Green hotel servicescape: attributes and unique experiences

Current Issues in Tourism ISSN: 1368-3500 (Print) 1747-7603 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcit20 Green hotel servicescape: attributes and unique experiences Abhishek Mishra & Ansh Gupta To cite this article: Abhishek Mishra & Ansh Gupta (2018): Green hotel servicescape: attributes and unique experiences, Current Issues in Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2018.1502259 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1502259 Published online: 19 Jul 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 48 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcit20 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1502259 Green hotel servicescape: attributes and unique experiences Abhishek Mishraa and Ansh Guptab a Indian Institute of Management, Indore, MP, India; bCEO, Bogatchi Chocolates, New Delhi, India ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY The relationship between green hotel service attributes and consumption experiences remains unclear in the extant research, especially in the context of emerging economies such as India. This work uses a multimethod approach that combines in-depth interviews, word association and two-stage empirical validation to propose a three-dimensional framework for measuring a hotel’s green servicescape, composed of atmospherics, motifs and human encounters. Individual effects of each green servicescape sub-dimension on those of green experiential values, namely utilitarian, emotional, social and altruistic values, are examined. The results reveal interesting findings, some counterintuitive, which are expected to create new insights for academicians and practitioners alike. Received 3 January 2018 Accepted 13 July 2018 KEYWORDS Green servicescape; green experiential value; atmospherics; motifs; human; green hotel 1. Introduction The travel and tourism industry accounts for 10.2% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and 9.6% of total employment, but at the same time also contributes 5% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and 4.6% of global warming (UNEP & UNWMO, 2007; World Travel and Tourism Council, 2017). Global warming challenges are rising at an accelerated pace and hence the tourism industry needs to rapidly shift to green practices through new technologies and intensive staff training to alter the public view (Manganari, Dimara, & Theotokis, 2016). Going green has other advantages as well. Literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the tourism and hospitality sector, which includes environmentally friendly practices, largely indicates positive effects of green initiatives on a firm’s long-term financial performance (e.g. Inoue & Lee, 2011; Lee & Park, 2009). An increasing number of customers, with high environmental values, prefer to choose a green facility. Consequently, businesses are looking for ways to respond appropriately, including a pro-environmental orientation in their management decision-making processes, and to capitalize on such interests (Han, Hsu, & Sheu, 2010; Manganari et al., 2016). While the threat of environmental degradation is immense and switching to sustainable practices as a core philosophy is self-evident, there are challenges. First, large numbers of tourists are still skeptical about the industry’s green initiatives (Kang, Stein, Heo, & Lee, 2012). This skepticism exists partly due to customers’ insufficient knowledge about the contribution of specific service attributes to environmental conservation, and partly due to lack of management commitment to invest in such services (Suki & Suki, 2015). Second, varied subjective perceptions of objective attributes by different customers and the interplay of such perceptions in creating unique experiences makes the green service design process complicated (Adhikari, 2015). Third, though some studies attempt to study experience-related implications of green services, only a few explore the green servicescape (GSS) as a combination of eco-friendly attributes that can help customers derive specific experiences, especially in emerging countries like India (e.g. Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016; CONTACT Abhishek Mishra [email protected] © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group 2 A. MISHRA AND A. GUPTA Johnstone & Tan, 2015; Millar & Baloglu, 2011; Ng, Butt, Khong, & Ong, 2014). Our work addresses these concerns in two ways: 1) it presents a unique second-order framework for a credible GSS with subjective customer perceptions (second level) of objective green hotel attributes (first level); and 2) it investigates how different components of GSS affect specific dimensions of the green experience. 2. Green service attributes: a critical review There are numerous works that discuss green services, but few conceptualize specific attributes that constitute a green service in various contexts, including tourism and hospitality. For example, Chan et al. (2016) suggest multiple elements constituting green services for a product-oriented firm, namely energy-saving technology, water-saving technology, maximum efficiency, sustainable design features, reuse and recycling, customer awareness of the environment, motivating customers to eco-friendly behavior, eco-friendly packaging, employee training and measurable environmental performance. While the framework is not relevant to the hospitality industry, it still presents an interesting benchmark. In the hospitality context, Han et al. (2010) use the theory of planned behavior to suggest behavioral, normative and control beliefs as antecedents for people visiting green hotels. However, the work lacks specific green service elements and is based on respondents who did not necessarily stay in a certified hotel. Teng, Wu, and Liu (2015) extend the same theory, with added constructs such as service quality, to investigate patronage intention for green hotels, without elaborating on specific green elements. Similarly, Kang et al. (2012) use a new ecology paradigm scale to test consumers’ willingness to pay higher prices for green services without highlighting specific green features. Millar and Baloglu (2011) consider attribute-level elements of hotel service that enable a higher preference for green hotels, such as recycling policy, shampooing amenities, controlled lighting, towel and linen policy and green certification. However, the work uses conjoint analysis to examine preferences and hence the attributes considered are limited. Bastic and Gojcic (2012) identify four factors which can classify a hotel as green: eco-friendly equipment, energy and water, eco-friendly behavior of staff and bio-food availability. However, the authors themselves suggest that their framework may have missed multiple green elements. Chia-Jung and Pei-Chun (2014) and Kim, Li, Han, and Kim (2017), similarly, provide limited green hotel attributes that, when added to overall hotel service quality, lead to higher willingness to pay or revisit intention. Interestingly, Chan (2014) defines green marketing as four factors, namely green partnerships, green products, green services and credibility of green promotion. Despite developing individual items under each factor, they do not clearly identify to which specific green components of hotel service factors two and three refer. Finally, scales similar to GSS, like GLSERV (Lee & Cheng, 2018) for measuring service quality at green hotels and GRSERV (Chen, Cheng, & Hsu, 2015) for evaluating the green services of a restaurant, have been developed. While the former is based on SERVQUAL, which has its own criticisms and puts a heavy emphasis on staff, the latter is not usable in a hospitality context. A balanced framework, with equal focus on all aspects of a green hotel, is thus required. 3. GSS: Qualitative conceptualization Service encounters are moments of truth through which customers derive meaningful experiences by directly interacting with various service attributes (Bitner, Booms, & Mohr, 1994). Extending this theory to the context of green services, we propose GSS as the interaction of guests with all ecofriendly aspects of a service environment, including its physical facilities, its personnel and other tangible/intangible elements which reflect eco-friendly intentions (Baker, 1986). For developing a comprehensive framework for a hotel’s green services, in-depth interviews combined with the extant literature were used. To ensure all facets of GSS are invoked, it is critical for respondents to be immersed in an environment which delivers green services, because a relevant context with immersive consumption facilitates higher consumer learning, motivation and transfer (Tessmer & Richey, CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 3 1997). There are hotels which advertise their green offerings, as part of their CSR mandatory disclosures, but do not necessarily implement them, creating a disclosure–performance gap (Font, Walmsley, Cogotti, McCombes, & Häusler, 2012). Hence, hotels of Concept Hospitality, branded as Ecotel®, were shortlisted and approached for this study. Concept Hospitality has entered into an agreement with HVS EcoServices, the certifying agency for environmentally sensitive hotels, to facilitate the growth of green hotels in India. The process of certification is extremely stringent, with only 34 hotels, out of 1100 applicants, receiving it. Green hotels are evaluated on energy conservation, water conservation, solid waste management, employee environment education and overall environment commitment. All Ecotel certified hotels pass a detailed inspection and satisfy stringent criteria set by environmental experts. Three levels of scoring – primary, secondary and tertiary – are executed, with the primary score made up of basic qualifying criteria; the secondary one incorporating random periodic undercover inspections and staff interviews; and tertiary scores used as a boosting parameter for green offerings, beyond the primary requirements. Combined scores, above a predesignated threshold value, lead to Ecotel certification. For the interviews, three Ecotel hotels – The Uppal (Delhi), The Rodas (Mumbai) and The Fern Citadel (Bangalore) – were contacted and, after due permission, researchers trained in qualitative studies conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with customers relaxing in the lobby or dining area. To suppress social desirability biases, with over-reporting of attitudes to consume green services, and ensure that the respondents were really concerned with ecology and did not choose the hotel for other reasons, we used screening questions, with yes/no answers, like ‘Personally, I cannot help to slow down environmental deterioration’; ‘I do recycle my products’; ‘I buy product categories that are mandatorily environmental’; ‘I take my own reusable bags to the store when I shop’ (Hiller, 2010; Johnstone & Tan, 2015). All conversations were voice recorded with the promise of maintaining confidentiality and conducted with interview guides to ensure coverage (Patton, 2002). A total of 25 interviews, ranging from 75 to 90 minutes, were conducted. Participants were interviewed about various eco-friendly aspects of the hotel they appreciated and their consumption experiences with those. In the end 34 items were generated. Axial coding was used to integrate consumer voices to specific constructs and data from the interviews used to theorize the meaning of GSS, supported with literature (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). To have a dimensional analysis of various GSS components that guests came across, we used Kreidler and Joseph-Mathews (2009) framework for general service encounters as a foundation. On thematic analysis of 34 items, three distinct dimensions appear: atmospherics (e.g. air, sound, fragrance etc.), motifs (e.g. recycling bins, recycled materials etc.) and human (e.g. green team, other customers etc.), well aligned with Kreidler and Joseph-Mathews (2009) framework. Green atmospherics are intangible eco-friendly background elements that arouse non-visual senses. Based on related works (e.g. Bonn, Joseph-Mathews, Dai, Hayes, & Cave, 2007), green atmospherics are divided into two sub-dimensions: internal and external. Green motif elements refer to eco-friendly components of the service environment that are tangible. Following Baker (1986), we conceptualize green motifs as functional and aesthetic. The human element of green service indicates the people, customers and employees, in the service setting (Baker, 1986). Details of the sub-dimensions of each component of GSS are given in the first part of Table 1. To prevent researcher bias in attributing those 34 items to the dimensions, we used a combination of expert opinions as well as a word-association technique. For the former, three experts from the hotel industry were requested to associate each item with each identified category and sort out differences through consensus, till a common association was obtained. For word association, we asked a set of 30 respondents, who were tourists different from the interviewees but staying at the three hotels, to associate each item with each category. These tourists were also filtered by their environmental sensitivity. The data collected was analyzed through correspondence analysis to examine the overall proximity of an attribute with a category. None of the items in the correspondence analysis had fuzzy associations, either equidistant from two or more attributes or different from expert opinion. Table 1 presents this item–construct association as well as the conversion of each item into a manifest variable for empirical validation. 4 A. MISHRA AND A. GUPTA Table 1. Consumer voices and measurement items. GSS Dimensions Atmospherics – Internal Atmospherics – External Motifs – Functional Motifs – Aesthetics Human – Staff Human – Cocustomers Consumer Voices e.g. natural fragrance; natural lighting; temperature inside is not too hot not too cold; quality of air is fresh; sound of running water; natural oils are heated for generating fragrances. e.g. pleasant natural aroma in the gardens; fresh air in the outdoors; sounds of waterfall; well-maintained greenery and flowers. e.g. energy efficient lighting; sensor-controlled lighting in rooms and lobbies; low flow water fixtures; organic foods; linen/towel reuse option; energy saving buttons in guest rooms; recycling bins; multi-glazed windows; refillable amenities dispensers; waterless urinals; organic soaps; environmental certification is well displayed; stationery made of recycled material e.g. objects used for decoration are made up of recycled materials; local artifacts used for décor; no cut flowers used for décor; lot of plants are used for decoration; all decorations look good together, color combinations of decoration; like a beautiful island e.g. hotel has a separate ‘green team’; staff on green team seem well trained in practicing eco-friendliness; staff on green team very well explained some of the green features in my room. e.g. lot of guests turned up for the tree plantation exercise organized by the hotel; other guests also consciously separating organic and non-organic waste; guests opting for linen/towel reuse option, they care for environment Dimensions Sub-dimensions Code Scale Items GSS Atmospherics Internal GAI1 GAI2 GAI3 GAI4 GAI5 GAE1 GAE2 GAE3 GMA1 GMA2 GMA3 GMA4 GMA5 GMA6 GMA7 GMF1 GMF2 GMF3 GMF4 GMF5 GMF6 GMF7 GMF8 GMF9 GHS1 GHS2 GHS3 GHS4 GHC1 GHC2 GHC3 The environment is kept eco-friendly by using maximum daylight The ambience is kept eco- friendly by using plants for interior decoration. The temperature inside the hotel is maintained just at comfortable level Inside, this hotel has pleasant natural fragrance. The air quality inside is very close to natural fresh air. The outdoors of this hotel has a soothing natural aroma. The outdoors of this hotel has eco-friendly ambience. The air quality in the outdoors of this hotel is very close to natural fresh air. This hotel uses local artifacts for decoration Sensor controlled lighting system in this hotel helps in saving energy. This hotel uses NO plastic Energy efficient lighting (e.g. CFL, LED) helps in saving energy. NO cut-flowers are used for decoration This hotel certification shows its environmental commitment. This hotel uses products made of recycled material. This hotel offers organically grown foods. Low flow water fixtures in the hotel’s bathroom help in saving water. Architecture of this hotel invites maximum natural light. This hotel has effective linen/towel reusing option This hotel offers cuisines made of locally available items. Energy saving button in guest rooms allows guests to save energy. Recycling bins help guests in reducing the waste produced by hotel. Multi-glazed window glasses in this hotel prevent heating This hotel has refillable dispensers instead of individual bottles The service staff seemed competent in maintaining environmental friendliness. The service staff genuinely wish to save the environment. The staff satisfactorily answered all my queries related to environmental features The service staff of this hotel eagerly tried to solve my related problems I found other guests in this hotel appreciating its eco-friendly environment. It seems other guests in this hotel like the option of saving environment Other guests in this hotel respect the eco-friendly efforts of the hotel. GUV1 GUV2 GUV3 GEV1 GEV2 GEV3 GSV1 GSV2 GSV3 GAV1 GAV2 GAV3 The eco-friendly features of this hotel are excellent. I think this hotel has expertise in offering an eco-friendly stay. Being eco-friendly, this hotel offers value for money. I loved the eco-friendly orientation of this hotel. Eco-friendly aspects of this hotel are pleasant. I enjoyed the eco-friendly stay provided at this hotel. I feel proud of my association with this eco-friendly hotel. I consider staying in this hotel as a symbol of being eco-friendly. This eco-friendly hotel helps me to feel distinct from other people. With this hotel, I feel good because it helps to protect the environment. With this hotel, I feel better because it does not harm the environment. With this hotel, I have a positive feeling of contributing to the well-being of humanity and nature. External Motifs Aesthetics Functional Human Staff Co-customers GEV Green Utilitarian Value Green Emotional Value Green Social Value Green Altruistic Value CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 5 4. Green experience The green consumption experience relates to the concept of green experiential value (GEV), a customer’s perception of interactions involving either direct usage or distanced appreciation of green services, and is composed of four dimensions: utilitarian value, social value, emotional value and altruistic value (Holbrook, 2006). The concept has been readily adopted by studies in environmentfriendly contexts (for details, refer to Papista & Krystallis, 2013). In line with Holbrook’s (2006) classification, GEV is composed of four dimensions: green utilitarian value is defined as the short-term monetary benefits of environmental preservation combined with long-term gains, like health advantages and savings on future costs (Hartmann & Ibáñez, 2012; Papista & Krystallis, 2013); green social value is the perceived social benefit of engaging in behaviors in sync with accepted norms related to environmentally friendly activities (Papista & Krystallis, 2013); green emotional value is the pleasure generated by consuming environmentally safe products (Papista & Krystallis, 2013); and green altruistic value is the psychological benefit derived from the feeling of helping others through environmental protection, by purchasing and consuming green products (Bhattacharya, Korschun, & Sen, 2009). Items for GEV were derived from the existing literature and modified to suit the context (Chen & Chang, 2013; Hartmann & Ibáñez, 2012), as depicted in Table 1. 5. Research hypotheses According to Stigler’s (1950) economic utility theory, a perception that what is received is greater than or at least equal to what is spent implies economic utility to the consumer. The utilitarian dimension of GEV not only includes more immediate cost savings, due to lesser consumption of valuable natural resources like water and fossil fuels, but also economic benefits through excellence of services in protecting the environment, which have impacts on current and future monetary benefits (Chen & Chang, 2013; Hartmann & Ibáñez, 2012). The extant literature concedes that a customer’s perception of the overall superiority of internal and external atmospherics, and their perceived effectiveness, greatly influences a customer’s belief in the utilitarian value of a green service (Ng et al., 2014). This is because atmospherics appeal to people’s senses and create mental immersion which, in turn, enhances a customer’s willingness to stay (Jani & Han, 2014; Tsai, 2005). Thus, atmospherics, which act as the first interface for customer interaction with a green service, enhance believability in service greenness and possible accrual of utilitarian value by its consumption (Smith & Colgate, 2007). Hence: H1a/H1b: Green interior/exterior atmospherics lead to utilitarian GEV. External and internal atmospherics have a strong influence on sensory perceptions, creating pleasure, also referred to as ‘soaking in’ the environment (Keng, Huang, Zheng, & Hsu, 2007). Welldesigned atmospherics represent a naturalistic environment which appeals to customers’ primal senses and can become a source of perceived emotional benefits for them (Jani & Han, 2014; Kim et al., 2017). Works on extended presence as well as connectedness to nature suggest that humans feel closer to environments which make them feel immersed in nature, as they tend to latch on to the memories of the outside natural world to define their own presence in artificial surroundings (Riva, Waterworth, & Waterworth, 2004). A related concept of biophilia also suggests that the presence of friendly natural elements creates positive emotions (McVay et al., 1995). Therefore, we posit: H2a/H2b: Green internal/external atmospherics lead to emotional GEV. Green services involve major customer efforts in purchase and consumption, because not only are they costlier, also there is no surety of functional parity with non-green equivalents (Ng et al., 2014). The utilitarian value of consumption, which depicts the value-for-money benefit sought by a user, as well as future benefits accrued to the environment and society, is thus heavily dependent on actual 6 A. MISHRA AND A. GUPTA functional performance (Carlson, O’Cass, & Ahrholdt, 2015). For example, a low-flow auto-close water faucet should actually save water, and its reduced-flow design should be appreciated by the user. A new research area called green quality function deployment (GQFD) investigates elements that integrate customers’ perception of eco-friendliness into frugal, yet effective, product and service designs (Pusporini, Abhary, & Luong, 2013). Functional motifs in a service facility serve as real physical evidence, compared to sensory elements which are just signals, that the said facility is really green. Consumers appreciate such eco-friendly functional features, which in turn invoke utilitarian value embedded in the overall service. Hence: H3a: Green functional motifs lead to utilitarian GEV. The functional performance of a green service also has social implications for the user. Users, driven by ego-centrism, buy green products to conform to social norms and values and are happy to communicate their choice to others (Haines, Street, & Haines, 2008). Such a propensity to share experiences and enjoy appreciation by friends on social networks and in social circles indicates enhanced self-esteem when customers visit a green hotel (Andreassen, Pallesen, & Griffiths, 2017). The social non-conformity literature also suggests people can distinguish themselves from others not only through their behaviors, but also through products/services that offer symbolic meaning beyond their functional benefits (Correia, Kozak, & Reis, 2016). People want to associate with different and exclusive services, for example eco-friendly services, to make themselves be perceived differently. Functional motifs are evidence that users are, in fact, consuming them, which makes them part of a unique group, a fact they love to share with others to attain equity (Gao, Winterich, & Zhang, 2016). Hence, we propose: H3b: Green functional motifs lead to social GEV. The extant literature suggests that the aesthetic beauty of a stimulus creates positive emotions in the perceiver (e.g. Tyan-Yu, Chueh-Yung, & Cian-Yu, 2017). The aesthetics of a service environment remain deeply entangled with the overall service experience and enable excellence through unity and performance (Keng et al., 2007). A great visual design enhances appeal to consumers, creating entertainment and a consequential sense of enjoyment, especially for green consumers with unique environmental contributions (Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016). This is because eye-pleasing physical surroundings, through green motifs, are expected to enhance the sensory-cognitive curiosity of patrons, putting them in a state of flow (Keng et al., 2007). The concept of green aesthetics aims to serve positive emotional experiences through space, mass, volume, time, movement, color, light, smell, sound, tactility, kinesthesia, pattern, order and meaning of the environment (Niinimäki, 2014). Hence: H4a: Green aesthetic motifs lead to emotional GEV. A primary motive for consuming green products and services lies in doing unselfish/selfish welfare for others, referred to as pure/impure altruism, respectively. The concept of altruism suggests that people receive utility from the act of giving, which is not solely motivated by the idea of benefitting others, but self as well (Andreoni, 1990). Altruistic GEV incorporates the experience drawn from tangible/intangible elements of GSS and is driven by an individual’s motivation to seek benefits for self as well as others through eco-friendly consumption (Hartmann & Ibáñez, 2012). Research in social dilemma theory, applied to pro-environmental consumption, attributes concern for environmental protection, combined with self-recognition, as a strong antecedent to purchase of green services (Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016). Elements of GSS, including atmospherics and motifs, which conform to the user’s value of saving the environment and doing larger good for society, without having to compromise on personal comfort at the same time, offer a satisfying altruistic experience. Hence: H5a/H5b/H5c/H5d: Green internal/external atmospherics and functional/aesthetic motifs are positively related to altruistic GEV. CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 7 Besides the tangible element of green services, interactions with social diaspora in the servicescape also have a strong effect on the quality of a consumption experience (Lee & Cheng, 2018). Encounters with staff in the physical environment shape consumers’ expectations and experiences to a great extent (Keng et al., 2007). Service personnel, without creating any unique utilitarian value, act as enablers of tangible green elements that do (Wu & Liang, 2009; Lee & Cheng, 2018). Literature on service co-creation equates staff to theater cast members who create pleasurable experiences for the audience (hotel customers; Payne, Storbacka & Frow, 2008). At a green hotel, when one observes that the staff have a clear dedication to following protocols for green initiatives, it gives a positive feeling of reassurance that the hotel is really green. Additionally, enhanced self-esteem through social and altruistic values for contributing to environmental welfare, derived from interactions with dedicated staff, also boosts the ego-centricity of a consumer who wants to be perceived as caring (Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016). Thus: H6a/H6b/H6c: Staff enabling GSS create social/emotional/altruistic GEV. Like staff interaction, other customer interaction also affects value co-creation and the overall service experience. However, there are two contradictory mechanisms active with co-customers. Social facilitation creates a positive impact on consumer-to-consumer interaction leading to mutual positive feelings; however, with social intrusion, where a co-customer in the service setting is considered an intruder, the quality of the overall service experience declines (Wu & Liang, 2009). In a green setting, social intrusion should be subdued, as the collective initiative of green co-customers for contributing to the environment and society takes precedence, making social facilitation a dominant determinant of the customer experience (Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016). This is because universal values, mutually shared by like-minded individuals, such as protecting nature, drive people towards harmonious consumption of green services (Thøgersen & Ölander, 2002). Thus, when people encounter other customers acting in a responsible way in the green service environment, this elicits positive emotions. Further, green consumption behaviors are driven not only by one’s perception of the moral obligation of protecting the environment, but also the consequences of such behaviors on others’ perception about oneself, which create social and altruistic values (Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016). Hence: H7a/H7b/H7c: Co-customers enabling GSS lead to social/emotional/altruistic GEV. The overall proposed framework is presented in Figure 1. 6. Measurement and model validation Table 1 outlines the items used in the questionnaire. A six-item scale, with seven anchors, for measuring environmental values by Haws, Winterich, and Naylor (2010) was used to select respondents with high environmental concerns, or those who registered a score of five or higher. Sensitivity towards the environment may invoke socially desirable answers and hence a higher cutoff, compared to the scale mean of four, was chosen (Randall & Fernandes, 1991). The population of the final study was all the people who were 18+ years of age, sensitive towards the environment and staying in a certified green hotel (certified Ecotel hotels by Concept Hospitality) in India. The sampling frame for the study was defined in two stages: 1) for hotels – a list of all Ecotel-certified green hotels in India; 2) for guests – a list of guests staying in the chosen green hotels. Out of 27 green hotels across India, 14 were randomly selected for data collection. These hotels were Meluha The Fern (Mumbai), The Fern Hotels at Jaipur and Ahmedabad, Mansarovar The Fern (Hyderabad), Beaumonde The Fern (Kochi), The Fern Gir Forest Resort (Sasan), The Fern Gardenia Resort (Goa), The Fern Residency (Chandigarh), The Fern Samali Resort (Dapoli), The Fern Citadel (Bangalore), The Fern Residency (Gurgaon), The Fern Surya Resort (Mahabaleshwar), The Rodas (Mumbai) and The Uppal (Delhi). Further, at each hotel guests were randomly selected based on occupied room numbers and their ratings on environmental values collected for qualification. 8 A. MISHRA AND A. GUPTA Figure 1. Overall Model. Two stages of data collection were done six months apart, where the first dataset was used for measurement validation, while the second one was for model validation. A total of 750 questionnaires were circulated in each cycle for a total of 1500, of which 774 completed questionnaires were received. Of those, 523 were qualified and usable, with 220 from the first stage and 303 from the second. Data normality tests were satisfactory, with skewness values of all variables within the recommended range of −2.00 to + 2.00 and kurtosis values within the range of −7.00 to + 7.00 (Curran, West, & Finch, 1996). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), conducted with the first dataset using the software AMOS, reported fit indices of GFI = 0.90; CFI = 0.90; IFI = 0.90; TLI = 0.90; RMSEA = 0.06; and SRMR = 0.046, suggesting satisfactory fit of the model to the data (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Summary of the CFA analysis is presented in Table 2. Four items of the green motifs functional dimension, which did not load well, were dropped from the model validation stage. All average variance extracted (AVE) values exceeded the recommended level of 0.50, suggesting convergent validity. Also, all of the AVEs were greater than the highest squared correlation between any two constructs of interest, suggesting discriminant validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). With psychometric properties checked, the overall structural model was tested using the second dataset. Table 3 summarizes the findings. While the psychometric properties of the constructs remained intact, not all hypotheses are supported. For example, hypotheses H1b, H2b and H5b are refuted and the relationships are negative. Similarly, H7c is refuted: co-customers have a negative impact on altruistic value. Finally, hypotheses H5c and H5d are not significant, implying no association between motifs and altruistic value, and so are H7a and H7b, suggesting no effect of other customers in social and emotional value creation. CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 9 Table 2. Reliability and Validity of Constructs: Dataset 1. Construct Code GSS-AtmosphericsInternal GAI1 GAI2 GAI3 GAI4 GAI5 GAE1 GAE2 GAE3 GMF1 GMF2 GMF3 GMF4 GMF5 GMF6 GMF7 GMF8 GMF9 GMA1 GMA2 GMA3 GMA4 GMA5 GMA6 GMA7 GHS1 GHS2 GHS3 GHS4 GHC1 GHC2 GHC3 GUV1 GUV2 GUV3 GEV1 GEV2 GEV3 GSV1 GSV2 GSV3 GAV1 GAV2 GAV3 GSS-AtmosphericsExternal GSS-Motifs-Functional GSS-Motifs-Aesthetics GSS-Human-Staff GSS-Human-Cocustomers GEV-Utilitarian GEV-Emotional GEV-Social GEV-Altruistic Cronbach Alpha Factor Loadings Composite Reliability AVE Peak Squared Correlations 0.83 0.75 0.76 0.76 0.74 0.80 0.81 0.86 0.81 0.68 0.78 0.83 0.38 (Dropped) 0.34 (Dropped) 0.38 (Dropped) 0.40 (Dropped) 0.74 0.74 0.79 0.78 0.87 0.83 0.80 0.69 0.71 0.73 0.85 0.77 0.83 0.82 0.83 0.88 0.89 0.85 0.82 0.83 0.89 0.85 0.86 0.89 0.82 0.89 0.90 0.88 0.86 0.58 0.57 0.86 0.67 0.57 0.91 0.59 0.50 0.91 0.60 0.39 0.87 0.63 0.58 0.88 0.72 0.58 0.89 0.73 0.69 0.89 0.74 0.69 0.89 0.73 0.64 0.92 0.80 0.73 0.86 0.86 0.85 0.87 0.87 0.8 0.88 0.86 0.91 7. General discussion and implications The burden of stopping the environment from reaching an irreversible threshold falls on industries and economies that contribute the most to its degradation, one of which is tourism and hospitality. Given the increased media attention given to environmental degradation, the impact of environmentalism on consumer culture has been growing, such that consumers are willing to purchase products which are more environmentally friendly (Kang et al., 2012). With tourism services forming a major share of the global economy, it is pertinent for the hotel industry to adapt proactive environmental strategies that help create larger social approval and enhanced market legitimacy (Jacobs, Singhal, & Subramanian, 2010). Pro-environmental strategies often allow organizations access to new markets, increase their profitability and help them gain competitive advantage (Han et al., 2010; Molina-Azorín, Tarí, Pereira-Moliner, López-Gamero, & Pertusa-Ortega, 2015). In that direction, this study provides critical insights about designing green physical evidence in hospitality that induces positive consumer experiences. Such experiences are well-known antecedents to continued 10 A. MISHRA AND A. GUPTA Table 3. Path Model: Dataset 2. Hypothesis H1a H1b H2a H2b H3a H3b H4a H5a H5b H5c H5d H6a H6b H6c H7a H7b H7c Antecedent Atmospherics-Internal Atmospherics-External Atmospherics-Internal Atmospherics-External Functional Motifs Aesthetic Motifs Atmospherics-Internal Atmospherics-External Functional Motifs Aesthetic Motifs Staff Co-customers Consequent Green Utilitarian Value Green Emotional Value Green Utilitarian Value Green Social Value Green Emotional Value Green Altruistic Value Green Emotional Value Green Social Value Green Altruistic Value Green Emotional Value Green Social Value Green Altruistic Value Path Value t-value (p-value) Result 0.96 −0.10 0.92 −0.20 0.05 0.25 −0.06 0.85 −0.18 0.02 0.02 0.22 0.68 0.32 −0.01 0.01 −0.14 22.52 (0.00) −4.04 (0.00) 20.41 (0.00) −7.48 (0.00) 2.12 (0.03) 6.23 (0.00) −2.80 (0.01) 20.59 (0.00) −6.68 (0.00) 0.71 (0.47) 0.83 (0.41) 9.28 (0.00) 14.57 (0.00) 11.96 (0.00) −0.49 (0.62) 0.29 (0.77) −5.83 (0.00) Supported Refuted Supported Refuted Supported Supported Refuted Supported Refuted Rejected Rejected Supported Supported Supported Rejected Rejected Refuted patronage, something extremely important in competitive and emerging markets, like India, with excruciating customer-acquisition costs. By using a three-stage enquiry, qualitative interviews coupled with word association and two empirical stages for measurement and model validation, this work examines important relationships between elements of green service and resultant experiential values. While most of the hypotheses were supported, suggesting the importance of elements of GSS for facilitating experience, one of the key insights is that external atmospherics inhibit the creation of value, rather than facilitating it. This may be because in some hotels, vivid displays of natural artifacts in the exterior environment, where customers will not generally be immersed during their stay, may give patrons a sense of extravagance on the hotel’s part. Additionally, some of these green hotels, due to business reasons, are also located at city commercial hubs, which are generally highly polluted. The external environment of the hotel, despite its natural appearance, does not feel like that, as its environmental ingredients are masked by pollutants flowing in from outside. Hence, location of the green hotel away from the city’s hustle is needed to make the nature-friendly external environment take effect. Another interesting finding is that co-customers do not help in the creation of social or emotional value, and in fact inhibit altruistic value. This may be due to social intrusion at work, discussed earlier. The presence of co-customers in the environment with varied concerns for ecology may have profound effects on the creation of these values, as green and conventional customers depict significant differences in their perceptions of green offerings and resultant behaviors (Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016). Lackadaisical attitudes and responses of non-green customers towards a hotel’s green initiatives possibly explain the negative altruistic values derived by a concerned customer. Finally, we found that functional and aesthetic motifs do not enable altruistic value and thus, despite expectations, they are not really considered as sources for creating higher values. In fact, altruistic value is enabled more, first, by staff of the hotel, as facilitators who constantly remind customers how their cooperation is really benefitting the environment and society at large; and second, by internal atmospherics, which allow immersion in a naturefriendly environment. Finally, an examination of the absolute path values makes it clear that internal atmospherics and staff are the two most important facilitators for value creation, with internal atmospherics strong for enabling self-oriented values like utilitarianism and emotionality by creating the soaking-in effect, and staff for creating other-oriented values like sociality and altruism. Our findings contribute valuable insights to green marketing in the hospitality literature. Theoretically, the study introduces a novel multi-dimensional construct in the form of GSS and discusses interrelationships between its sub-dimensions and those of GEV, something missing in the literature so far. Contemporary literature in hospitality, like Lee and Cheng (2018), Chan et al. (2016) and Millar and Baloglu (2011), does discuss some eco-friendly attributes of hotels; however, our work goes a CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 11 step further in developing an exhaustive set of objective green attributes that customers appreciate and combine into three subjective perceptive dimensions. Most of our constructs are in line with the comprehensive work of Chan et al. (2016), who proposed a green service concept for a productoriented firm. Our work proposes that GSS is made of three sub-dimensions, atmospherics, motifs and human, each with two sub-dimensions, which in turn are measured by observable green hotel characteristics. This framework also aligns well with Baker (1986), which is used extensively in a service context, but not for green services. This research further offers a hierarchical process-oriented framework to academicians and practitioners for analyzing the effects of GSS on green experience. Understanding the value that consumers seek, while experiencing the green attributes of the service, will help managers in devising effective strategies for designing the servicescape with a special focus on green service elements. Managers of green facilities can use the proposed framework to evaluate various eco-friendly elements of the service environment that create unique experiential values. Additionally, they can analyze the proposed impact of each of the dimensions of GSS on specific dimensions of GEV, as not every component of green service has been hypothesized, based on the literature review and consumer voices, to affect every component of green experience. This will help them in augmenting only those green service elements which may result in more positive perceptions. For instance, the framework suggests that internal atmospherics, among other GSS elements, is an important factor that affects utilitarian and emotional dimensions of GEV. Therefore, it is imperative for green hotel managers to augment attributes such as ‘natural fragrance, use of natural lighting, flow of natural air, maintaining not too cold or too hot temperature, use colors which forms internal atmospherics of the hotel and depicts eco-friendliness’, in case they need their patrons to feel utilitarian and emotional gratification from consuming their services. Along the same lines, hotels need to train their staff to constantly appreciate cooperative eco-friendly customers, not only to create social value but also to make the customers believe that they are really part of an important initiative. 8. Limitations and future research directions The current work has some limitations that suggest directions for further research. First, the research is focused only on the eco-friendly elements of the servicescape. The impact of the other non-ecofriendly aspects may also affect the experiential values of consumers, hence future work could conceptualize the combined effect of GSS and non-GSS on the customer experience. Second, this framework may be limited to hotels, and further work should attempt to give meaning to GSS for other services as well. Third, this study did not explore the moderating effect of individual demographic and psychographic factors on the relationship between GSS and GEV. Future studies could examine such individual-based variables, like age, gender, travel purpose and environmental values (in the form of environmental commitment, perceived consumer effectiveness, environmental knowledge, eco-friendly lifestyle), in enabling the relationships at various stages of the model. Finally, contrary to expectations, the presence of co-customers did not create social or emotional value or impaired altruistic value. 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