Impact of hotels’ sustainability practices on guest attitudinal loyalty : application of loyalty chain stages theory

Abstract

Considering the significance of the term “green” in the hotel industry, relatively little is known about hotels’ performances of conservation management and its impact on guest eco-friendly decision formation. This research was conducted to explicate guests’ attitudinal loyalty formation, by developing a sturdy theoretical framework encompassing their perceived hotel performances of green management (recycling and waste reduction, water saving, and energy conservation) and loyalty chain stages theory (cognitive, affective, and conative stages). A total of twelve attributes of hotel performances were identified through a qualitative approach. Our results from the structural analysis revealed that guests’ perceived hotel performances of water saving and energy conservation significantly influenced their attitudinal loyalty formation for green hotels. In addition, the significant mediating role of cognitive and affective stages was uncovered. Moreover, the effectiveness of loyalty chain stages theory was demonstrated. Our theoretical framework sufficiently accounted for the variance in conative loyalty. 考虑到“绿色”这个词在酒店业中的重要性，对酒店的保护管理绩效及其对客人生态友好决策形成的影响知之甚少。本研究旨在通过建立一个坚实的理论框架来解释客人的态度忠诚度形成，该理论框架包括他们感知的酒店绿色管理绩效（回收和废物减少、节水和节能）和奥利弗（1999年、2010年）忠诚度链阶段理论（认知、情感和意念阶段）。通过定性分析，共确定了酒店绩效的12个属性。结构分析结果表明，顾客对酒店节水节能的感知效果显著影响了他们对绿色酒店的态度忠诚形成。此外，还发现了认知和情感阶段的重要中介作用。此外，还证明了忠诚链阶段理论的有效性。我们的理论框架充分解释了意念忠诚的差异。