite result –
younger than the average (Getzner, Grabner-Krauter, 2004). In terms of gender differ-
ences, some studies have led to the conclusion that females are more environmentally
aware, while others found males to be more inclined to pay extra money for a green
product. Then again, some studies did not indicate any signicant relationship between
green consumption and gender (Laroche et al., 2001).
As regards consumer’s socio-economic characteristics (income and education),
Sandahl and Robertson (1989) have reported that people with a lower income and educa-
tion level tend to be more inclined towards green consumption. This conclusion has been
conrmed by a later research (Jansson et al., 2010) and indirectly by studies that failed
to nd any positive correlation between green consumption and high household income
or education level (Laroche et al., 2001).
Most researchers conclude that demographic variables have the least in uence on the
green shift in the consumer’s opinion, and that psychographic characteristics – knowl-
edge, attitudes, and values – are more helpful for understanding the ecologically friendly
consumer behavior. The knowledge of environmental issues is also known as “ecolitera-
cy”. Examination of inuence on consumer behavior leads to controversial conclusions.
Several studies have shown that there is a signicant link between consumer’s behavior
and environmental knowledge, while others have conrmed the opinion that knowledge
is weakly related to green purchases (as reported by Getzner, Grabner-Krauter, 2004;
Laroche et al., 2001). The decision to “go green” is strongly inuenced by the attitudes
of importance and convenience. Firstly, individuals’ cognition of environmental prob-
lems must be important for themselves, and secondly, “going green” should not be per-
ceived as inconvenient in terms of lifestyle changes or additional costs (Laroche et al.,
2001). Moreover, the behavior is inuenced by habits, thus adding the attitudinal factor
78
to the actual behavior (Jansson et al., 2010). Two major values that inuence individuals’
environmental behavior are individualism and collectivism. Individualists tend to com-
pete with others and usually pay no attention to the public benet of their actions. On the
contrary, collectivists try to make the environment better for everyone and pay attention
to other people’s attitudes (Jansson et al., 2010).
Environmentally aware consumers can, again, act either individually or collectively.
The individual green behavior manifests itself in personal decisions whether to act in a
green way (e.g., recycle) and to pay more for a green product, or not. Collective action
is taken through associations – non-governmental associations (NGOs) which in turn
contribute to fostering the environmental awareness of the general public. Furthermore,
by rising concerns about the harmful effects of particular industrial activities and pro-
moting environmentally safe practices, NGOs exert a social pressure on businesses and
governments

6. Effects of restaurant green practices: Which pr actices: Which practices ar actices are
important and effective?
University of las vegas

Literature Review Green study in the hospitality industry Similar to the stream of general green
product consumption studies, examining behavioral and psychological aspects of hotel and
restaurant customers’ eco-friendly decision making processes have received attention from
researchers in resent hospitality industry studies. Han et al. (2009) examined the formation of
hotel customer’s intentions to visit a green hotel using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior
(1991). Their result showed that all of the predictors-attitude, subjective norm, and perceived
behavioral control had positive effects on customers’ intention to stay at a green hotel. They
also found out that there were no statistical difference of the paths in between eco-friendly
activists and non activists. In the study of the restaurant industry, Dutta, Umashankar, Choi, and
Parsa, (2008) estimated customers’ green practice orientation in two different countries-India
and U.S. by investigating the customers’ psychological factors. The result showed that
consumers in the U.S. had a higher degree of involvement in environmentally and socially
responsible practices in restaurants, which had the most significant effect on consumers’
willingness to pay up to 10% or higher on menu price for green practices. In contrast, Indian
consumers had a higher degree of involvement in health and it led them to pay more than 10%
or higher on menu price. This study provides very practical application to a restaurant manager.
Also, to maximize the profits, cultural aspect should be considered when restaurant managers
adopt the green practices. Choi and Parsa (2006) focused on the managers’ attitude to engage in
green practices. They investigated the relationship between restaurant mangers’ psychological
attributes, composed by attitudes, preferences and involvement regarding green practice, and
their willingness to charge for green practice. Unlike the majority of green studies, this study
examined mangers’ attitude toward ecological behavior in hospitality management. Also, their
study provided a unique point of view as to how pricing decisions regarding green practice can
be explained by the level of the managers’ psychological factors. The result suggested that
willingness to charge higher prices, for performing a socially responsible practice was
significantly influenced by managers’ preferences and their involvement in such practices.
However, managers’ attitude toward GP had little or no effect on managers’ willingness to
increase prices for performing a socially responsible practice. This study provided a neat
conceptual framework for green practices in the restaurant. They contended that green
practices were composed with three perspectives: health concern, environmental concern, and
social concern. While many marketing studies indicate that green practices can be one of the
main components of social concern, non-green social concerns (e.g. fair human resource
practices) should not be included in the study of green practices. Researchers should identify
what green practices are, and GP categories should be re-addressed for future study. Gustin and
Weaver (1996) studied customers’ intentions to stay in a hotel based on the environmental
strategies used by the hotel. By using a modified environmental behavioral model (Hines,
Hungerfor, & Tomera, 1987) which included customers’ knowledge about environmental issues,
customers’ attitudes toward environmental strategies and their perceived self- efficacy, they
measured hotel customers’ intention to purchase a night at the hotel that conducted green
practices. Their result showed that three components in the environmental behavioral model
had a positive relationship with intention to purchase. The unique thing about this study was
that they tried to identify the green practices that could elicit the customers’ behavioral
intention. This was the first study that attempted to examine what customers really thought
about green practices and their expectations of such practices in the hotel industry. It provided
the insight to help operators design services in a more customer-oriented way, but the
employed methodological approach of using a single question to estimate a direct positive
relationship between favorable attitude toward each green practice and customers’ behavioral
intention needs to be proved quantitatively. Only limited research on the study of green
practices has been done in the hospitality industry, especially in the restaurant industry. Studies
regarding consumer mental image of green companies in the restaurant industry has not been
done yet. Also, despite the fact that many business owners believe that the image of companies
can be improved through executing green practices and that improved image can eventually
affect the customers approach behavior, there has not been a study that has attempted to
examine the image effect of green practices. Green Customers As people have been recognizing
the seriousness of environmental problems, they are becoming more ecologically conscious and
seeking to purchase products or services that are environmentally friendly (Han et al., 2009).
According to Ryan (2006), Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about the
environment. The percentage of Americans who worry about the environment and are
concerned about environmental issues has increased from 62% to 77% over two years (between
2004 and 2006). About 80% of Americans are currently buying green products regularly or
sometimes. 12 percent of Americans are true greens and 68 percent are light greens (Hanas,
2007). In the green studies, many researchers have sought to identify ‘green customers’ in
demographic, psychographic, and behavioral aspects. The International Institute for Sustainable
Development (IISD) describes the common attitude and belief about green customers. According
to IISD, green customers are people who commit to green lifestyles, are serious about their own
green practices and their impacts, and support the companies incorporating green practice.
They tend to overemphasize their green behavior, and they want environmental protection to
be easy. Unexpectedly, they lack knowledge about environmental issues, but they are eager to
learn them. The IISD also provided some broad generalizations regarding the demographic
characteristics of green customers. They are young adults who are influenced by their young
children. Women tend to be more pro-environmental than men, and the best green customers
are those with money to spend (Ryan, 2006). Other studies added more demographical
characteristics (level of education and place of residence) to distinguish green customers from
others. Many studies’ result indicated that the level of education is positively correlated with
environmental concerns and behaviors, and people with a high level of education were likely to
have more ecological concern and behavior (Schwartz & Miller, 1991; Zimmer, Stafford, &
Stafford, 1994). Some researchers have considered the correlation between place of residence
and environmental concern (Schwartz & Miller, 1991; Zimmer et al., 1994). People living in
urban areas are less likely to show more favorable attitudes to environmental issues. In
 Straughan and Roberts (1999) study of environmental segmentation, they emphasized the
importance of psychographic measure to identify green customers. Researchers mentioned that
psychographic variables provide a stronger and more useful profile of green consumption than
demographic variables. Their finding was that perceived customer effectiveness (PCE) toward
solving environmental problems was the most important correlate of ecologically conscious
customer behavior (ECCB). Perceived customer effectiveness (PCE) is consumers’ attitudes or
beliefs that “individuals can positively influence the outcome to such problems” (Straughan &
Roberts, 1999, p. 562). It measures the degree that a customer can have an impact on saving the
environment. This component is generally accepted as one of the most important components
regarding the perdition of green customers’ behavior intention. In green studies, customers who
indicate a high level of PCE show greater levels of green purchases (Chan & Lau, 2000; do Paco,
Arminda, Raposo, & Lino, 2009; Gilg et al., 2005; Gustin & Weaver, 1996; Straughan & Roberts,
1999).

7. The importance of green practices for hotel guests: does gender matter?

. Review of the literature and hypotheses

2.1. Green practices

The green concept is attracting more and more attention from both companies and consumers and has
acquired greater relevance in recent years (Han & Kim, 2010). Given this phenomenon, today more and
more hotels are incorporating green practices in their daily activities to minimize their environmental
impact (Martínez García de Leaniz et al., 2018; Verma & Chandra, 2018). These practices have been
defined as “environmentally friendly, that is, doing business in a way that reduces waste, conserves
energy, and generally promotes environmental health” (Rahman et al., 2012, p. 721).

Noteworthy environmental measures developed by hotels include the following: water savings through
towel and sheet reuse programs or the use of low-flow faucets and showers; energy savings through the
implementation of light sensors or the replacement of central air conditioning with individual air
conditioning; ecological purchases such as environmental friendly cleaning products or food from local
growers and producers; reducing waste emissions through the use of rechargeable soap dispensers or
recycling containers; and environmental education promotion (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2017). Authors
such as Kasimu et al. (2012) have classified green practices into four groups: energy management, waste
management, water savings and general support for green practices. In contrast, Kim et al. (2012)
classified such practices into five programs: (1) solid waste and water in rooms, (2) energy, (3) solid
waste and water in cleaning, (4) water saving options for customers and (5) biodiversity.

Reasons in support of the implementation of environmental initiatives in the hotel sector include the
following: competition (Kularatne et al., 2019), improving competitive position in the market (Yadav &
Pathak, 2016; Yi et al., 2018), demonstrating better social responsibility and good reputation (Chen
et al., 2018), reducing costs (Bohner & Schlüter, 2014) or complying with government regulations
designed to protect the environment (Han, 2015).
However, research on consumer behavior has shown that one of the most important motivations for hotels
to adopt green practices are customers (Kularatne et al., 2019), as consumers are increasingly concerned
about the problems related to climate change (Juvan & Dolnicar, 2017; Rahman et al., 2012). In this
respect, several authors have shown that tourists are willing to give up a certain degree of comfort and
luxury to support hotels that have adopted environmentally-friendly initiatives (Kim & Han, 2010;
Manaktola & Jauhari, 2007) and even to make certain financial sacrifices (Kim et al., 2017; Yusof
et al., 2017). In their work, García-Pozo et al. (2019) show that environmental commitment by hotel
establishments, and therefore their greater environmental awareness, is highly relevant to Andalusian
consumers. In contrast, other studies have demonstrated that, although consumers are aware of
environmental issues, not all of them are familiar with the environmental measures implemented by hotels
(Gil-Soto et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2018). In this sense, the main results of the study of Gil-Soto et al.
(2019) suggest that even though customers perceive green efforts regarding six items (i.e. energy, water,
purchasing, waste, site and education and innovation), they do not discern hotels' level of environmental
commitment. Moreover, according to Yi et al. (2018), some guests feel that hotels use green initiatives as
a promotional instrument or to improve the firm performance. Many consumers are only aware of the
concept of "eco-friendly hotels" and, consequently, do not consider eco-friendly practices as a priority
when choosing a hotel, preferring conventional hotels (Choi et al., 2015).

8. Effects of green practices on guest satisfaction and loyalty

Consequents of “green” practices in hospitality: satisfaction and loyalty Recent studies have examined
the impact of hotel firms' environmental practices on guest satisfaction (Lee and Heo, 2009; Berezan et
al., 2013; Gao and Mattila, 2014) and loyalty in terms of hotel revisit and intention to generate word-of-
mouth (WOM) communications (Han and Kim, 2010; Ham and Han, 2013; Gao and Mattila, 2014; Chen,
2015). Satisfaction has been considered a determinant factor in business success and is one of the
concepts that has recently awoken most interest in the service industry in general and the hotel industry
in particular. In the literature, satisfaction has been defined from a variety of cognitive and/or affective
approaches. The cognitive perspective implies comparison between sacrifice (cost) and reward
(benefits) consumers perceive during and after their service experience (Oliver, 1980; Chitty et al.,
2007). In contrast, from an affective approach, satisfaction is defined as an affective response of
differing intensity, focused on specific aspects of acquisition and/or consumption which take place when
the customer evaluates the product and/or service (Giese and Cote, 2000). Thus satisfaction refers to
the global affective response after the experience with the service (Oliver, 1980). In the context of
hotels, given that the services offered to customers are more than just accommodation itself, authors
like Pizam and Ellis (1999, p.330) state that “satisfaction with a hospitality experience is a sum total of
satisfactions with the individual elements or attributes of all the products and services that make up the
experience”. Previous studies report that "green" initiatives can increase satisfaction if tourists perceive
good quality service or that, rather than saving money, such initiatives are aimed at reducing the
negative impact of daily activities on the environment, thereby helping society to combat climate
change (Lee and Heo, 2009; Berezan et al., 2013; Gao and Mattila, 2014). In contrast, Robinot and
Giannelloni (2010) argue that the contribution of hotel “green” practices to guest satisfaction depends
on the type of action; in this sense, even if environmental friendly practices are in general positively
evaluated, guests consider the reuse of sheets and towels as a "basic" attribute they expected from
hotels and that the absence of that attribute negatively influenced their satisfaction. Furthermore, their
study shows that if a hotel uses clean, renewable energy sources, customers consider it to be a "plus"
attribute that increases their level of satisfaction. In addition to satisfaction, customer loyalty is another
objective for firms, especially in competitive environments like the holiday industry and is one of the
most studied variables in the area of consumer behaviour. In the literature, loyalty is understood as a
multidimensional construct with behavioural and attitudinal components. The behavioural perspective
places the emphasis on past experience while the attitudinal perspective is based on future actions.
Some authors like Oliver (1997) clearly take the behavioural approach, defining loyalty as the
commitment to repeat purchase of a product or service in the future. In contrast, other authors consider
that conceptualising loyalty purely from the behavioural perspective prevents differentiating loyal
customers from customers that habitually purchase a product and service and so they add the
attitudinal component that includes favourable attitude towards the supplier leading to intention to
recommend to third parties (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Loyalty and satisfaction are two closely related
constructs, with satisfaction being considered as a positive determinant of consumer loyalty (Anderson
and Srinivasan, 2003; Petrick, 2005; Rauyruen and Miller, 2007). Similarly, Lam et al. (2004) suggest that
customers who feel satisfied with a service can be motivated to purchase it again and recommend it to
others by positive word-of-mouth (WOM). In the hotel context, mixed results have been reported for
the relationship between the two variables. Thus, while some authors consider that satisfaction
positively influences intention to stay in the hotel (Han et al., 2009; Han et al., 2011; Chen, 2015) and
disseminate positive WOM (Lee and Heo, 2009; Han and Kim, 2010; Gao and Mattila, 2014), other
studies, such as the study by Bajs (2015) provide evidence that tourists' future purchase intentions are
not affected by their satisfaction. In view of the existing evidence, we posit: H1: Hotels' "green" practices
positively and significantly affect tourist satisfaction. H2: Tourist satisfaction positively and significantly
influences positive WOM. H3: Tourist satisfaction positively and significantly influences hotel revisit
intention. Various studies have examined the effect of "green" practices on tourist’ revisit retention.

9. HOTELS’ GREEN PRACTICES ADOPTION: DETERMINANTS AND TOP MANAGERS’

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT

The concept of EC provides direction to manager’s behaviors and notably enables the
formulation of green practices in achieving organizational sustainable goals. Managers with high
EC would pay attention to green practices. For instance, Kim et al. (2015) described that EC of
hotels’ general managers encompasses elements, such as dedicated to the environmental
preservation of their organization, provide full support for the environmental program, and the
involvement in the formulation of environmental strategies. The top managers’ EC was essential
in developing management capabilities and has a sizeable effect in fostering the adoption of
green practices, such as waste reduction, green purchases, water, and energy conservation,
environmental training to employees and the minimization of the usage of cleaning products
that are detrimental to the environment (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2017; Bagur-Femenias et al.,
2016; Han et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2015). Prior study revealed that the lack of leaders’
commitment and management support (e.g., Ojo & Fauzi, 2020; Yusof & Jamaludin, 2014) was
among the barriers for the implementation of hotels’ green practices. Managers with stronger
EC play an important role as a catalyst for corporate greening (Kitsis & Chen, 2021; Raineri &
 Paillé, 2016) and they are able to influence employees to partake in proenvironmental behavior
(Tariq et al., 2020). As indicated in the Upper Echelons Theory (Hambrick & Mason, 1984),
several aspects influence top managers’ perception and interpretation of the environment such
as socio-demographic factors, personality, values, experience, and cognition. Top management
needs to evaluate both internal and external environmental factors in making Kuar et al. 162
strategic choices that can affect the organizational performance under the condition of bounded
rationality (Abatecola & Cristofaro, 2020; Bromiley & Rau, 2016; Mensah & Ampolo, 2020).
Cantor et al. (2013) stressed that a high level of organizational support and strong personal
commitment demonstrated by the environmental managers significantly contributes to the
implementation of green initiatives. Moreover, a recent study by Saleem et al. (2020) supported
the positive link between top management commitment and corporate environmental strategy.
This line of reasoning leads to the following hypothesis: H1: Environmental commitment is
positively related to hotels’ green practices.

10. A Description of Green Hotel Practices and Their Role in Achieving Sustainable
Development

. Literature Review
2.1. Sustainable Development
Sustainable development was first introduced in the United Nations’ Brundtland Commission in
1987, known as “Our Common Future”. According to the Brundtland report published by the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), sustainable development is defined as
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs” [24] (p. 41). In line with this, sustainable tourism development is
defined as “an activity that takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and
environmental impacts, addressing, in a befitting manner, the needs of visitors, the industry, and the
environment and host communities” [25] (p. 12). Sustainable tourism should optimally use
environmental resources, ensure viable and long-term economic operations, respect the host
communities and distribute benefits equitably between all stakeholders. In order to achieve sustainable
tourism development, three basic elements need to be aligned: economic growth, social inclusion and
environmental protection. These elements are interrelated, and all are essential to the wellbeing of
individuals and societies. In general, sustainable tourism development can be recognized as a means to
achieve the principles of sustainable development [26,27].

On 25 September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and 17 SDGs with 169
targets as a universal and transformative development strategy were adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly [28]. Through this agenda and its goals, the global community is committed to
achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions (economic development, social and cultural
development and environmental development) in a balanced and incorporated manner [29]. These
dimensions are a powerful tool for achieving sustainable development. If any pillar is weak, the system
as a whole is unsustainable [30,31]. Economic development pertains to job creation, income
enhancement through the multiplier effect, creating new job opportunities and the renewal and
restructuring of urban economies. Social and cultural development focuses on public engagement,
stakeholder cooperation and cultural heritage preservation, and environmental development addresses
the protection of natural resources and assesses and minimizes the impacts on them by encouraging
enterprises to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, besides creating policies to improve water
quality and reduce energy consumption [29].

The 17 SDGs, as illustrated in Figure 1, are defined by [32] as “the blueprint to achieve a better and
more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty,
inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice”. The UN [32] reports that the
sustainable development goals and associated targets are integrated and indivisible, global in nature
and universally applicable, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of
development besides respecting national policies and priorities. The tourism industry is specifically
included as a target in SDG 8, SDG 12 and SDG 14, which relate to inclusive and sustainable economic
growth, sustainable consumption and production and the sustainable use of oceans and marine
resources, respectively. However, tourism, through its spread and influence, can contribute directly or
indirectly to all 17 SDGs [32]. Jones, Hiller and Comfort [32,33] argued that the tourism and hospitality
industry can contribute to the realization of the SDGs while developing a wide range of market
opportunities. For example, in the outline of the contribution of tourism and hospitality to achieving
goal 6 (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all), “tourism
investment requirement for providing utilities can play a critical role in achieving water access and
security, as well as hygiene and sanitation for all. The efficient use of water in tourism, pollution control
and technology efficiency can be key to safeguarding the most precious resource” [32] (p. 16).
Additionally, the tourism and hospitality industry could contribute to achieving goal 12 (Ensure
sustainable consumption and production patterns) by adopting sustainable consumption and production
(SCP) modes and tools, such as efficient technologies for energy and water, including renewable
energies, recycling, waste treatment, pollution reduction, local purchase and enterprises and
community involvement, which monitor sustainable development impacts for tourism and enhance
economic, social and environmental outcomes [32].

Figure 1. The 17 sustainable development goals. Source: [32].

2.2. Green Hotel Practices and Environmental Sustainability
The hotel industry is one of the various components of tourism whose activities cause a serious
threat to the environment owing to its huge consumption of water, energy and non-durable goods along
with the discharge of large amounts of raw and solid waste in various quantities [34]. If these resources
are not managed properly, they will have a negative impact on the environment and the operating costs
of an organization [34,35]. Over the last few years, there have been many forces (i.e., growth of
customers’ environmental awareness, reducing hotels’ negative environmental impacts, building a
positive image and the economic return) that have encouraged the hotel industry to become more
environmentally friendly [36,37]. Consequently, many hotels have begun implementing various
innovative practices to increase the “greenness” of their operations in order to eliminate their
environmental pressure in addition to responding to growing customer environmental concerns [38,39].
The growth of customers’ attention towards environmental sustainability has encouraged hoteliers to
transform their businesses by implementing green practices in their operations which help them in
achieving a competitive advantage and increasing their market share through acquiring guest segments
that are concerned with green sustainability [40,41].

Environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry refers to the balance that must exist
between an activity and the environment in which it is developed, where the two interact without being
detrimental to each other [42]. Jones et al. [33] argued that environmental issues in the hospitality
industry should include water and energy efficiency and conservation, climate change and greenhouse
gas emissions, waste management and recycling, bio-diversity and the protection of natural resources,
the reduction of environmental impacts, environmentally responsible sourcing and the creation of green
construction standards for new hotel construction. Recently, the question of how to manage these
aspects has become a priority due to the growing environmental awareness across society in general
and among tourists in particular [33,43].

Different studies have addressed the positive relationship between environmental sustainability
and the tourist experience. Lee, Hsu, Han & Kim [44] showed that a green image of the hotel promotes a
more favorable intention to revisit and make positive recommendations and a willingness to pay higher
prices. Rogerson & Sims [45] considered that hotels which implement sustainable practices are more
competitive because customers expect to find environmental attributes. Moliner, Monferrer, Estrada &
Rodríguez [46] demonstrated that environmental sustainability has a direct and positive influence on the
customer’s experience in the accommodation and, indirectly, on their satisfaction.

Green practices’ definition in the hospitality industry varies and is associated with different
approaches. Kim, Lee & Fairhurst [47] (p. 236) defined green practices as “a value-added business
strategy that benefits a hospitality operation that engages in environmental protection initiatives”.
Similarly, Rahman, Reynolds & Svaren [48] (p. 721) defined “green” as “environmentally friendly, that is
doing business in a way that reduces waste, conserves energy, and generally promotes environmental
health”. Myung, McClaren & Li [49] stated that green practices aim to reduce the negative impact on the
environment by adopting environmental measures for reducing waste and using sustainable materials
and resources. According to Wolfe and Shanklin [50], green hotel practices refer to measures that
eliminate the negative impact on the environment, i.e., recycling and eco-purchasing. In a similar
manner, “green hotels” are defined as “environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager
to institute programs that save water, save energy, and reduce solid waste—while saving money—to
help protect our one and only earth” [51]. Manaktola and Jauhari [38] (p. 365) defined it as “a less
environmentally damaging property which has made a commitment to various ecologically sound
practices such as saving water, saving energy, and reducing solid waste”.

Despite the fact that green practices in the hospitality industry have been surveyed from different
perspectives, most scholars have identified three reasons for adopting green practices: financial
benefits, customers’ needs and desires and stakeholder relations [22,23,43,52]. On the other hand,
Buunk and van derWerf [21] concluded that the main reasons for adopting eco-label criteria were that
they are better for the environment and good for the image of the hotel. Hsieh [53] and Esparon, Gyuris
& Stoeckl [54] stated that although green practices were primarily introduced as a means of cost
reduction, recently, they have been focused on acquiring a large market share by enhancing
relationships with stakeholders. The adoption of green practices in hospitality operations depends on
internal factors—for example, managerial attitudes and financial strength—and external business
variables, such as environmental regulations and stakeholder pressure [55,56,57].

Currently, the leading international hotel chains are increasingly emphasizing their commitment to
sustainability and are integrating it into their strategic plan [12]. For example, the Intercontinental Hotel
Group [13] reports this commitment as follows: “our policies and standards set out our position on
social, environmental, and ethical issues. We embrace our responsibility to focus on ensuring that the
growth of our business contributes towards the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,
and we believe that using our power of scale and global reach, we can make the biggest contribution to
seven of the goals”. At the same time, Hilton Worldwide [58] describes the value chain target in 2030 as
follows: “By 2030, we are committed to double our investment in social impact and cut our
environmental footprint to half through responsible hospitality across our value chain”. Marriot
International reported in [15] that “from design to the guest experience, sustainability is embedded into
our business strategy. We collaborate with associates, hotel owners, franchisees, brands, suppliers,
business partners, customers, and guests to actively reduce our environmental impact and potential
business risks by constructing and operating sustainable hotels”.

Green practices in the hotel industry mainly include saving energy, reducing water consumption
and waste management and reduction [7,8,9].
2.2.1. Energy Conservation Measures
Energy reduction has been recognized as one of the most significant areas of environmental
management in the hotel industry. Generally, hotels consume huge amounts of fossil fuel energy and
electricity in different operational areas. Based on the literature reviewed, different energy conservation
measures in the hotel industry have been adopted [59,60,61]. These measures include implementing
renewable energy programs (i.e., solar and wind power), installing energy-efficient appliances and
equipment, controlling guestroom energy consumption by using digital thermostats, use of energy star-
qualified products, installation of motion sensors that automatically turn lights off in low-traffic areas,
installation of reflective glass or triple-glazed windows, using energy-efficient light bulbs (LED) and
depending on daylight rather than artificial light when cleaning vacant dirty rooms [62,63,64].
2.2.2. Water Conservation Measures
Water conservation management has been used widely as an important green management
strategy in the hotel sector [65]. Hotels consume intensive amounts of water on daily operation. Water
consumption in the hotel industry depends on the hotel’s size and capacity, occupancy percentage, type
and standard of services and facilities provided [62]. Water conservation measures adopted by the hotel
sector include installing water-efficient devices and appliances (e.g., using low-flow toilets and
showerheads and installing infrared-activated faucets), implementing towel/bed linen reuse programs,
fixing leaks in toilets and baths regularly, watering grass and plants early in the morning and late at night
to limit evaporation, recycling the grey water (water from washing vegetables and fruits) for grass
irrigation and monitoring the water consumption in each department to track usage [16,35,60,66,67].
2.2.3. Waste Management Measures
The hotel industry is regarded as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions by generating a
huge amount of wet waste (e.g., garden waste, food waste and cooking oil waste) and dry waste (e.g.,
cardboard, plastics, cans/metal, linen, paper and other garbage) that is transferred into landfills.
Consequently, hotel operators began adopting various practices that aim at reducing hotel wastes as
follows: separating hotel wastes by using clearly labeled containers and colored bins for collecting
recyclables, purchasing products containing recycled content, collecting organic kitchen wastes
separately for soil composting, purchasing food items and cleaning chemicals in bulk, adopting a donation
program (donating food leftovers and linens to charity) and grinding the remaining guest soaps to use as
laundry detergent [16,68,69].

According to Baynova [70], the practical aspects of achieving sustainability in the hospitality industry
are extremely complex. On the one hand, there is the issue of reevaluating every process that supports
the hotel business, from amenities to distribution, while also seeking means of creating sustainable
luxuries. On the other hand, the cost of this process is a major issue. Sustainability in the hotel industry is
only achievable if proper control is implemented. In order to measure the sustainability success rate, it is
crucial to determine the parameters (energy consumption, water management and waste management)
according to which the operation will be improved. Consequently, the conceptual framework presented
in Figure 2 was developed to illustrate the link between green hotel practices and environment-related
SDGs and associated targets that will be investigated in terms of environmental management
representatives’ perceptions in order to identify to what extent green hotel practices, implemented in
certified four and five Green Star hotels, contribute to achieving sustainable development goals,
especially those related to environmental sustainability.

11. Investigations of important and effective effects of green practices in restaurants

Literature Review
2.1 Green study in the hospitality industry
Similar to the stream of general green product consumption studies, examining behavioural and
psychological
aspects of hotel and restaurant customers’ eco-friendly decision making processes have
received attention from
researchers in resent hospitality industry studies. Han, Hsu and Lee ( 2009) examined the
formation of hotel
customer’s intentions to visit a green hotel using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (1991).
Their result showed
that all of the predictors-attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control had
positive effects on
customers’ intention to stay at a green hotel. They also found out that there were no statistical
difference of the paths
in between eco-friendly activists and non activists. It provided the insight to help operators
design services in a more
customer-oriented way, but the employed methodological approach of using a single question
to estimate a direct
positive relationship between favourable attitude toward each green practice and customers’
behavioural intention
needs to be proved quantitatively. Only limited research on the study of green practices has
been done in the
hospitality industry, especially in the restaurant industry (Tseng, 2010). Also, despite the fact
that many business
owners believe that the image of companies can be improved through executing green practices
and that improved
image can eventually affect the customers approach behaviour, there has not been a study that
has attempted to
examine the image effect of green practices and there are few studies on the connotation of
green practices that
should be shown by customers toward green restaurants and their degrees of satisfaction and
importance.
2.2 Green Practices in Restaurants
Based on thorough literature review, this study identified green practices that can be utilized in
the restaurant
industry. The titles of the various dimensions include: A) Recycling and composting: There are
many waste
products which are recyclable in restaurants. They are glass, plastic, metal, cardboard, and
aluminium. Composting
food waste helps to reduce the amount of waste and it improves the quality of the soil. These
are possible green
practices in restaurants regarding recycling and composting; B) Energy and water-efficient
equipment: Energy and
water efficient equipment can be applied in various areas in a restaurant -kitchen, dining area,
and restroom; C) Eco-
friendly cleaning supplies and packaging: Non-toxic cleaning supplies and packaging are safe for
the environment
and people; D) Menu sustainability: Organic food is raised by non-toxic pesticides and fertilizers
and made without
96 Ray Wang / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 40 (2012) 94 – 98
genetic engineering (Hasnelly, 2011). Locally grown foods reduce the amount of air pollution
associated with
transportation which uses fossil fuels. The other detailed measures are shown in the items of
table 1.
Green practices from these sources were developed for restaurateurs. Other practices for the
back of the house
were excluded, for example using energy efficient lighting within storage and kitchens. This
study considered green
 practices that customers are exposed to.

12. Customers' perception of green practices in restaurants

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND EMPIRICAL MODEL 2.1. 2.1.1. Green Restaurant Industry and
Impact of Green Practice Literature Review The restaurant industry is known as the retail world’s largest
energy user. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) reported that restaurants use five times more
energy per square foot compared to other commercial buildings and restaurants produce 100,000
pounds of waste per location per year on average (Horovitz, 2008). As awareness of environmental
problems increases by the general public, restaurant industry professionals are creating organizations to
help more businesses recognize these wasteful habits as problem areas in their restaurants and to help
adopt green practices as well. There are two organizations which are the major players in this
movement: • Green Restaurant Association • Conserve (National Restaurant Association) The Green
Restaurant Association (GRA) (2002) is a nonprofit organization helping to revolutionize the restaurant
industry by implementing sustainable practices including educating not only foodservice employers and
employees but also encouraging customers to dine in green restaurants. GRA was founded in 1990 and
has granted PREVIEW 5 certification to over 300 restaurants in the U.S. Mainly, GRA suggests the 7
environmental guidelines: 1) energy efficiency and conservation, 2) water efficiency and conservation, 3)
recycling and composting, 4) sustainable food, 5) recycled and biodegradable products, 6) non-toxic
cleaning and chemical products, 7) green building and construction. The National Restaurant Association
has provided an online resource, Conserve, which helps restaurateurs “to implement environmentally
friendly practices that link sustaining the environment with business growth (Conserve, 2010).”
Conserve’s environmental focus is on these four areas: water use, construction, energy efficiency, and
recycling. While GRA is concerned with both environmental and health issues; Converse is only
concerned with environmental issues. This implies that the definition of ‘green’ in the restaurant
industry is different in each organization. Many restaurateurs are hesitant to be engaged with ‘going
green’ because there is a common misconception that adopting a green restaurant is costly and can
lower the quality of services (Carbonara, 2007). However, the truth is that going green will not only help
restaurateurs operate socially responsible businesses to save the environment, but also leads them to
get competitive advantages over competitors through image, reputation, and long term cost saving
(Miles & Russell, 1997). In addition to competitive advantages gained, customers’ high demand of eco-
friendly products and services is increasing. This increasing demand pushes innovative restaurateurs to
adopt green practices (GP) to properties. Choi and Parsa (2006) focused on the managers’ attitude to
engage in green practices. They investigated the relationship between restaurant mangers’
psychological attributes, composed by attitudes, preferences and involvement regarding green practice,
and their willingness to charge for green practice. Unlike the majority of green studies, this study
examined mangers’ attitude toward ecological behavior in hospitality management

13. Effects of restaurant green practices on brand equity formation: Do green practices really
matter?
 14. Managerial Attitudes towards Green Practices in Educational Restaurant Operations:
An Importance-Performance Analysis

15. What motivates the adoption of green restaurant products and services? A systematic
review and future research agenda

Green restaurants refer to restaurants that are created or operated in an environmentally friendly
way, with the purpose of reducing the impact of their operations on the environment
(Lorenzini, 1994). The extant literature has highlighted that several food-related (e.g., cooking,
serving, and leftovers) and non-food-related (e.g., energy and water wastage) instances of
environmental unsustainability exist in running a restaurant (Filimonau & De Coteau, 2019).
Accordingly, restaurants engage in a variety of green practices to address these inefficiencies.
These green initiatives can appear as offerings of green products and green services to their
customers. The former primarily includes prepared food (Hatjiathanassiadou et al., 2019) and
initiatives like reusable cutlery (Trafialek et al., 2019), while the latter makes the restaurant
experience more efficient and environmentally friendly through innovative initiatives like
creating an eco-friendly ambiance (Tan et al., 2019), enabling consumers to pre-order food (Mu
et al., 2019), and responsibly procuring food (Filimonau, Todorova, et al., 2020), among others.

The literature has also shown that environmentally conscious consumers prefer green restaurants
(Han et al., 2019; Sarmiento & El Hanandeh, 2018; Tan et al., 2018). However, this implies that
consumers have to be aware of whether the restaurant that they are dining at is green or not.
Restaurants thus put significant effort into communicating their green initiatives to entice
customers to prefer green restaurants (Jeong et al., 2014). As discussed earlier, green restaurants
mainly function by employing a differentiation business strategy and expecting to collect a price
premium from their customers. Therefore, much of the research interest on adoption has been on
the behavioral intention of consumers' willingness to pay more (Choi et al., 2009; Nicolau et
al., 2020). To capture the full gamut of consumer adoption behaviors, we adopt a broader
definition and consider all kinds of adoption behavior, including visit intention, willingness to
pay and pay the premium, and willingness to engage in word of mouth (Gao et al., 2016).

3 SYSTEMATIC REVIEW METHOD

We followed a SLR method to find and analyze the studies investigating the consumer adoption
of green restaurants (Tranfield et al., 2003). An SLR ensures a reproducible review, which is
highly reliable (Jin & Wang, 2016; Khanra et al., 2020; Ruparel et al., 2020; Veltri &
Silvestri, 2020) and, as such, is a very popular method in sustainability-related reviews
(Betancourt Morales & Zartha Sossa, 2020; Daddi et al., 2018). We performed our search on two
leading research databases, Scopus and WOS, to provide adequate literature coverage. Both of
these databases cover a wide variety of hospitality journals and are popularly used in systematic
reviews in the tourism and hospitality domain (Booth et al., 2020; Gomezelj, 2016; Pahlevan-
Sharif et al., 2019; Sakdiyakorn & Wattanacharoensil, 2018). We used a three-stage process in
our SLR method: (a) identifying appropriate keywords, (b) defining the inclusion–exclusion
criteria, and (c) applying the review criteria.

16. Green marketing that influence customer purchase decision based on their behavior and
attitude

LITERATURE REVIEW Customer Behavior According to Solomon, Bennet & Previte (2013:3) that the field
of consumer behavior covers many fields: this includes the study of processes involving individuals or
groups in choosing, buying, using products, services, ideas or experiences to meet their needs and
desires. Consumer behavior is often referred to as 'buyer behavior', which reflects the emphasis on
interaction between consumers and producers at the time of purchase. Kotler & Armstrong (2016:166)
explain that consumers make many purchasing decisions every day, and purchasing decisions are the
focal point of marketers' efforts. Most large companies examine consumer purchasing decisions in great
detail to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how and how much they buy,
when they buy, and why they buy. Customer Attitude Kapoor & Madichie (2012) explains that attitude is
a general evaluation that takes place on people, objects, advertisements, or problems. A general
attitude because it applies to more than instantaneous events, such as hearing a loud noise, even
though you may, from time to time, develop a negative attitude towards all loud sounds. Attitudes help
determine who you choose to date, what music you listen to, or whether you will recycle aluminum
cans. Robbins & Judge (2015:98) states that attitudes are statements of evaluation-both likes and
dislikesabout objects, people, or events. They reflect how we feel about something. That attitude is
complex, and to fully understand attitude, we must consider its fundamental nature or component.
Green Marketing Kotler & Keller (2016:100) explains that almost all companies today have emphasized
to do green marketing by suppressing industrial pollution and increasing environmentally friendly to the
production process and also the materials used in producing their products. The trend for marketers is
the attention to raw materials, especially water; rising energy costs; increased levels of pollution; and
the role of government in implementing the green marketing revolution. Kotler & Armstrong (2016:637)
express that companies can use various ways to measure their progress in environmental sustainability.
This includes internal and external reforestation activities that will provide results to the company and
the environment in the short term, and outside reforestation activities that will produce in the long run.
At the most Ramli, Asih, Soelton, Hal 14-27 Jurnal JDM, Vol. 3 No. 1 Apr 2020 18 basic level, companies
can practice pollution prevention. This involves more than controlling pollution and reducing waste.
Purchase Decision Prasetyaningsih & Astini (2016) explained that the purchase decision is the next stage
after the intention or desire to purchase, but the purchase decision is not the same as the actual
purchase. Purchase decisions made by consumers are varied, some are simple and some are complex.
According to Kotler & Armstrong (2016:183) that after seeing the influence that can affect purchasers,
marketers must look at how consumers make purchase decisions. The purchaser's decision process
consists of five stages: introduction of needs, information seeking, alternative evaluation, purchase
decisions, and post-purchase behavior. Marketers need to focus on the entire purchase decision process
rather than just focusing on the purchase decision.
17. Exploring customers’ post dining behavioral intentions towards green restaurants: an
applications of theory of planned behavior

Literature Review Theory of Planned Behavior The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), first
proposed by Ajzen (1985) concerns the human behavioral decision making process and the
motives behind the related behavior (Chou et al., 2012). TPB is composed of three main
conceptual constructs: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. According
to TPB, one person’s behavior depends on one’s behavioral intention (Chou et al., 2012). TPB
has been applied to behavioral studies to investigate the ecological behavior in the tourism and
hospitality context (Kim et al., 2013). For instance, Kim et al. (2013) tests the TPB model with
the anticipated regret, and investigates the model’s explanatory power of customers’ intention
to patronize the green restaurants. Jeong et al. (2014) explored the link among three elements
including customers’ perceived green practices, perceived green image of a restaurant brand,
and attitudes toward a restaurant brand in an investigation of Starbucks’ customers. Based on
the above mentioned researches, applying the TPB is possible to measure the influence of
customers’ decision in patronizing green restaurants, and explain customers’ desirable post-
dining behavioral intentions in this study. Attitude. Attitude is the first construct of the Theory
of Planned Behavior. It refers to one person’s perception of favorability or unfavorability to
engage in a behavior (Chou et al., 2012). It stands for the perceived consequences of one’s
behavior (Eagry & Chailen, 1993). In addition, attitude can be cited as the perception of an
object or behavior, which displays favor or disfavor, good or bad, like or dislike (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 2000). It is recognized as a predictor to realize one’s behavioral intentions (Kwun,
2011). Many studies proved that attitude has a positive impact on behavioral intention. For
instance, customers could patronize a green restaurant as visiting a friendly environment to eat
fresh and healthy food, and feel socially esteemed (Han et. al., 2010). They are assumed to
perform conservation as they care about the wellbeing of the earth (Griskevicius et al., 2010).
From this aspect, customers’ recognition of a restaurant that is environmentally friendly can
affect their attitudes toward patronizing green restaurants (Chen, 2010). Subjective Norm.
Subjective norm is the second construct of the Theory of Planned Behavior. It is prostrated as
the perceived social pressure to perform the behavior (Ajzen, 1991). It is the perceived
opinions of certain significant others, including families, friends, coworkers, supervisors, and
business partners. They all can play an important role to influence one’s behavior. Therefore,
subjective norm signifies the perceived desire of significant others to approve or disapprove
one spe- The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Vol 9 Num 1 July 2016 122 cific
behavior. These norms are one person’s recognition of the social pressures to proceed an
behavior. The influence of subjective norms is very obvious in the Chinese context. Chinese try
to meet the expectation of the significant people about what is right or not right, subject to
their social culture (Cheng & Lam, 2008). These norms similarly apply to Taiwan, a Chinese
context, in which the present study investigated this research. In this particular study, when
significant others perceive patronizing a green restaurant is the right behavior, one would
enhance his intention to follow suit. Perceived Behavioral Control. Perceived behavioral control
is the third construct of the Theory of Planned Behavior. It is prostrated as the perceived ease
or difficulty of conducting a behavior (Ajzen, 1991). It evaluates the recognition of how well one
person can control certain determinants that facilitate or limit his behavior to perform in a
 particular situation (Cheng & Lam, 2008). In the setting of healthy behavior regarding food, a
number of researches tested the relationship between perceived behavioral control and
behavioral intention (Wong & Mullan, 2009). In the meantime, many studies have proved that
one’s behavior is positively affected by his self-confidence to conduct a behavior (Baker et al.,
2007). Their findings show that when one person has less control over a behavior, his
behavioral intention will be lower for the desired activity. In the restaurant setting, perceived
behavioral control has been applied to predict customers’ expressions of satisfaction, which
reveals a positive effect on behavioral intention (Cheng et al., 2006). Behavioral Intention
Behavioral intention relates to the stated likelihood of an individual’s engagement in a specific
behavior (Oliver, 1997). It is perceived that behavioral intention is an antecedent determinant
to predict the future behavior (Quelette & Wood, 1998). The concept of behavioral intention in
marketing and consumer behavior has been broadly investigated as a result of the high
predictive power of intention toward an actual behavior (Jani & Han, 2013). Consumers tend to
conduct actual behaviors when their intentions to carry out the behavior turn to be strong
(Ajzen & Fishbein, 2000; Kim et. al., 2013). In general, behavioral intentions are postulated to
predict two main desirable intentions: to revisit the service providers, and to spread positive
word-of-mouth recommendation about the providers. When the behavioral intention is
favorable, there is a possibility that a restaurant customer will revisit the restaurant and spread
positive word-ofmouth recommendation to others with whom they are related. When the
behavioral intention is negative, there is a high possibility that a restaurant customer will not
visit the restaurant again, and may spread negative referrals about the restaurant to others.
These intentions, eventually, will influence the restaurant’s business, either positively or
negatively (Jani & Han, 2013). Therefore, the present study focuses on the exploration of two
main behavioral intentions: the willingness to revisit green restaurants and the willingness to
spread positive The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Vol 9 Num 1 July 2016
123 word-of-mouth recommendation about the green restaurants in Taiwan.

18. Effects of restaurant green practices: which are important and effective?

Literature Review Green study in the hospitality industry Similar to the stream of general green
product consumption studies, examining behavioral and psychological aspects of hotel and
restaurant customers’ eco-friendly decision making processes have received attention from
researchers in resent hospitality industry studies. Han et al. (2009) examined the formation of
hotel customer’s intentions to visit a green hotel using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior
(1991). Their result showed that all of the predictors-attitude, subjective norm, and perceived
behavioral control had positive effects on customers’ intention to stay at a green hotel. They
also found out that there were no statistical difference of the paths in between eco-friendly
activists and non activists. In the study of the restaurant industry, Dutta, Umashankar, Choi,
and Parsa, (2008) estimated customers’ green practice orientation in two different countries-
India and U.S. by investigating the customers’ psychological factors. The result showed that
consumers in the U.S. had a higher degree of involvement in environmentally and socially
responsible practices in restaurants, which had the most significant effect on consumers’
willingness to pay up to 10% or higher on menu price for green practices. In contrast, Indian
consumers had a higher degree of involvement in health and it led them to pay more than 10%
or higher on menu price. This study provides very practical application to a restaurant manager.
Also, to maximize the profits, cultural aspect should be considered when restaurant managers
adopt the green practices. Choi and Parsa (2006) focused on the managers’ attitude to engage
in green practices. They investigated the relationship between restaurant mangers’
psychological attributes, composed by attitudes, preferences and involvement regarding green
practice, and their willingness to charge for green practice. Unlike the majority of green studies,
this study examined mangers’ attitude toward ecological behavior in hospitality management.
Also, their study provided a unique point of view as to how pricing decisions regarding green
practice can be explained by the level of the managers’ psychological factors. The result
suggested that willingness to charge higher prices, for performing a socially responsible
practice was significantly influenced by managers’ preferences and their involvement in such
practices. However, managers’ attitude toward GP had little or no effect on managers’
willingness to increase prices for performing a socially responsible practice. This study provided
a neat conceptual framework for green practices in the restaurant. They contended that green
practices were composed with three perspectives: health concern, environmental concern, and
social concern. While many marketing studies indicate that green practices can be one of the
main components of social concern, non-green social concerns (e.g. fair human resource
practices) should not be included in the study of green practices. Researchers should identify
what green practices are, and GP categories should be re-addressed for future study. Gustin
and Weaver (1996) studied customers’ intentions to stay in a hotel based on the environmental
strategies used by the hotel. By using a modified environmental behavioral model (Hines,
Hungerfor, & Tomera, 1987) which included customers’ knowledge about environmental
issues, customers’ attitudes toward environmental strategies and their perceived self- efficacy,
they measured hotel customers’ intention to purchase a night at the hotel that conducted
green practices. Their result showed that three components in the environmental behavioral
model had a positive relationship with intention to purchase. The unique thing about this study
was that they tried to identify the green practices that could elicit the customers’ behavioral
intention. This was the first study that attempted to examine what customers really thought
about green practices and their expectations of such practices in the hotel industry. It provided
the insight to help operators design services in a more customer-oriented way, but the
employed methodological approach of using a single question to estimate a direct positive
relationship between favorable attitude toward each green practice and customers’ behavioral
intention needs to be proved quantitatively. Only limited research on the study of green
practices has been done in the hospitality industry, especially in the restaurant industry.
Studies regarding consumer mental image of green companies in the restaurant industry has
not been done yet. Also, despite the fact that many business owners believe that the image of
companies can be improved through executing green practices and that improved image can
eventually affect the customers approach behavior, there has not been a study that has
attempted to examine the image effect of green practices. Green Customers As people have
been recognizing the seriousness of environmental problems, they are becoming more
ecologically conscious and seeking to purchase products or services that are environmentally
friendly (Han et al., 2009). According to Ryan (2006), Americans are becoming increasingly
concerned about the environment. The percentage of Americans who worry about the
 environment and are concerned about environmental issues has increased from 62% to 77%
over two years (between 2004 and 2006). About 80% of Americans are currently buying green
products regularly or sometimes. 12 percent of Americans are true greens and 68 percent are
light greens (Hanas, 2007). In the green studies, many researchers have sought to identify
‘green customers’ in demographic, psychographic, and behavioral aspects. The International
Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) describes the common attitude and belief about
green customers. According to IISD, green customers are people who commit to green
lifestyles, are serious about their own green practices and their impacts, and support the
companies incorporating green practice. They tend to overemphasize their green behavior, and
they want environmental protection to be easy. Unexpectedly, they lack knowledge about
environmental issues, but they are eager to learn them. The IISD also provided some broad
generalizations regarding the demographic characteristics of green customers. They are young
adults who are influenced by their young children. Women tend to be more pro-environmental
than men, and the best green customers are those with money to spend (Ryan, 2006). Other
studies added more demographical characteristics (level of education and place of residence)
to distinguish green customers from others. Many studies’ result indicated that the level of
education is positively correlated with environmental concerns and behaviors, and people with
a high level of education were likely to have more ecological concern and behavior (Schwartz &
Miller, 1991; Zimmer, Stafford, & Stafford, 1994). Some researchers have considered the
correlation between place of residence and environmental concern (Schwartz & Miller, 1991;
Zimmer et al., 1994). People living in urban areas are less likely to show more favorable
attitudes to environmental issues. In Straughan and Roberts (1999) study of environmental
segmentation, they emphasized the importance of psychographic measure to identify green
customers. Researchers mentioned that psychographic variables provide a stronger and more
useful profile of green consumption than demographic variables. Their finding was that
perceived customer effectiveness (PCE) toward solving environmental problems was the most
important correlate of ecologically conscious customer behavior (ECCB). Perceived customer
effectiveness (PCE) is consumers’ attitudes or beliefs that “individuals can positively influence
the outcome to such problems” (Straughan & Roberts, 1999, p. 562). It measures the degree
that a customer can have an impact on saving the environment. This component is generally
accepted as one of the most important components regarding the perdition of green
customers’ behavior intention. In green studies, customers who indicate a high level of PCE
show greater levels of green purchases (Chan & Lau, 2000; do Paco, Arminda, Raposo, & Lino,
2009; Gilg et al., 2005; Gustin & Weaver, 1996; Straughan & Roberts, 1999). The extent study
result indicates that perceived customer’s effectiveness (PCE) is the most important predictor
to identify green customers. This study measures PCE level of customers and uses it as a gauge
to identify different green customer segments.

19. Sustainability Development in Hospitality: The Effect of Perceived Value on Customers’ Green
Restaurant Behavioral Intention

2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development 2.1. Hedonic and Utilitarian Value
Consumer choice is the product of multiple values perception. Perceived value is an important
factor in understanding consumer behavior [28]. Among many value theories, the concepts of
hedonic and utilitarian value have been widely explored in hospitality studies [20,22,23,26,29–
31]. Ryu et al. [24] claimed that utilitarian and hedonic values represent the basis of
consumers' evaluations of their experiences, as these two levels of value can explain the most
basic potential consumption phenomena. Therefore, through these two levels, the value of
consumers can be more fully presented. The nature of green restaurants also suggests that
they are likely to offer both hedonic (experiential) and utilitarian (functional) values. Hedonic
value refers to the value-conscious experience obtained from the emotional, social,
reputational and aesthetic aspects of a product [32]. Thus, hedonic value is associated with
consumers’ Sustainability 2019, 11, 1987 3 of 13 desires for entertainment, enjoyment, fun,
novelty and excitement [26,30,33]. On the other hand, utilitarian value represents an overall
assessment of product value, including its economic, quality value and functional
characteristics [32]. As rational problem solvers, utilitarian consumers concentrate on the
practical advantages and empirical convenience afforded by an item [34]. The green restaurant
provides hedonic value by evoking responses through social or interpersonal experiences and
utilitarian value by satisfying physical needs (for nourishment, health, and sustainability). Thus,
the decision to patronize a green restaurant is likely to be based on a consumer’s evaluation of
tangible and intangible considerations, as well as emotional costs and benefits. Conversely,
perceived utilitarian values of green restaurant patronage may depend on whether the need
spurring patronage has been met. The utilitarian value derived from green restaurant
patronage can include consuming fresh organic food for health benefits or satisfying desires for
sustainability on the premise that such consumption limits environmental degradation. Green
restaurants not only provide sustainable organic food from local farms but also in the form of
environmental protection and energy saving operation. These restaurants satisfy consumers’
utilitarian values regarding health and sustainability. 2.2. Effects of Hedonic and Utilitarian
Value on Preferences Consumer values have shown to positively influence consumer
preferences and satisfaction [35,36]. Some researchers believe that consumer values are linked
to consumer preferences as well as future consumer intention [37,38]. In some consumer
studies, the role of preference seems to play an important part in future behavior intention
[39]. Many previous studies have applied the hedonic/utilitarian scale to measure consumer
attitudes toward hospitality and tourism products in terms of reliability and validity. For
example, one study used the efficacy of the scale to measure festival attendance patterns [20].
Those results were in parallel to other scholars, including studies that verified that the
utilitarian and hedonic values were important in consumer preference and future intention of
online shopping and in discount sector consumer behavior [19,40]. Recently, Nili et al. [41]
indicated that hedonistic and utilitarian values positively influence the preferences and future
shopping intention. From the preceding discussion, the following hypotheses are proposed. H1:
The hedonic value of the dining experience has a positive influence on consumers’ preferences
for green restaurants. H2: The utilitarian value of the dining experience has a positive influence
on consumers’ preferences for green restaurants. 2.3. Effects of Utilitarian and Hedonic Value
on Behavior Intentions In the field of restaurant marketing, considerable research work has
suggested and confirmed the causal relationship between perceived value and behavior
intentions. For example, Park [33] underlined the significance of the hedonic value of a
consumer’s experiences with Korean fast food restaurants. Similarly, Ha and Jang [30]
evidenced that when patronizing Korean restaurants, the influence of utilitarian value on
American customers’ levels of satisfaction and behavior intentions is stronger than the
corresponding hedonic value. Ryu et al. [24] conducted a study of a fast food restaurant in the
United States showing similar results. Similar results have been identified from studies of fast-
food [21] and fast-casual restaurants in Iran [25]. In reference to the chain restaurant
environment, Hyun et al. [42] revealed that perceived values significantly impact behavior
intentions. These studies also demonstrated that the utilitarian value has a greater effect on
behavior intentions than the hedonic value. While investigating the relationship between fast
food chain restaurant attributes, hedonistic and utilitarian values, and behavioral intentions
among Taiwan’s Y-generation consumers, Chiang and Li [23] found that hedonic values affected
behavioral intentions more than utilitarian value did. Basaran and Buyukyilmaz [22] compared
Sustainability 2019, 11, 1987 4 of 13 the impacts of hedonistic and utilitarian values on young
consumers' levels of satisfaction and behavior intentions in reference to the fast-food and fast-
casual restaurant sectors. They discovered that both hedonistic and utilitarian values played
important role on behavioral intentions related to fast-food and fast-casual restaurants. In
addition, the utilitarian value has a greater effect on behavior intentions as compared to the
hedonic value for the fast-food restaurant sector while the impact of the hedonic value on
behavior intentions is greater than that of the utilitarian value for the fast-casual restaurant
sector. In reference to luxury restaurants, Hyun and Park [26] examined the antecedents and
consequences of travelers’ unique needs from their restaurant experiences. Their results
showed that perceived value (hedonic and utilitarian value) significantly influences their
behavior intentions. These researchers also emphasized that utilitarian values have a greater
effect on behavioral intentions than hedonistic values. Based on the above-mentioned
literature review, we proposed the following assumptions. H3: The hedonic value of the dining
experience has a positive influence on consumers’ behavior intentions to visit green
restaurants. H4: The utilitarian value of the dining experience has a positive influence on
consumers’ behavior intentions to visit green restaurants. 2.4. Effects of Preferences on
Behavior Intentions Many studies have shown that preferences have a significant influence on
behavior intentions, on the willingness to purchase, and on word of mouth processes in a
variety of shopping environments [19,36,39,43–45]. Preferences also affect levels of
satisfaction, loyalty, and purchasing/repurchasing behaviors of retail patronage intentions
[39,45,46]. Despite the fact that Fishbein and Stasson [47] declared that intentions are by
nature motivational, intentions may not be triggered when preferences are not presented.
Bagozzi [43] also argued that preferences are different from intentions and even declared that
intentions may not be activated unless preferences are present. Building on this, we propose
that consumers’ preference for green restaurants will positively impact consumers' willingness
to patronage green restaurants. In addition, Nili et al. [41] examined effects of hedonistic and
utilitarian values on the preferences and intentions of Iran consumers in the online shopping
setting. Their results implied a significant relationship between judgments of hedonistic and
utilitarian values and preferences. Furthermore, preferences have a significant relationship
with future purchasing intentions. Rahman and Abdel Fattach [48] explored the associations
among service quality, tourist preferences, satisfaction and intentions to patronize a restaurant
for food items in Malaysia. Their study also showed that tourists’ preferences have a
significantly positive impact on tourists’ intentions in selecting a specific restaurant. Based on
the preceding discussion, the assumption as follows. H5: Preferences for green restaurants
 have a positive influence on the behavior intentions of consumers. Based on the preceding
discussion, the model presented in this paper is shown in Figure 1. Sustainability 2019, 11, x
FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 12 has a greater effect on behavior intentions as compared to the
hedonic value for the fast-food restaurant sector while the impact of the hedonic value on
behavior intentions is greater than that of the utilitarian value for the fast-casual restaurant
sector. In reference to luxury restaurants, Hyun and Park [26] examined the antecedents and
consequences of travelers’ unique needs from their restaurant experiences. Their results
showed that perceived value (hedonic and utilitarian value) significantly influences their
behavior intentions. These researchers also emphasized that utilitarian values have a greater
effect on behavioral intentions than hedonistic values. Based on the abovementioned literature
review, we proposed the following assumptions. H3: The hedonic value of the dining
experience has a positive influence on consumers’ behavior intentions to visit green
restaurants. H4: The utilitarian value of the dining experience has a positive influence on
consumers’ behavior intentions to visit green restaurants. 2.4. Effects of Preferences on
Behavior Intentions Many studies have shown that preferences have a significant influence on
behavior intentions, on the willingness to purchase, and on word of mouth processes in a
variety of shopping environments [19,36,39,43–45]. Preferences also affect levels of
satisfaction, loyalty, and purchasing/repurchasing behaviors of retail patronage intentions
[39,45,46]. Despite the fact that Fishbein and Stasson [47] declared that intentions are by
nature motivational, intentions may not be triggered when preferences are not presented.
Bagozzi [43] also argued that preferences are different from intentions and even declared that
intentions may not be activated unless preferences are present. Building on this, we propose
that consumers' preference for green restaurants will positively impact consumers' willingness
to patronage green restaurants. In addition, Nili et al. [41] examined effects of hedonistic and
utilitarian values on the preferences and intentions of Iran consumers in the online shopping
setting. Their results implied a significant relationship between judgments of hedonistic and
utilitarian values and preferences. Furthermore, preferences have a significant relationship
with future purchasing intentions. Rahman and Abdel Fattach [48] explored the associations
among service quality, tourist preferences, satisfaction and intentions to patronize a restaurant
for food items in Malaysia. Their study also showed that tourists’ preferences have a
significantly positive impact on tourists’ intentions in selecting a specific restaurant. Based on
the preceding discussion.

20. The effect of quality attributes on visiting consumers’ patronage intentions of green restaurants

2. Literature Review 2.1. Green Restaurants Previous studies have investigated some
antecedents of purchasing behavior toward green restaurants regarding consumers’
knowledge and beliefs in relation to green consumption, individual characteristics and the
green attributes of green restaurants (Table 1). Table 1. Summary of findings related to green
restaurants in the recent literature. Author Findings Hu et al., 2010 [7] Knowledge of a
restaurant’s sustainable practices and environmental concerns is an important antecedent of
consumers’ green restaurant patronage intentions. Liu & Yu, 2012 [8] Consumers’ beliefs affect
attitudes and patronage intentions towards green restaurants. Chou et al., 2012 [10] Perceived
innovation characteristics affect the intention to adopt green practices in restaurants through
attitude, and perceived behavioral control affects the intention to adopt. DiPietro et al., 2013
[11] Female customers and people with higher education are more conscious regarding green
practices. In addition, customers who utilize green practices at home intend to visit green
restaurants more often. Teng et al., 2014 [9] Consumer values and attitudes affect their
intentions to visit green restaurants. Attitude is affected by consumer values and
environmental concerns. Chen et al., 2015 [13] The service quality of green restaurants
includes seven dimensions: tangible, empathetic, reliable, responsive, assuring,
environmentally-oriented, and food quality. Kwok et al., 2016 [14] Environment-focused
attributes are the most important green attributes of restaurant. Consumers who value food-
focused and administration-focused attributes and younger consumers are more likely to pay
more, wait longer, and/or go farther to dine at a green restaurant. Females tend to rate higher
than males in all three categories of green attributes. Families with children value food-focused
attributes more than those without children. Namkung & Jang, 2017 [12] Age, previous
experience, involvement and self-perception affect consumers’ willingness to pay more for
green practices in restaurants. Regarding customers’ knowledge and beliefs in relation to green
consumption, Hu et al. examined the effect of knowledge of a restaurant’s sustainable
practices and environmental concerns on the patronage intention of customers towards green
restaurants [7]. Liu and Yu examined the effect of customers’ beliefs on attitudes towards
green restaurants and patronage intentions in Taiwan [8]. Teng et al. examined the effect of
consumers’ values, attitudes and environmental concerns on intentions to visit green
restaurants in Taiwan [9]. Regarding the aspect of individual characteristics, Chou et al.
investigate the effect of perceived innovation, attitude and perceived behavioral control on the
adoption of green practices in restaurants in Taiwan [10]. DiPietro et al. examined the effect of
gender, education, and green practices experience on green practices consciousness in an
upscale, green-certified restaurant [11]. Namkung and Jang investigated the effect of age,
previous experience, involvement and self-perception on customers’ willingness to pay more
for green practices Sustainability 2018, 10, 1187 3 of 14 in restaurants [12]. Regarding the
green attributes of green restaurants, Chen et al. developed a green restaurant service quality
scale [13]. From the perspective of environment-focused, food-focused, and administration-
focused attributes, Kwok et al. investigated the most important green attributes of restaurants
and the effect of consumers’ attitudes toward various green attributes on their behavioral
intentions [14]. Table 1 summarizes the key findings of the recent literature on green
restaurants. In general, though the food, service, and ambiance quality of green restaurants
affect the consumption behavior of consumers [13,14], little effort has been made to
investigate the effect of green restaurant quality attributes on the confirmation of visiting
customers’ expectations of quality and subsequent patronage intentions. The present study
aims to solve this question. 2.2. Quality Attributes of Restaurants Quality attributes are
important antecedents of customer behavioral intentions in the service industry [15–17].
Previous studies suggest that the quality attributes of restaurants mainly consist of food
quality, service quality and ambiance quality [4–6,16,18]. For example, Ha and Jang argued that
restaurant attributes are associated with food, service and the environment [5]. Bujisic et al.
suggested that food, service and ambiance are three common restaurant attributes [6]. Given
the importance of the quality attributes of restaurants, the specific attributes of food quality,
service quality and ambiance quality have been investigated in previous studies [16,19]. Liu and
 Jang gathered and categorized the specific attributes mentioned in the relevant literature [16].
A total of 21 attributes were identified from the food, service and ambiance categories of
attributes (Table 2). Table 2. Restaurant quality attributes. Source Food Attributes Service
Attributes Ambiance Attributes Liu & Jang [16] Food taste Serve food as ordered Cleanliness of
environment * Food safety Accurate guest check Employee appearance * Food freshness *
Dependable and consistent service Odor Food temperature Prompt service * Room
temperature Food variety * Friendly and helpful employees * Lighting Food presentation *
Attentive employees Interior design and décor * Healthy options Employees have knowledge of
menu Music Note: * indicates attributes employed in the present study. In the context of
location-based recommendations, visiting consumers’ quality perceptions come from on-the-
spot observations. Hence, certain food quality attributes (taste, safety and temperature) and
service quality attributes (food served as ordered, accurate guest check, dependable and
consistent service and employees have knowledge of the menu), which are related to practical
consumption experience, were not employed in the present study. As healthy options is similar
to food variety in the context of green restaurants, it was not involved in the present study. As
music is not an important attribute [16], it was also not involved in the present study. Finally,
food freshness, variety, and presentation (food quality), friendly and helpful employees and
prompt service (service quality), and environmental cleanliness, employee appearance,
lighting, and interior design and décor (ambiance quality) were employed as the special
attributes of food quality, service quality and ambiance quality in the present study.

21. EXPLORING AND PREDICTING CONSUMERS’ ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS TOWARDS GREEN
RESTAURANTS

2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND EMPIRICAL MODEL This chapter reviews prior studies on green
practices in the hospitality industry, including consumer characteristics and trends specifically
in the food service industry. Furthermore, it combines an adapted list of green practices of
restaurants to three common important areas leading to the exploratory research questions.
This chapter also introduces the theoretical framework for the study: Ajzen’s (1985) Theory of
Planned Behavior. Last, the empirical framework and hypotheses related to consumers’
perceptions of green restaurants are discussed. 2.1. Literature Review 2.1.1. Green Practices in
Hospitality Management Two recent studies have specifically examined consumer behavior in
this area. One, explored managers’ attitudes, preference, and involvement with regard to green
practices (Choi & Parsa, 2006), the other examined consumer attitude towards green practices
in the lodging Industry in India (Manaktola & Jauhari, 2007). Both studies have recognized the
strong need for green practices in the hospitality industry. Several benefits mentioned are a
reduced financial risk, strengthened customers relations, increased harmony with the
community (Choi & Parsa, 2006), fulfilling a need in the market, 11 differentiation, and decisive
factor and decision-making when two services or products seem equal otherwise (Manaktola &
Jauhari, 2007). Other benefits include improved image and enhanced loyalty of key
stakeholders (Goodman, 2000). Whereas Choi and Parsa (2006) focus on the attitudes of
managers to engage in green practices, Manaktola and Jauhari (2007) focus on consumer
behavior. However, their sample of customers in India may not be representative for the U.S.
population. Nevertheless they found that 22 percent of their sample deliberately sought
information on green hotels and used it in making their hotel decision. Of their respondents, 55
percent paid attention to environmental initiatives which could give a hotel a decisive
competitive advantage when exhibiting such initiatives. However, Manaktola and Jauhari
(2007) found that in their study, a positive attitude or behavior towards green practices did not
result in a consumer paying for the same. In fact, just 15 percent were willing to pay for
environmental initiatives while the remaining consumers felt that the costs should be either
paid by the hotel or shared. Furthermore, the study found that 40 percent felt that they could
pay 4 to 6 percent more for staying at a green hotel. 2.1.2. Customers This confirms the
findings of Hanas (2007) which divide customers into True Greens who regularly buy green
products, Light Greens who buy green products sometimes and Never Greens. According to the
study, 12 percent of Americans are True Greens (68 percent are Light Greens), but even they
do not buy green all the time. This could be in part due to the fact that green products are not
always available. The same way, often green restaurants are not “available” either. However,
given the large number 12 of consumers who are very or moderately interested in making
green purchases, it is possible that there is an unmet need for green practices in restaurants.
This is confirmed also by the finding of the recent Walnut Acres/Roper AW survey that says
that 72 percent of Americans would chose a product labeled organic over a regularly labeled
product (Prewitt, 2007). If such a high percentage of consumers care for organic products, the
interest in green practices might be high as well. 2.1.3. Industry While there is a lot of
knowledge on green practices in the lodging sector, there has been little to almost no research
done on this topic in food service. As mentioned earlier the exploration of managers’ attitudes,
preference, and involvement with regard to green practices (Choi & Parsa, 2006) is the only
available research on this topic, but does not examine consumer perceptions. This might be
because this topic is new for the food service industry, especially for casual and fine dining
restaurants that operate on a much smaller scale and therefore have not been subject to the
strong consumer pressure for environmental protection yet. In order to gain a better
understanding of the issue a few sources from the industry might give insightful information.
Previously, there existed the common misconception that operating a green restaurant would
cost too much and that it would be too difficult to get quality products (Carbonara, 2007).
However, with the increased popularity of environmentally friendly products, these have
become cheaper and easier to acquire. That is because the combined buying power of multiple
operators can let them negotiate better prices among approved 13 green vendors (Rosenthal in
Carbonara, 2007). Also, with the help of an organization, setting up green practices has become
much easier recently. According to an article in the Nation’s Restaurant News, more and more
restaurants are seeking to earn seals of approval for their green practices from third-party
certifiers (Prewitt, 2007). One of these certifiers is the Green Restaurant Association, a non-
profit national environmental organization that has been active since 1990 as well as the
National Restaurant Association that plans to launch an online program to help restaurants
become green (Carbonara, 2007). These organizations can assist restaurateurs to go green.
With regards to organic claims certification by law is required only for “grocers or vendors that
make marketing statements about organic foods and generate more than $5000 in organic
food sales” (Prewitt, 2007), but the Green Restaurant Association looks more broadly at a
restaurant’s total operating practices. These include energy and water use and conservation,
 recycling and composting, avoidance of toxic cleaning and chemical products, employee
education and construction methods (Environmental Guidelines, 2007). Interestingly with the
current trends, some restaurants are seeking organic certifications even though they are not
required by law (Prewitt, 2007). If these restaurants are doing this to improve their image or
create awareness, then a GRA logo should have the potential to have the same effect for green
certificates. Plus, there are the additional benefits of using less energy and ultimately saving
money (Prewitt, 2007). This is confirmed also by Joseph Carbonara (2007) according to whom
“becoming environmentally friendly makes good business sense” because “being fiscally
responsible and economically responsible: When the two intersect, it’s a win-win.” (Chris
Giarraputo of B.R. Guests Restaurants in Carbonara, 2007). 14 While in Europe there is a
relatively high number of green restaurants, in the U.S. only 1,000 restaurants in 23 states have
gained the GRA certification (“1000 Restaurants Certified as Green”, 2007). On the contrary,
according to “How Green is Hospitality in Europe”? (2007), 34 percent of the restaurants and
44 percent of the hotels in Europe have set energy-reduction targets. Furthermore corporate
group establishments are more likely to have green targets (58 percent), compared with 31% of
independents. That being said, Germany and France lead the green restaurants sector with 47
and 45 percent respectively of the restaurants being green. They are followed by Spain in third
place, the UK and Italy. With regards to specific practices that European restaurants engage in,
the most common “action” is to minimize, reuse or recycle waste (72 percent). This is followed
by the use of energy efficient lightning (40 percent), recyclable water (6 percent) and having an
environmentally sensitive sourcing policy (5 percent). It is interesting to note that these are all
practices that also help to save costs while benefiting the environment. In last place comes
using mainly Fairtrade goods with 1 percent (all percentages from American Express Hospitality
Monitor Europe, in “How Green Are UK and European Restaurants?” (2007) which could be due
to the fact these goods are more expensive and require hire costs.

22. Three essays on reducing waste in restaurants

1.2.Literature review 4 Food waste is a global concern that is receiving increasing attention. Roughly one
third of food produced, around 1.3 billion tons, is lost or wasted per year globally (Gustavsson, 2011). To
make the situation worse, according to new UN research conducted to support global efforts to halve
food waste by 2030 (UNEP, 2021), it was estimated that 931 million tons of food was never used and
went straight into the trash bins of households, retailers, restaurants, and other food services. The
wasted food also creates significant environmental impacts. It is estimated that food waste could
account for as much as 8%-10% of total amount of global greenhouse gas emission (UNEP, 2021). In the
United States, around 15% of total methane emission come from landfills where most food waste ends
up in (EPA, 2021). Facing the pressing food waste issue, USDA and EPA announced their first domestic
food waste reduction goal in 2015, which aims to halve food loss and waste by 2030. With only a few
years left, combating the pressing food waste challenge is urgent. Since the restaurant sector ranks as
the second largest contributor of food waste in the United States, and with a considerable amount of
food wasted at the preparation stage in the back of house area in restaurants before reaching
customers, it is important to focus investigation of how back of house area food waste can be reduced
and yet there has been very limited study on this (Filimonau & Uddin, 2021). Among the limited number
of existing food waste studies focusing on restaurant food waste, the studies usually involve smaller
sample sizes (Strotmann et al., 2017), investigate only the actionable part of food waste (Sundt, 2012),
focus only on consumer side (front of house) food waste (Filimonau et al., 2019), and are mostly
conducted in Europe. One recent effort in Italy conducted a survey among local restaurateurs in tourist
spots with questions on causes of food waste, but no quantification question was included (Principato et
al., 2018). What is more, current literature mainly focuses on either the amount of different types of
waste 5 (Silvennoinen et al., 2015) or causes of food waste (Jörissen et al., 2015) but not the
combination of these two topics. There is a need for studies to provide a more complete picture of back
of house food waste in the food service sector to allow targeted guidance and policy recommendations
for better food waste reduction outcomes (Principato et al., 2018). Using a survey approach
incorporating both quantitative and qualitative questions regarding restaurant food waste in the United
States, the analysis from this chapter thus contributes to the literature by differentiating actionable and
non-actionable food waste permitting a more realistic goal for food waste reduction and allow waste
reduction effort to be more effectively targeting on the areas that could generate the largest response in
terms of amount of food waste reduced.