When you have to be green : impact of hotels' action of prohibiting the provision of disposables on consumers' perceptions

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of prohibiting the provision of disposables on hotel consumers' perceptions through natural field experiments. The empirical evidence is from 129,105 online reviews of hotels from Ctrip.com. Results uncover that prohibiting the provision of disposables can significantly increase the presence of customers' green discourse (i.e., green presence) and the depth of green discussions (i.e., green depth) in their online reviews. Such a practice negatively affects customer overall sentiment but not their overall satisfaction. Green presence and depth negatively contribute to overall sentiment, whereas green sentiment positively influences overall sentiment. Our findings offer insights for hotels to prohibit the provision of disposables to reduce operational costs while also enhancing consumers' green awareness and overall sentiment. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]