The Impact of Green Marketing Components on Corporate Image of Green Certified Hotels in Sri Lanka

The green concept is becoming a popular concept in today’s world as nowadays people is more concern on environmentally friendly products and services. With that trend many industries are encouraged to adopt green marketing concept in their activities. When applying green marketing practices, the Hotel industry in Sri Lanka has a key role to play, as it is considered as the largest resource consuming industry in Sri Lankan context. There have been limited previous researches specifically studied in Sri Lanka on the subject of green marketing in the hotel industry. Most of the studies are available in other countries and in various industries but not in Sri Lankan context, hence there is a need in empirical evidences to examine the impact of green marketing components on corporate image. Therefore, this study intended to examine the impact of green marketing components on corporate image of green certified hotels in Sri Lanka. After critical review of literature, three factors, green/eco-friendly activities, corporate communication of green practices and green image were selected as the independent variables. The primary data were collected from 384 customers who had been visited green certified hotels in Sri Lanka by using a generalized questionnaire and convenience sampling technique. Data analysis was done by using multiple regression analysis. The findings proved green/eco-friendly activities, corporate communication of green practices and green image factors positively and significantly impact on corporate image of green certified hotels in Sri Lanka. Thus it emphasizes hoteliers in Sri Lanka should increase the eco-friendly services, green label products, and increase the energy conservation in order to increase their corporate image Therefore, the information of this study will be more beneficial to managers of green certified hotels in Sri Lanka in order to retain and attract more eco tourists to Sri Lanka by improving their corporate image using these green marketing components and moreover the findings will be vital for future researchers to extend their studies in green marketing and corporate image in hotel industry.