Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism enterprises in European protected areas

Font, Xavier; Tamajón, Lluís Garay; Jones, Steve

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.01.071

Cited by 211 publications

(224 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…More generally, findings reveal patterns of intertwined effects of micro-, meso-and macro-level factors on environmental engagement of SMEs, confirming that these factors operate in tandem with each other (Font et al, 2016;Hamann et al, 2017;Muñoz and Dimov, 2015). Clearly, many respondents who referred to pressure from international customers also mentioned changes in international environmental regulations, sustainability-driven values and financial benefits.…”

mentioning

confidence: 67%

“…This implies that if owner-managers are personally considerate towards the natural environment, it is highly likely that they would introduce environmentally friendly practices in their businesses (Cambra-Fierro et al, 2008;Cordano et al, 2010;Font et al, 2016;Hemingway and Maclagan, 2004). There is evidence that, in some SMEs, the environmental values of owner-mangers have induced the adoption of sustainable practices (e.g.…”

Section: Entrepreneurs' Moral Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…to save resources and achieve eco-efficiency for cultivating economic benefits (Bansal and Roth, 2000;Font et al, 2016). Owner-managers of environmentally progressive leatherworking SMEs were keen to achieve process efficiency by reducing their input intensity (Van Berkel, 2007) and therefore to address the issues of environmental degradation and rising costs of production at the same time:…”

Section: Competitiveness Gains (Micro)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in Pakistan’s leather industry

Wahga

Blundel

Schaefer

2017

IJEBR

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.*Related content and download information correct at time of download. Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyse the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in SMEs operating in a developing economy. The secondary objectives are to explore the relationship between these drivers and to draw out the implications for policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is informed by the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship, and on the drivers of pro-environmental practices in SMEs. It reports on the results of an intensive multi-level empirical study, which investigates the environmental practices of SMEs in Pakistan's leatherworking industry using a multiple case study design and grounded analysis, which draws on relevant institutional theory. Findings -The study identifies that coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphic pressures simultaneously drive sustainable entrepreneurial activity in the majority of sample SMEs. These pressures are exerted by specific micro-, meso-and macro-level factors, ranging from international customers' requirements to individual-level values of owners and managers. It also reveals the catalytic effect of the educational and awareness-raising activities of intermediary organisations, in tandem with the attraction of competitiveness gains, (international) environmental regulations, industrial dynamism and reputational factors. Practical implications -The evidence suggests that, in countries where formal institutional mechanisms have less of an impact, intermediary organisations can perform a proto-institutional role that helps to overcome pre-existing barriers to environmental improvement by sparking sustainable entrepreneurial activity in SME populations. Originality/value -The findings imply that the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial activity do not operate in a "piecemeal" fashion, but that particular factors mediate the emergence and development of other sustainability drivers. This paper provides new insights into sustainable entrepreneurship and motivations for environmental practices in an under-researched developing economy context.

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mentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Entrepreneurs' Moral Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Competitiveness Gains (Micro)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in Pakistan’s leather industry

Wahga

Blundel

Schaefer

2017

IJEBR

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“…A CCO approach helps us reframe the origin of greenhushing into one that asks how a business constitutes itself through its communications. We find that tourism businesses with sustainability values resent having to market themselves based on those values (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000;Font, Garay, & Jones, 2014;Sampaio, Thomas, & Font, 2012). The businesses accept, but are disappointed by, the fact that they cannot communicate more of what they do and they would like their communication to show the benefits to society of their practices and not only be written for "marketing" purposes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greenhushing: the deliberate under communicating of sustainability practices by tourism businesses

Font

Elgammal

Lamond

2016

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

Self Cite

135

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Greenhushing selectively communicates fewer pro-sustainability actions by businesses than are practiced; based on a perception of customers' rights to consumerism. We first studied the gap between the communication of sustainability practices in the audits and websites of 31 small rural tourism businesses in the Peak District National Park (UK). The analysis showed that businesses only communicate 30% of all the sustainability actions practiced. Their websites emphasised customer benefits, using explicit, affective, experiential and active language that legitimises the customers' hedonistic use of the landscape, while downplaying complex issues and normalising sustainability to reduce customer guilt. Just one website mentioned climate change. We found that greenhushing results from a low moral intensity, masking potentially negative consequences of perceived lower competence, whilst protecting business from more cynical consumers who may interpret their statements as hypocritical. Subsequent textual analysis and interviews were used to understand how communication constitutes these organisations. We propose that greenhushing reshapes and constitutes tourism businesses through their communications. Moreover, greenhushing is a form of public moralisation that adopts communication practices similar to greenwashing, reflecting the social norms expected from a business; however, in this case, located in a moral muteness, rather than moral hypocrisy, that businesses accept but resent.

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“…This may reduce future costs since the organisation will be able to meet requirements once they are legally enforced, and can avoid penalties, as well as increasing its competitiveness [53]. However, this proactive implementation will not take place when organisations are not aware of emerging market requirements, and of the advantages that meeting and exceeding these requirements can bring to their organisation or the industry sector [53].…”

Section: Market Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Capability Maturity Model for Life Cycle Management at the Industry Sector Level

2018

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One approach to incorporate environmental sustainability in organisations is the implementation of Life Cycle Management (LCM). LCM is a comprehensive and integrated approach for measuring and managing environmental impacts. Successful sector-wide uptake of LCM has the potential to enable the environmental impacts associated with an industry sector to be efficiently measured and managed in a continual improvement process. There is an opportunity for the New Zealand primary sector to strengthen its competitiveness in the global market place by demonstrating the environmental credentials of its products and supporting the country's "green and clean" image. Previous research has identified the barriers and enablers to successful LCM uptake by New Zealand primary sector Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in a sector-based context. This paper builds on that foundation and presents a Life Cycle Management Uptake Evaluation Framework (LUEF) that allows both individual organisations and industry sectors to identify the key factors affecting successful LCM uptake and assess their level of maturity for each factor. The key factors used in this study are structure, culture, resource availability, LCM strategy, knowledge, market requirements and communication. The study employed a qualitative methodology and used face-to-face interviews with different stakeholders in the value chain for the New Zealand kiwifruit sector to inform the development of the framework. In the framework, each factor is represented as a maturity scale to allow organisations as well as industry sectors to assess their position on the scale. This will help them to create a baseline assessment, both for themselves as an organisation, as well as on an industry sector level. The baseline assessment will allow them to identify areas for improvements, which can be tracked over time by checking the progress on the scales in the individual areas. It can also be used as a communication tool for stakeholders in the supply chain (e.g., growers, post-harvest operators and staff from industry boards). These stakeholders can use the tool to measure and compare performance, including evaluating their own performance against the industry average, as well as performance of the industry sector over time. This is useful to engage these stakeholders and demonstrate that changes (such as reducing carbon footprints) have a positive impact and lead to progress (as well as highlighting any actions that need to be reviewed and adjusted).

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Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism enterprises in European protected areas

Cited by 211 publications

References 66 publications

Understanding the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in Pakistan’s leather industry

Understanding the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in Pakistan’s leather industry

Greenhushing: the deliberate under communicating of sustainability practices by tourism businesses

A Capability Maturity Model for Life Cycle Management at the Industry Sector Level

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