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

摘要

Can the implementation of eco-innovation measures improve apparent labour productivityrnin hotel establishments? Based on data from a sample of 173 hotel establishmentsrnwith three or more stars, this article suggests that these measures improvernapparent labour productivity. We define the variable “eco-innovative” as an indicatorrnof environmental management and introduce it in a widely-used production functionrnwith a set of control variables that represents some characteristics of the hotels forrnwhich we have information. The econometric results indicate that the implementationrnof additional eco-innovative practices increases labour productivity on average byrn8.15%. However, the results also suggest that this increase occurs as a function of arncertain level of investment in these types of environmental measures, after whichrnlevel the variation in apparent labour productivity may become negative. The resultsrnobtained have managerial implications that should encourage hotel managers tornreconsider their level of commitment to the implementation of eco-innovativernpractices.