Page 133 - Sustaining Accommodation SMES

6.2 Quantitative Insights

as highly important across countries. Respondents place strong value on
actions that translate iso 21401 requirements into concrete, manageable
steps. This finding directly addresses capability related constraints iden-
tified earlier, particularly limited familiarity with the adoption process.
From a behavioural perspective, reducing uncertainty and increasing pre-
dictability enhances the likelihood that organisations will initiate and sus-
tain the adoption process.
Financially oriented enabling actions show significant cross-country
variation, as reflected in the Chi-square results. Italy and Slovenia re-
port higher shares of respondents identifying cost-related support as ex-
tremely important, while Greece reports comparatively lower reliance
on such measures. Spain occupies an intermediate position. This pat-
tern mirrors earlier differences in perceived financial barriers and indi-
cates that economic context continues to shape adoption feasibility even
when supportive measures are considered. In Stern’s terms, financial sup-
port reduces material constraints that otherwise suppress environmen-
tally significant behaviour.
Capacity building needs, including knowledge transfer and techni-
cal guidance, are consistently valued across the Mediterranean, although
their relative importance varies by country. These needs address personal
and organisational capability deficits that prevent sustainability inten-
tions from being translated into formalised management systems. The
prominence of such needs confirms that many organisations are will-
ing to adopt iso 21401 but lack the procedural confidence and expertise
required to do so independently.
Importantly, actions aimed primarily at changing attitudes or increas-
ing awareness are not among the most strongly prioritised needs across
countries. This reinforces the interpretation that the adoption gap ob-
served across the Mediterranean is not rooted in weak environmental
concern, but in misalignment between sustainability ambitions and the
organisational conditions required for certification. Within Stern’s frame-
work, this distinction is critical, as it directs attention away from persua-
sive interventions and towards structural and capacity enhancing mea-
sures.
Overall, the table indicates a high degree of convergence across Med-
iterranean countries in terms of the types of enabling actions consid-
ered necessary for iso 21401 adoption, alongside meaningful variation
in the intensity of specific needs. The dominant pattern suggests that
adoption becomes feasible when contextual constraints are reduced, or-

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