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

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.