Eco-innovation and management: an empirical analysis of environmental good practices and labour productivity in the spanish hotel industry

Abstract

Can the implementation of eco-innovation measures improve apparent labour productivity in hotel establishments? Based on data from a sample of 173 hotel establishments with three or more stars, this article suggests that these measures improve apparent labour productivity. We define the variable “eco-innovative” as an indicator of environmental management and introduce it in a widely-used production function with a set of control variables that represents some characteristics of the hotels for which we have information. The econometric results indicate that the implementation of additional eco-innovative practices increases labour productivity on average by 8.15%. However, the results also suggest that this increase occurs as a function of a certain level of investment in these types of environmental measures, after which level the variation in apparent labour productivity may become negative. The results obtained have managerial implications that should encourage hotel managers to reconsider their level of commitment to the implementation of eco-innovative practices.

Keywords:

• Hotel
• eco-innovation
• environmental good practices
• environmental management
• productivity
• Andalusia

Notes

1. The Europe INNOVA project is a European innovation policy initiative for a pan-European platform for innovation professionals to develop, discuss, test, and exchange good practice, ideas, tools, and policy recommendations leading to a better understanding of the innovation patterns in different industrial sectors, helping to improve sectoral innovation performance and shaping future innovation policies.

2. Vries, de Bayramoglu, and van der Wiele (2012) conducted an exhaustive review of the literature that included several economic activities.

3. In Spain, firms are required to file their annual financial accounts in the Mercantile Registry, thus making them an important source of reliable data on Spanish firms.

4. Data available from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics: http://www.ine.es. (Downloaded 11/12/2013).

5. This value is obtained from expression 0.1693–2*0.0231*ei=0, such that ei≈3.66.