Sustainability Practices at Hotels and BnB Establishments …
357
innovation, such as norms of harshly criticizing new ideas, political problems within
the organization, an emphasis on the status quo, a conservative and low-risk attitude
among top management, and excessive time pressure (Amabile 2012). Organizational
support for sustainable work establishes a friendly environment for encouraging
information exchange and the communication of ideas, as well as a reward system for
recognizing the initiation of creative ideas (Horng et al. 2016). Although innovation
efforts can fail, organizations must do their best to eliminate obstacles or issues
that hamper the implementation of innovation procedures. Maybe the best motivator
and a tool for creating co-operation and co-creation for and towards sustainable
development, in all kind tourist establishments, is dialogue.
In order to summarize the results in this study it can be stated that these two
types of accommodations for visitors are different in many ways. At the same time,
there are similarities, not least with the organization of work towards sustainability.
BnB providers can be seen as life-stylers who work for sustainability based on their
private beliefs and try to take responsibility for the whole planet. They have come
a long way with their sustainability work at their homes and are happy to discuss
sustainability with their guests. They often lack personnel and do not need to follow
so many regulations. They feel, however, isolated from like-minded actors and, not
least, they want the municipality to take its responsibility and organize and support
more education and create network for them in sustainability issues. It can be argued
that their motivation for the creation of a sustainable establishment originates from
their own lifestyle.
Hotel managers, entrepreneurs, in turn, seem to have stuck in some type of instrumentalism in their work towards sustainability. It can be argued that they use more
extrinsic motivations in their work by being accountable for the implementation of
various kinds of follow-up of sustainability work in the form of certification and
evaluations and lists. A bigger part of the sustainability work aims to provide an
economic value for the company and almost completely misses the socio-cultural
sustainability approaches. Most of the hotels in this study lack training for staff on
sustainability issues. However, this does not apply to all establishments. Some private hotel entrepreneurs seem to work more like life-stylers and do put great effort
and value on sustainability work by co-creating with their guests.
References
Abrahamsson B, Andersen JA (2005) Organisation—att beskriva och förstå organisationer. LiberHermods, Malmö
Andriate GS, Fink AA (2008) Managing the change to a sustainable enterprise. In: Wirtenberg J,
Russell WG, Lipsky D (eds) The sustainable enterprise fieldbook: when it all comes together.
Greenleaf, Sheffield, UK, pp 118–140
Antony J, Antony FJ, Ghosh S (2004) Evaluating service quality in a UK hotel chain a case study.
Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 16(6):e380–e384
Amabile TM (2012) Componential theory of creativity. Harvard Business School Working Paper
No. 12-096, April
357
innovation, such as norms of harshly criticizing new ideas, political problems within
the organization, an emphasis on the status quo, a conservative and low-risk attitude
among top management, and excessive time pressure (Amabile 2012). Organizational
support for sustainable work establishes a friendly environment for encouraging
information exchange and the communication of ideas, as well as a reward system for
recognizing the initiation of creative ideas (Horng et al. 2016). Although innovation
efforts can fail, organizations must do their best to eliminate obstacles or issues
that hamper the implementation of innovation procedures. Maybe the best motivator
and a tool for creating co-operation and co-creation for and towards sustainable
development, in all kind tourist establishments, is dialogue.
In order to summarize the results in this study it can be stated that these two
types of accommodations for visitors are different in many ways. At the same time,
there are similarities, not least with the organization of work towards sustainability.
BnB providers can be seen as life-stylers who work for sustainability based on their
private beliefs and try to take responsibility for the whole planet. They have come
a long way with their sustainability work at their homes and are happy to discuss
sustainability with their guests. They often lack personnel and do not need to follow
so many regulations. They feel, however, isolated from like-minded actors and, not
least, they want the municipality to take its responsibility and organize and support
more education and create network for them in sustainability issues. It can be argued
that their motivation for the creation of a sustainable establishment originates from
their own lifestyle.
Hotel managers, entrepreneurs, in turn, seem to have stuck in some type of instrumentalism in their work towards sustainability. It can be argued that they use more
extrinsic motivations in their work by being accountable for the implementation of
various kinds of follow-up of sustainability work in the form of certification and
evaluations and lists. A bigger part of the sustainability work aims to provide an
economic value for the company and almost completely misses the socio-cultural
sustainability approaches. Most of the hotels in this study lack training for staff on
sustainability issues. However, this does not apply to all establishments. Some private hotel entrepreneurs seem to work more like life-stylers and do put great effort
and value on sustainability work by co-creating with their guests.
References
Abrahamsson B, Andersen JA (2005) Organisation—att beskriva och förstå organisationer. LiberHermods, Malmö
Andriate GS, Fink AA (2008) Managing the change to a sustainable enterprise. In: Wirtenberg J,
Russell WG, Lipsky D (eds) The sustainable enterprise fieldbook: when it all comes together.
Greenleaf, Sheffield, UK, pp 118–140
Antony J, Antony FJ, Ghosh S (2004) Evaluating service quality in a UK hotel chain a case study.
Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 16(6):e380–e384
Amabile TM (2012) Componential theory of creativity. Harvard Business School Working Paper
No. 12-096, April