Environmental good Practices, Quality Certifications and Productivity in the Andalusian Hotel Sector

Garcia-Pozo, A.; Sanchez-Ollero, J.L.; Marchante-Mera, A.

doi:10.22059/ijer.2014.811

Environmental good Practices, Quality Certifications and Productivity in the Andalusian Hotel Sector

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

A. Garcia-Pozo

J.L. Sanchez-Ollero

A. Marchante-Mera

University of Malaga, Avenida Cervantes, 2, 29071 Málaga, Spain

10.22059/ijer.2014.811

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that firms that have adopted environmental standards and those
that have obtained official quality certifications achieve higher labour productivity than firms that have not
done so. Unlike previous studies, this paper analyzes the combined effect of implementing environmental
good practices and obtaining quality certifications on apparent labour productivity using a sample of 106
hotels in Andalusia (Spain). To this end, a descriptive analysis and an econometric estimation of a production
function were conducted based on data obtained from the Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness in the
Hospitality Industry for Andalusia project. We applied a standard Cobb-Douglas production function to this
data, and extended the function by introducing an indicator of the implementation of good environmental
practice by hotels and four different types of quality certifications as additional explanatory variables. The
econometric results indicate that labour productivity increases only when both the Q-mark is awarded and
environmental good practices are implemented (by 18.74% and 7.51%, respectively). In conclusion, the
positive response of consumers towards improving environmental and quality measures may be an incentive
to invest in these measures.

Keywords

Environmental good practices

Quality certifications

productivity

Andalusia