Assessment of Awareness and Adoption Levels of Environmental Sustainability Practices (ESP) in Large-Sized Hotels (LSH) in Lagos, Nigeria

2.1 Concept of environmental sustainability

Generally, the concept of sustainability deals with issues relating to the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems, reduction of pollution, and promotion of social equity and economic development [6, 42, 43]. The current study is on environmental sustainability, which connects the social and economic aspects of sustainability [44] in pursuit of natural capital conservation [45]. In other words, it deals with preventing harmful and irreversible effects on the environment by human activities by ensuring efficient use of natural renewable and non-renewable resources, and protection of the ecosystem [46, 47].

The foregoing indicates that environmental sustainability has become very important in ensuring that both social and economic activities are conducted in a manner that will conserve our natural resources and enhance the capacity of the natural ecosystem to continuously provide life-supporting services such as such as food, medicine, clean air, water, and land, good ambient temperature, and others [46]. Environmental sustainability calls for a judicious use of our natural resources to meet the needs of current and future generations. This has become necessary because if the current trend in the exploitation of natural resources continues unabated, it will get to a point when the natural ecosystem may not be able to provide these life-supporting services on the planet Earth.

2.2 Environmental sustainability/Green practices (ESP)

Environmental sustainability or green practices are actions, strategies, and processes implemented to enhance the capacity of the ecosystem to provide vital life-supporting services [48] such as food, water, air, energy, and waste management [44]. They include a wide range of practices targeted at energy use reduction, water conservation, waste minimization, emission control [24] and promotion of the health and comfort of building occupants [49]. In this research, the focus are practices associated with energy reduction [26], water conservation, and waste minimization in hotel buildings [23, 50, 51]. Table 1 is a summary of environmental sustainability practices for energy use reduction, water conservation, and waste minimization in hotel buildings as gleaned from the published literature. A careful examination of Table 1 will reveal that the principal energy use reduction practices are energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems, daylighting, renewable energy sources, smart technology, and intelligent building envelope. The water conservation practices are the use of low-flow sanitary installations, wastewater recycling and reuse, water meters, and intelligent taps and showers, while the key waste minimisation practices are reuse programme/recycling waste, waste separation, and composting plant and staff training programmes.

Table 1. Environmental sustainability practices for ERP, WCP, and WMP in hotel buildings

Sources: Complied by the authors

2.3 Concepts of awareness and adoption of environmental sustainability practices

The concept of awareness as a psychological construct has been defined in various ways by different authors. For example, Gupta et al. [70] conceived of it as the state or ability to perceive, feel, or be conscious of events, objects, or sensory patterns, while Gafoor [71] defined awareness as public or common knowledge or understanding about a social, scientific or political issue. These two definitions suggest that knowledge or being conscious of any event, object, or process is key to understanding awareness. Therefore, in the context of the current research, the definition of awareness used is that offered by Rogers [42], which views it as having knowledge and understanding of anything, in the context of environmental sustainability/green practices.

According to Rogers [42], awareness is the first stage in the process of innovation adoption, which has four stages. The first is awareness–knowledge, which deals with having or acquiring knowledge about a new idea, product, or process. The second is how-to-use knowledge, which deals with having the information necessary to use a new idea, product, or process properly. The last is the principles -knowledge, which deals with having information about the functioning principles underlying how to use a new idea, product, or process. Having access to information about innovation has been identified to play a mediating role in awareness and the extent to which innovation, in this case, environmentally sustainable practices is adopted [28, 65]. Despite the diversity of knowledge of various aspects of environmental sustainability practices [19, 72], the focus of the current research is on awareness of green practices for energy use reduction, water conservation, and waste minimisation at the operational stage of hotel buildings.

Regarding the concept of adoption, Chiu [73] defined it as the process of selecting a technology for use by an individual or an organisation. Put succinctly, adoption occurs when an individual, or organisation makes use of a new technology, idea, or process [74]. Even though Rogers [42] identified five stages in the innovation-decision process: knowledge (awareness), persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation, the actual adoption takes place at the implementation stage when the adopting unit puts an innovation into use. This implies that the implementation stage is the adoption stage. Adoption as used in the current research refers to the implementation of environmental sustainability practices at the operational stage of hotel buildings. In this context, we are referring to practices for reducing energy use, conserving water, and minimising waste generation in the operation of hotel buildings.

2.4 Review of empirical studies on levels of awareness and adoption ESP in hotels

The review of published literature reveals that sustainability practices for the mitigation of environmental impacts of hotel buildings have been categorised into energy reduction, water conservation, waste minimization practices (WMP) [75], and emission control practices [17]. Those that can be adopted at the design stage are referred to as environmental sustainability design practices [18-21] and include passive strategies (design and orientation, building envelope, ventilation) building envelope, shading, orientation, ventilation, daylighting, windows/glazing [53]. At the construction stage, green construction practices include the use of sustainable building materials and construction techniques [22, 23], while at the operational stage the possible green practices include energy management, waste reduction [24, 26-28], waste recycling initiatives [76, 77] and staff training on eco-friendly practices [19, 25].

Regarding studies on the levels of awareness of ESP in hotels, the extant literature reveals that some studies have been done on this. For example, in India, Mathur, Khanna, and Saxena [52], investigated guest awareness and satisfaction with the sustainability practices in hotels in New Delhi and found that there was an extremely low level of awareness of sustainability practices amongst hotel guests. This study was not specific about the sustainability practices investigated and the focus was on the guests. Wan et al. [78] explored the levels of environmental awareness, and initiatives in the hotel industry of Macau, China. The authors reported that hotel operators in that city had a high level of environmental awareness. However, the study did not capture awareness of ESP in the hotel industry in that city. Gabarda-Mallorquí et al. [79] examined awareness of water-saving practices among hotel guests and reported that a higher level of environmental awareness was not necessarily associated with water-saving practices. Notably, this study was focused on water conservation only and did not examine energy use reduction and waste minimisation practices. Abdou et al. [25] investigated the level of awareness of sustainable waste management practices across different categories of hotels in Bauchi State, Nigeria. That study reported that hotel operators in that State had a moderate level of awareness of sustainable waste management practices with a greater level of awareness reported among larger hotels. That study also reported that the levels of awareness did not correspond to the extent of adoption of waste management practices. Despite the insight provided, it focused only on waste management practices and did not include energy use reduction and, water conservation practices.

Concerning the levels of the adoption of ESP in hotel operations, some empirical studies have also been identified. For example, Khatter et al. [80] investigated the environmentally sustainable policies and practices of hotels in Australia and reported that whereas environmental protection policies were prominently displayed by the hotels sampled, there was no evidence of adoption of ESP by independent non-chain affiliated hotels. In Portugal, Pereira, Silva, and Dias [65] reported that luxury hotels had implemented environmental practices targeted at energy and water use reduction, waste, and carbon emissions and control, and protection of biodiversity. The study, however, did not identify the specific practices implemented. Elsewhere in Chennai, India, Sangeetha [81] reported that most of the seven four-star hotels sampled were involved with energy conservation practices including the use of LED lighting, electronic communication, thermal protection windows, energy star appliances and solar panels, two-sided printing, reusable drinking cup, turning off their computers at night. Other practices adopted were recycling disposable wares, and water, and using phosphate-free cleaning materials, partial flush tanks, smaller bathtubs, and rainwater harvesting.

In Zimbabwe and South Africa, Mbasera, Du Plessis, Saayman, and Kruger [6] reported that in eight 3- to 5-star-graded hotels, some of the green practices implemented were switching off electricity whenever possible, using solar energy, recycling waste materials such as plastics, using energy-saving bulbs, key cards, boilers with timing switches, thermostat technology for fryers, and energy savers. Others were using borehole water, reducing waste, sorting solid waste, using vegetables grown in their gardens and reusing wastewater. In Egypt, Abdou, Hassan, and El Die [24] sampled 48 environmental management representatives in four and five Green Star Certified Green Star hotels and found that the hotels adopted water conservation practices such as collecting rainwater and using it in garden irrigation and flushing toilets, using low-flow toilets and showerheads, installing water-efficient devices and appliances. They were also involved in recycling the grey water (water from washing vegetables and fruits) for grass irrigation. For energy use reduction, they were using energy-efficient light bulbs (LED), timers and energy-efficient appliances and environmental awareness campaigns.

Lammi and Tesfaye [22] reported that among hotels in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, the top ESP were the use of energy-efficient bulbs and appliances, key cards for light, dual toilets, low-flow water technologies, placement of dustbins, sorting and disposing of solid wastes, and buying of local products. Still in Ethiopia, Kassim [34] found that in six core hotel outlets in Bishoftu, the environmental protection practices were water-saving, energy-saving, and waste management. Similar to the situation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the use of energy-efficient bulbs and appliances, key cards/sensors for light, dual toilets, and other low-flow water technologies, and the reuse of wastewater for gardening were the practices implemented at significant levels in sampled hotels. In Kampala, Uganda, Barakagira and Paapa [81] sampled 197 employees of five-star hotels on green practices they have implemented. The authors reported that the most implemented green practices were energy conservation, waste management, and water conservation, respectively. However, the specific practices were not identified in the study.

In Nigeria, Nwokorie and Obiora [40] surveyed 350 employees of 15 hotels and residents of the host community to ascertain the level of involvement of the hotels in sustainable development practices in the Ilaro, Ogun State. The authors reported that the hotels were yet to embrace sustainable development practices. Abdou et al. [25] examined sustainable waste management awareness and practices in classified hotels in Bauchi State and found that the key practices were staff training, and displaying of their environmental policies publicly. However, that study was limited to waste management practices and did not consider energy use reduction and water conservation practices.

It is evident from the studies reviewed here that the number of existing studies on the level of awareness of ESP among hotel operators are very limited. The few existing studies tend to focus more on general environmental awareness than ESP with emphasis on water conservation and waste management practices. Compared to studies on ESP adoption, the existing research indicates that there is widespread adoption of energy use reduction practices, water conservation and waste management practices by hotel operators in the different countries. However, none of the existing studies reviewed investigated the levels of awareness and adoption of energy use reduction, water conservation and waste minimisation practices from the perspective of hotel operators, especially in Nigeria. As a result, there is a gap in knowledge of the of the extent to which hotel operators know about EPS and have adopted them in developing countries, including Nigeria. This is part of the research gap the present study attempted to fill.

4.1 Profile of participants in the survey

The results of the descriptive analysis of the participants’ profiles are presented in Table 2. From the data in Table 2, it is evident that most of the participants in the survey were males within the age bracket of 26- 55 years and highly educated with more than 6 years of experience in the hotel sub-sector of Nigeria.

Table 2. Demographic characteristics of the hotel managers

These findings suggest that managers of the hotels sampled are more males than females and are between 26 and 40 years old, have a tertiary level of education, and with a reasonable number of years of experience in hotel management. These imply that the participants in the survey are experienced and have adequate knowledge of the subject matter, qualified to provide reliable data to address the research objectives.

4.2  Level of awareness of ESP in hotel buildings

The results of the descriptive analysis of the participants’ level of awareness of energy use reduction practices show that a high majority (70%) reported that they were aware of EUP, 28% were not sure, and a small proportion (3%) claimed that they were not aware of these (Figure 1). This means that most of the hotel managers sampled know about energy use reduction practices in hotel buildings.

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Figure 1. Level of awareness of energy use reduction practices

Table 3 shows the result of the level of awareness of each of the 15 energy use reduction practices investigated. The results indicate that the participants were highly aware of the use of occupancy sensors (key cards) (IMS = 4.41), energy-saving bulbs (IMS = 4.39), location of the building (IMS = 4.18), the use of natural ventilation (IMS = 4.15) and energy-efficient air-conditioning (IMS = 4.08). However, they were less aware of photovoltaic (solar) panels (IMS = 3.38), and green roofs (IMS = 3.28) (Table 3).

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the level of awareness of ER

Regarding the participant's levels of awareness of water conservation practices, Figure 2 indicates that the highest proportion (47%) of the participants claimed that they were not aware of WCP, while 45% and 8% were aware and not aware of these, respectively. This result means that the proportion of those who are aware of WCP is less than those who are aware of these in the sample.

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Figure 2. Level of awareness of WCP practices

Table 4 is a display of the descriptive statistics of the participants’ level of awareness of each of the eight water conservation practices investigated in this research. It is evident from Table 4 that the respondents were most aware of the use of low-flush toilets (MIS = 3.91), low-flow sinks (IMS = 3.84) and automated water meter and monitoring system (IMS = 3.63), respectively, but least aware of rainwater harvesting and covering of swimming pools.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics of levels of awareness of water conservation practices

Regarding the distribution of the respondents according to their levels of awareness of waste minimisation practices in hotel buildings, the results show that most (67%) of the respondents were aware of the existence of these, 28% were not sure of this, while 5% were not aware of these practices (Figure 3). This result shows that the proportion of hotel managers who are aware of waste minimisation practices is greater than those who are not aware of these.

The results of the descriptive analysis of the respondents’ levels of awareness of each of the six waste minimisation practices investigated reveal that the respondents were highly aware of sorting of wastes separately (IMS = 4.30) and placement of recycling/dustbins (IMS = 4.20), but they were least aware of re-use materials (IMS = 3.58) and compositing of wastes (IMS = 3.57), respectively (Table 5). These results suggest that the participants have more knowledge of sorting wastes separately (IMS = 4.30) and recycling/dustbins than the other four practices investigated.

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Figure 3. Levels of awareness of waste minimisation practices

Table 5. Descriptive statistics of level of awareness of waste minimisation practices

4.3 Extent of adoption of ESP in the hotel buildings

Results of the extent of adoption of ESP in the hotels also revealed that around 22% of the hotel managers indicated that energy reduction practices have been adopted to a very high extent, 43% claimed that they have been adopted to a high extent, 5% said they were adopted to a little extent. However, about 30% of them claimed that they were not sure of the extent of adoption of these practices. This suggests that a majority (65%) of the managers rated the extent of adoption of ERP high.

Table 6 shows the result of the extent of adoption of ESP as rated by the hotel managers sampled. It is evident from the results that the top three most adopted ESP in hotel buildings are the use of energy-efficient lights (IMS = 4.39) ranked 1, the use of key cards and occupancy sensors (IMS = 4.26) and ranked 2 and site location of the buildings (IMS = 4.12) and ranked 3, while the least adopted are the use of photovoltaic (solar) panels (IMS = 3.31), green roofs (IMS = 3.22) and wind turbine (IMS = 3.19) ranked 15, 16 and 17 positions (Table 6).

Regarding the extent of adoption of water conservation practices, the results revealed that about 18% of the respondents indicated that these practices have been adopted to a very high extent, 22% claimed that these have been adopted to a high extent and 19% said these practices have been adopted in a little extent. However, 39% of the respondents were not sure of the extent of adoptions of these practices. This means that about 40% of the respondents claimed that water conservation practices have been adopted in the hotels sampled. From the ranking of the adoption levels of the eight water conservation practices in Table 7, it is evident that the three practices adopted at a high extent and ranked 1, 2, and 3 are the use of low-flush toilets (IMS = 3.82), the use of low-flow sink (IMS = 3.76) and installation of the water meter and monitoring system (IMS = 3.58), respectively. Those adopted to a very small extent are rainwater harvesting and covering the swimming pool both of which have an IMS of 2.98. This means that the most adopted water conservation practices in hotels managed by the respondents are the use of low-flush toilets and sinks.

Table 6. Descriptive statistics of the extent of adoption of energy reduction practices

Table 7. Descriptive analysis of the extent of adoption of WCP in hotel buildings

Further, the results of the extent of adoption of waste minimisation practices revealed that around 28% of the managers claimed that these have been adopted to a very high extent, 33% indicated that these have been adopted to a high extent, and 25% were not sure of this. However, about 11% and 3% indicated that these practices have been adopted to a very small extent and not adopted at all, respectively. These results suggest that most of the respondents believe that waste minimisation practices have been adopted to a high extent in the hotels sampled.

Table 8 shows the extent of adoption of each of the waste minimisation practices investigated. It is evident from the results that all the six practices investigated have been adopted to a high extent. However, from the ranking, the most adopted WMP was the provision for the treatment of wastewater, followed by the sorting of wastes separately (IMS = 3.79) and the provision of recycle /dustbins (IMS = 3.71). The least adopted was the composting of wastes with an IMS of 3.41 ranked in 6^th position (see Table 8).

Table 8. Descriptive analysis of the extent of adoption of WMP in hotel buildings

This study investigated the levels of awareness and adoption of environment sustainability practices for energy use reduction, water conservation, and waste minimisation from the perspective of hotel managers in 20 large-sized hotels in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. The findings have led to two key conclusions and some policy, practice, and research implications. The first conclusion is that the hotel managers in the study area are generally aware of environmental sustainability practices in hotel buildings but have a higher level of awareness about energy use reduction and waste minimisation than water conservation practices. The second conclusion is that energy use reduction, waste minimisation and water conservation practices have been adopted in the operation of hotel buildings at varied extents in Lagos, Nigeria, but with more emphasis on energy use reduction practices than on water conservation and waste minimisation practices.

These findings have some noteworthy implications. First, the hotel managers demonstrated low awareness of ESPs such as the use of photovoltaic (solar) panels, green roofs, and wind turbines (ERP); grey water recycling techniques, rainwater harvesting and covering of swimming pools (WCP) and re-use of materials and composting of wastes (WMP). As a result, these practices were reported to be either not to have been adopted at all or adopted at a small extent. Given that previous research has shown that these practices are among the environmental sustainability practices in hotel buildings, there is a need to improve the knowledge base of hotel managers on these practices through continuous training, and briefing at staff meetings. In addition, hotel owners in the study area have to incorporate these less-known and less-adopted ESPs into their operations so that their employees can get to know them and derive the benefits they offer in promoting environmental sustainability goals.

The second implication is that there is a burgeoning emphasis on energy use reduction practices over water conservation and waste minimisation practices. Even though this seems to resonate with the need to curb Carbon emissions associated with energy consumption, hotel managers in the study area need to recognise that without successful implementation of water conservation, waste minimisation and energy use reduction practices at the same tempo, the environmental sustainability goals of the hotel-sub sector cannot be achieved holistically. Hence, they must strive to give equal attention to these three ESPs in their operations. Architects and other building design professionals should also take cognizance of the three ESPs in the design and construction of hotel buildings to ensure that each of them can easily be implemented during the operational phase of this building type.

Even though the current research has achieved its goal, it has some noteworthy limitations. First, the study is based on the views of 130 managers in 20 large-sized hotels in Lagos Metropolis, and thus its findings are limited to the biases of hotel managers selected and cannot be extended to those in other hotels in the study area not sampled. Second, the data used were derived through a cross-sectional survey involving questionnaire administration, and thus the findings are limited to the situation during the survey and not before or after it. Third, the study explored the levels of awareness and adoption of energy use reduction, water conservation, and waste minimisation and excluded other environmental sustainability practices such as environmental purchasing, and carbon footprint measurement and the factors that influenced the levels of awareness and adoption of these practices. Given these limitations, future research is suggested to extend its focus beyond the geographic and thematic coverage of the current study, and possibly adopt the mixed-method approach or longitudinal study for more robust findings.