Creating sustainable value in the hospitality industry: a (critical) multi-stakeholder study in the Dominican Republic

ABSTRACT

This paper identifies sustainable initiatives reported by “sustainability-champion” hotels in the Dominican Republic, while contrasting them against the views of key stakeholders. We adapt and apply Hart and Milstein's Sustainable Value Framework, and complement it with a Critical Management Studies approach. Our analysis relies on a mixed-methods approach (non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis, as well as thematic and content analysis). Findings indicate that most hotels are engaging more actively in present-oriented strategies such as pollution prevention (especially, the international hotels) and in product/service stewardship. However, in the future-oriented strategies, hotels owned by local investors show higher commitment to both clean technology and innovation, and to the sustainability vision (as the firm's growth path). In addition, although the views of multiple stakeholders show a clear acknowledgment of the hospitality industry's sustainability efforts (particularly regarding education and environmental protection), they also offer differing views about the ultimate impact and value of those efforts for them and for the broader society. Our study offers a new theoretical lens to explore multi-stakeholder approaches and offers practical implications for the Dominican Republic's National Strategy for Development 2010–2030, as well as implications that may be of use for other tourism-dependent countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable Value Framework
• Critical Management Studies
• hospitality industry
• stakeholders
• mixed-methods research
• the Dominican Republic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. RapidMiner 5.2.003 was used to perform the cluster analysis. Data from each driver were normalized using the “Z-transformation” method with the function “Normalize”. For the normalized data, the cluster analysis was conducted using the function “Clustering (k-Means)” with parameters k = 2, measure types = “Bregman Divergences” and divergence = “Squared Euclidean Distance”. Centroid plot view is presented in the online Appendix, Figure 1.

2. The eleven hotels operated by international chains belonged to Cluster 0 which is characterized by high values on the centroids of the “Pollution Prevention” (Eco-efficiency and waste treatment) and “Product Stewardship” (Transparency) drivers, but low values on those of the “Clean Technology” and “Sustainability Vision” (internal and external future).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Felipe Pérez-Pineda

Felipe Pérez-Pineda, as a full professor at INCAE, teaches in the full-time MBA and executive programs. His areas of expertise include Tourism, Natural Resources Economics and Business Strategy.

Jose M. Alcaraz

Jose M. Alcaraz is a Senior Lecturer, and also a Researcher for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) global project.

Carlos Colón

Carlos Colón is an Adjunct Professor at Unibe. His expertise includes Tourism and Responsible Management.