Sustainability Market Orientation and Business Performance of Star Rated Hotels in Ghana

ABSTRACT

Market orientation was criticised for being a micro marketing concept with limitations in handling stakeholder concerns. In an attempt to enhance market orientation into a macro marketing concept, sustainability market orientation was advanced as a replacement. The main aim of this study was to develop a framework for optimising sustainability market orientation in Ghanaian hotels. The study argued that economic, social, environmental, and ethics are the lower-order dimensions of sustainability market orientation. Also, the study claimed that there is a relationship between sustainability market orientation and hotel performance. Furthermore, the study advanced that the relationship between sustainability market orientation and hotel performance was mediated by sustainable technology. Finally, the relationship between sustainability market orientation and competitive advantage was mediated by sustainable technology. A positivist paradigm was used alongside a quantitative research approach. The study surveyed two hundred and twenty-five star-rated hotels in the Greater Accra region. However, the study used one hundred and eighty-seven responses for analyses after data cleaning. A structural equation modelling technique, precisely, a partial least square (PLS) was used. The study found a positive and significant relationship between sustainability market orientation and hotel performance in the Ghanaian hotel sector. Also, the study found a significant association between sustainability market orientation and competitive advantage in the Ghanaian hotel sector. The study did not find support for the mediating effect of sustainable technology on the relationship between sustainability market orientation and Hotel performance in the Ghanaian hotel industry. However, the study found support for the mediating effect of sustainable technology on the relationship between sustainability market orientation and competitive advantage in the Ghanaian hotel industry. Sustainability marketing practices are no longer a cost to hotels but an investment. Consequently, hotels should consider developing and implementing sustainability market orientation. The integration of sustainable development principles into firm activities is no longer a choice. As regulators and customers are demanding sustainable practices, products, and packaging. Managers of hotels in their attempts to realise the full benefits of sustainability market orientation should consider engaging and identifying stakeholder needs and satisfying them profitably.