THE ROLE OF GUESTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR IN MODERATING PERCEIVED FIT OF LODGING’S ECOLOGICAL PRACTICESAND THE IMPACT TO GUESTS’ LOYALTY IN INDONESIA

Abstract

With the increasing concern for ecological issues among hotel and lodge guests, this studypursues an investigation of guests’ perceptions of lodgings’ core business in associationwith ecological practices and the resulting purchase-related loyalty. In addition, the study examines the moderatingrole of environmental behavior of the guests in the relationships among perceptions of hotels’ ecological practices and loyalty. A survey of tourists using hotels showed that customersrelated hotels’ core businesses and green practices positively, which consequently affectedcustomers’ purchase intentions toward the hotels. This study is investigates the fit theory for the hospitality industry by considering the impact ofenvironmental behavior, while employing environmental practices as an emergingsocial cause, which is, increasingly, important for the society. This study isdone in some ecolodges in Bali, Indonesia with sample size of 254 respondents who are at least 18 years old. Based on the validity result, there are new hypotheses are formulated, and based on the SEM result, from Perceived Fit, Guest Perception, Guest Environmental Behavior, and Guest Loyalty. The result shows, Perceived Fit does Influence Guest Perception of ecological practices in lodging industry. The second hypothesis shows Guest Perception also influence Guest Loyalty. The role of Guest Environmental Behavior as the moderator, confirm that the influence between Guest Perception and Guest Loyalty has moderated by Guest Environmental Behavior.