Jie J. Zhang

Exploring Resource Efficiency Benchmarks for Environmental Sustainability in Hotels

Successful environmental sustainability (ES) initiatives aim for simultaneous environmental and economic benefits. Benchmarking these initiatives must therefore account for environmental and economic outcomes. To this end, the authors propose to construct a cost-based resource efficiency measure for ES from reported financial data. This approach links the environmental and economic performance outcomes by extracting information from resource related expenses normalized by RevPAR (revenue per available room). Through exploratory factor analysis of an eight-year panel of 984 U.S. hotels, the authors identified two factors that drive resource efficiency in hotel operations, one of which is operations-centered and the other customer behavior–centered. This two-factor measure quantifies the weights that operations and customer behavior contribute to resource efficiency and measures the systematic variations across key hotel operating characteristics. Such resource efficiency benchmarks complement the practice-focused environmental management systems developed by individual hotel companies and guidelines proposed by government agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Pushing the Frontier of Sustainable Service Operations Management: Evidence from US hospitality industry

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a performance measurement system of environmental sustainability in service settings and to empirically examine the relationship between the measured environmental sustainability and operating performance.Design/methodology/approach – This study applies exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to a six‐year panel dataset of 984 US hotels to construct a two‐factor standardized measure of environmental sustainability. The authors then conduct a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to investigate the relationship between the measured environmental sustainability and the operating performance frontier, considering the impact of operating structure.Findings – Customer behavior and operational decisions are two key drivers of environmental sustainability. There is a positive link between environmental sustainability and operating performance. Operating structure has a significant impact on the operating performance. The performance frontier varies across market segment a...

Eco-efficiency of Service Co-production: Connecting Eco-certifications and Resource Efficiency in U.S. Hotels

This study investigates the relationship between eco-certifications (second or third party certified with an audit requirement) and resource efficiency in the U.S. hotel industry. Hotel properties become eco-certified by voluntarily conforming to environmental practice guidelines established by a certifying body, which assesses and recognizes the properties that meet their criteria. Eco-certifications therefore are key environmental sustainability initiatives that address both the internal operations and external customers. Based on regression analysis of 2,893 U.S. hotel properties for the year 2011, this analysis shows that eco-certified hotels maintain higher operational efficiency, as well as greater customer-driven resource efficiency, in comparison with properties with lesser or no eco-certifications. These results suggest that eco-certifications influence the resource consumption behavior of both the operators and the customers, although these effects are not consistent for all properties. The improvement from the operational effect is most pronounced in lower-tier properties, while the customer efficiency effect is most noticeable in upper-tier properties.

Signaling eco-certification: Implications for service coproduction and resource efficiency

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use an eco-friendly service concept framework to demonstrate the effect of credible eco-certification signaling. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine a cross-sectional data set consisting of 2,481 hotel sites across the US. The authors measure the performance of the operations component of eco-friendly service by operations-driven resource efficiency (ODF), and the performance of the marketing component by customer-driven resource efficiency (CDF). A series of multivariate regressions compare these two resource efficiency measures between credibly eco-certified hotel sites and others. Findings – The results indicate that credible eco-certifications achieve the signaling effect. Eco-certified hotels outperform others in both ODF and CDF measures; and eco-certified hotels still achieve higher CDF after controlling for ODF. Practical implications – The findings suggest that eco-friendly service design requires not only eco-friendly operations but also a ...

Pushing the Frontier of Sustainable Service Operations: Evidence from the U.S. Hospitality Industry

This research examines how the environmental sustainability decisions of service supply chain constituents – owners, operators and customers – impact the operating performance frontier (Schmenner and Swink 1998). We develop outcome-based environmental sustainability measures and propose a frontier framework for assessing sustainable service operations management (SSOM) using these measures. The framework is tested using a panel dataset featuring 984 U.S. hotel properties from 2001 to 2006. The findings map an improvement path via leveraging the entire service chain: engaging customers in sustainable development and improving operations to drive down resource consumption; expanding access to environmentally conscious customers; and investing in sustainable service differentiation.

An Empirical Test of Eco-Certification Signaling in Services

Eco-certifications of services, which are voluntary environmental programs certifying sustainable features related to customer experience, are an area of emerging interest to operations management. Yet there is little consensus on how eco-certifications may influence customer experience and operational performance. Proponents argue that eco-certifications may enable customers to make informed decisions and promote sustainability through service co-production between the service providers and customers. But critics caution that eco-certifications may be abused for misleading customers and contribute to greenwashing. This paper aims to understand the effects of eco-certification signaling on customer green consumption and operational performance in contemporary service settings. We combine theories of signaling games and service co-production to generate hypotheses and test them using a sample of 3,200 properties in the U.S. hotel industry. The findings indicate that third party guaranteed and auditable eco-certifications relate positively to customer green consumption in service operations and may mitigate greenwashing as a result.

Sustainability Measurements in the Built Hospitality Environment: Asset Ownership & Operational Choices

An exploratory study has been conducted to establish two sustainability measures reflecting consumption of resources at 984 sites in the U.S. hospitality industry over an 8 year period: first one is driven by operating factors (OPF), and the other is driven by consumer behavior related factors (BEF). A comparative analysis of these factors based on local differences at these sites is offered: ownership - manage self owned asset versus hire professional management company; type of management structure - franchisee/chain versus third-party oversight; location - urban versus rural; type of ambient climate - hot versus cold; and the type of consumer - corporate groups vs. individuals served. Systematic differences are observed between the average OPF and BEF measurements based on these variegated local differences. These differences inform the development of a framework to assess the tensions between investments made by asset owners and the commitment by its operator to implement sustainable operating practices.