Sustainability communication in tourism – A literature review

Tourism Management Perspectives 27 (2018) 1021Contents lists available at ScienceDirectTourism Management Perspectivesjournal homepage: /locate/tmpCurrent issue in tourismSustainability communication in tourism A literature reviewChristina TlkesDepartment of Tourism, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Schachenmeierstrasse 35, 80636 Munich, GermanyA R T I C LE I N FOKeywords:Sustainability communicationSustainable tourismSystematic literature reviewSustainable consumer behaviour1. IntroductionA B S T R A C TSustainability communication in tourism is an emerging research topic. In acknowledgement of tourism re-searchers and practitioners need to gain a better theoretical and practical understanding of eective sustain-ability communication, this article provides the rst literature review to identify what is known of the subjectand what needs further study. This systematic review indicates that extant research has focused on the marketingof green hotels and environmental sustainability. Little is understood about personal communication channelsand message factors that lead to positive consumer reactions. These are major explanations why sustainabilitymessages have not been as eective as they could be. Furthermore, there is a lack of theoretical foundation withregard to information processing and eective message design, and of experiments and interpretivist/qualitativeapproaches to support such research. Recommendations on future research are provided to broaden theoreticalperspectives and support practitioner solutions by a more holistic approach to sustainability communication.2010) make it dicult for consumers to recognise and understandsustainability product attributes (and their added value) (McDonald Wehrli et al., 2014). These alternativeproducts are managed according to the principles of sustainable tourismby positively aligning sustainability criteria with the needs of visitors,the industry, and host communities (UNWTO, 2013; Wehrli et al.,2014). Sustainability communication sets out to make consumers awareof the availability of sustainable travel products, to inform consumershow these oerings meet their needs and comply with sustainabilitycriteria, and ultimately to stimulate pro-sustainable purchases. Along-side this product perspective, sustainability communication aims toincrease transparency about a companys sustainability engagement toencourage an interactive dialogue between companies and stakeholdersabout the companys activities (Belz Bridges Moser,Oates, 2006). These complexities add to the largely intangible servicecharacteristics of travel products (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Villarino Wehrli et al., 2014) and tourism researcherscannot fully explain theoretically (Wehrli et al., 2014). Despite theimportance of eective sustainability communication for the tourismindustry, its theoretical foundations, inuences, and outcomes have stillto be examined (Coles, Fenclova, Wehrli et al., 2014).To address this gap in the literature, this article provides the rst lit-erature review of research into sustainability communication intourism.This study uses a systematic literature review with the aim ofidentifying, summarising, and critically assessing the existing literatureon sustainability communication in tourism to give an overview of whatis known and what is still unknown about this subject. In an attempt toprovide researchers and practitioners with a deeper understanding ofthe mechanisms of eective sustainability communication, we will ex-amine how sustainability communication has been investigated withregards to the formal criteria of the publications, research contexts,E-mail address: ./10.1016/j.tmp.2018.04.002Received 18 September 2017; Received in revised form 27 March 2018; Accepted 4 April 20182211-9736/ 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.C. Tlkescommunication channels, message factors, outcomes, methodologies,and theoretical foundations. The aim is to derive where relevant re-search has been undertaken and where potential knowledge gaps arethat would guide future research. Both academia and practitioners canbenet from the ndings presented in this paper. Tourism research canbenet from this articles approach, since this review responds to theresearchers call for a more concrete scientic understanding (Wehrliet al., 2014, p. 2) while the methodological rigour of the systematicreview conducted here is a response to the need for high-quality lit-erature reviews (Petticrew Pomering, Noble, Pickering Pickering Pickering Wehrli et al., 2014; Zanon Sparks, Perkins, Zanon Hibbert, Dickinson, Gssling, Michie, Johnston, Francis,Hardeman, Petty and Cacioppo (1986a)Construal level theory Liberman and Trope(1998)Cognitive dissonance Festinger (1957)Persuasion theory Petty and Cacioppo (1981)Message framing theory cf. prospect theory:Kahneman and Tversky (1979)Regulatory focus theory Higgins (1997)Realist evaluation theory Pawson and Tilley(1997)Experiential learning theory Kolb and Fry(1975)SociologySelf-identity Giddens (1991)Social exchange theorySociology/politicsLegitimacy theory Suchman (1995)Total number of theories appliedTotal number of studies using theoryTotal number of studies using no theoryTotal number of studiesaNo. of appliedtheories(18)4422111111(3)21(1)1(22)227294Percentage (%)(81.7)4.6(13.6)9.14.5(4.6)4.6(100)23.476.6100ability, and a lack of studies on personal communication channels andmessage-related issues. As far as the outcomes of sustainability a Multiple answers included some studies use more than one theory.16C. TlkesTable 8Research methods.Tourism Management Perspectives 27 (2018) 1021complex multi-sectoral products such as bundled tour operatorpackages and the products of tour operator partners such as airlines,Research design Research method No. of articles Percentage (%) travel agencies, and cruise lines; it also applies and to green events orvisitor attractions. As mass market and specialist tour operators haveQuantitativeQualitativeMixedReviewTheoreticalConceptualTotalSurveysContent analysisExperimental designsQuasi-experimental designsConjoint analysisChoice experimentEye-trackingContent analysisInterviews(44)23981111(19)118(15)(1)(2)(13)9446.88.5100considerable market power in the production and marketing of sus-tainability options, with specialist tour operators adopting a pioneeringrole (Schwartz, Tapper, Sigala, 2008), this is an im-portant research strand. Overall, we may benet from more researchinto how sustainability information is conveyed in personal channels ofcommunication (e.g., travel agents, tour guides, sales representatives)but also in non-personal media (e.g., tour operator catalogues, adver-tising brochures, broadcasting) as well as in online and social media.While many studies have revolved around communicative practices enroute, aimed at the behavioural change in tourists in the destinations,future research would particularly prot from investigating channelsrelevant to the pre-purchase stage of travel.4.1.2. Challenging the communication of environmental, economic, social,marketing communications are concerned, their role in the attitude-behaviour gap has not been fully understood. Overall, the state of theart is characterised by a supercial understanding of sustainabilitycommunication in tourism, grounded in a very limited application oftheory and a set of research methodologies that is insucient to furtherdevelop our practical and theoretical understanding of how to designeective sustainability messages.In light of the ndings from this review, we will derive our re-commendations for future research (Fig. 5).4.1. Engaging in message eectiveness through a holistic approach tosustainability communications4.1.1. Considering the peculiarities of dierent tourism product types andtheir related communication channelsGiven that communication strategies are most eective when theyt the product type and its peculiarities (Kotler et al., 2010), furtherresearch may deal with the marketing of sustainable tourism productsand their related communication channels other than green hotels sincemarketing solutions for green hotels are not necessarily adequate forother tourism products. This particularly applies to the study of moreand cultural sustainabilityA one-sided focus on the marketing of environmental sustainabilityattributes is another reason why communication has not been as ef-fective as it could be. However, communicating sustainability, by de-nition, is a more complex concept that can more fully exploit thepotential of all four types of sustainability product attributes to becommunicated (as added value) to the consumer in order to distinguishthe product from conventional oerings. While recent publications(e.g., JOST special issue) have acknowledged the signicance of such aholistic approach to sustainability marketing, it is still in its infancy.4.1.3. Developing message factors towards target-group specicityThe selection of adequate message factors is an important basis forenhancing a messages impact on an audience (Kotler et al., 2010). Suchknowledge, moreover, may contribute considerably to increasingtourism practitioners technical competence to design more eectivesustainability messages. Thus, we suggest future research to moredeeply examine the impacts of: message contents, including dierent sustainability attributes (en-vironmental, social, economic or cultural); sustainability topics(local food, energy and water saving, carbon osetting, localFig. 4. Summary of the key review ndings.17C. Tlkes Tourism Management Perspectives 27 (2018) 1021Fig. 5. Towards future research on sustainability communication in tourism.purchasing or local employment, protecting cultural heritage ormanagement-related issues); message appeals: rational or emotionalappeals, moral, fear or guilt-producing appeals (Belz indicators of symbolism and status or appeals to hedonismand a “sustainable counter-identity” (Hibbert et al., 2013, p. 1012);personal benets or societal goals (Villarino dierentlevels of spatial, temporal, and personal distance; increasing thecredibility of messages and its eects on reputation and image (Lineet al., 2016)?message structure, including denotative or connotative language,active or passive voice, explicit or implicit depictions, one-sided ortwo-sided lines of argumentation (Villarino andmessage design, including layout aspects: pictorial, written, orspoken information; position, size or format of sustainability topicsin travel catalogues or on webpages.Research into message factors will also serve the purpose of creating4.1.4. Understanding the attitude-behaviour gapFinally, the eects of sustainability communication on consumerbehaviour are not fully researched and have produced inconsistentndings. However, this is an important question for tourism companieswhich develop persuasive communication strategies to generate posi-tive commercial outcomes (e.g. willingness to pay, intention to pay apremium, image eects, or post-purchasing behaviour). This reviewsndings underline that the attitude-behaviour gap in sustainabletourism is under-researched theoretically and empirically (e.g.,Antimova, Nawijn, personality traits, including guilt-proneness; environmentally-friendly attitude; sustainable worldviews, e.g., NEP scales or self-ecacy; etc. (Line et al., 2016);dierent levels of involvement, including level of travel experience(rst time customer or repeat customer), and customer type (highinvolvement or low involvement with the type of tourism productand sustainability); information seeking behaviour (active or pas-sive); preferred source type; cognitive eort; prior knowledge ofsustainability; motivation and ability to study travel information;dierent segments in tourism, including dierent internationalmarkets; dierent forms of travel (e.g., cultural tourism, adventureand sports, ecotourism, etc.); individual or group travel; massmarket or specialist tour operator products.