Thesis

Embedding sustainability in hotel operations : a practice-based learning perspective

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Creator
Rights statement
Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2026
Thesis identifier
  • T17975
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 202257376
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Sustainability in hotels is frequently promoted through corporate messaging, yet for employees working behind the scenes it unfolds amid time pressures, guest expectations, and operational constraints. Having experienced this environment first-hand, I became interested in how hotel employees understand and enact sustainability within the realities of daily service work. Employees interact with guests, manage resources, and navigate competing demands, placing them at the centre of sustainability implementation. Yet their role in shaping sustainable practices remains underexplored in hospitality research. The overarching aim of this thesis is to explore how sustainability becomes embedded as an organisational process in hotels by examining the employee-mediated mechanisms that translate stated commitments into consistent everyday practice. Taking a qualitative, interpretivist approach, the research draws primarily on semi-structured interviews and an embedded single case study within the UK hotel sector. This design enables an examination of sustainability as a lived organisational phenomenon shaped through everyday interactions, informal learning, operational pressures, and shifting workplace conditions. Across the thesis, the findings reveal the complex ways in which employees make sense of and engage with sustainability. Their motivation to act sustainably is influenced by organisational culture, leadership behaviour, and workload demands. Their sustainability knowledge emerges largely through informal and experiential learning, circulating unevenly across roles and departments. Organisational learning processes are often fragmented, affecting how sustainability cues are noticed, interpreted, and integrated into daily practice. These insights demonstrate that embedding sustainability depends not only on formal initiatives but on the everyday mechanisms through which employees interpret, enact, and reinforce sustainable behaviours. Overall, this thesis contributes to hospitality sustainability scholarship by deepening the understanding of how organisational actors address a critical organisational challenge while managing multiple competing demands. It highlights the employee-mediated processes that shape whether sustainability remains rhetorical or becomes routine and offers practical insights to help hotels strengthen the embedding of sustainability within the complexities of daily operations.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Davis, Andrew
  • Davies, Iain
Resource Type
DOI
Date Created
  • 2025

Relations

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details PDF of thesis T17975 2026-04-27 Public Download