The Impact Of Monetary Incentives On Green Employee Behavior In Sri Lankan Hospitality Industry: A Study Aligned With Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS)

Abstract

The Sri Lankan hotel industry is one major contributor to the economy but is also faced with significant environmental challenges in the form of high energy consumption, waste, and greenhouse gas emission. This study delves into the effect of monetary incentives on Green Employee Behavior as an avenue to encourage green behavior by employees. Taking a quantitative research design, data collection was done by applying a standardized questionnaire to 383 Colombo hotel employees. The study confirms that monetary incentives have a positive effect towards in-role and extra-role green behavior and attest to the role monetary incentives play in precipitating environmentally sound work practices. The study identifies the importance of formulating incentive systems to suit Sri Lanka’s particular socio-cultural and economic realities. The study also suggests the importance of implementing monetary rewards as part of an integral Green Human Resource Management system to drive long-term environmentally sound behavior. These findings have practical implications to hotel managers and policymakers, suggesting that properly designed monetary incentive systems can play a part in contributing to sustainable tourism development and environmental sustainability in Sri Lanka. Future studies have to investigate non-monetary incentives and long-term sustainability of monetary incentive systems in precipitating GEB.