Page 19 - Sustaining Accommodation SMES

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Theoretical Foundations of Sustainable
Transition

Sustainable management in the accommodation sector draws on theoret-
ical foundations that explain how organisations influence environmental,
socio-cultural and economic systems and how they shift toward more
responsible patterns of operation. Two frameworks are particularly in-
structive in this regard. The first is the Triple Bottom Line (Stoddard et
al., 2012), which conceptualises sustainability as a balanced integration of
environmental, social and economic performance. The second is Stern’s
Value-Belief-Norm theory (Stern et al., 1999), which explains environ-
mentally significant behaviour through a combination of values, beliefs,
personal responsibility and a wider set of contextual, capability and ha-
bitual factors. Together with the supply-side and demand-side perspec-
tives common in tourism research, these frameworks offer a coherent
conceptual basis for understanding sustainability in accommodation en-
terprises.
TheTripleBottomLineframework provides aholistic approach to or-
ganisational performance, emphasising that environmental protection,
social wellbeing and economic viability must be pursued simultaneously.
In tourism and hospitality, the Triple Bottom Line is widely recognised as
both a practical and normative foundation for sustainable development
(Stoddard et al., 2012). The environmental dimension includes resource
efficiency, emissions reduction, waste management, and biodiversity pro-
tection. Accommodation establishments are among the most energy- and
water-intensive components of the tourism system, which makes envi-
ronmental performance particularly relevant to this sector (Khan et al.,
2021; Filimonau, 2021). The social dimension encompasses labour con-
ditions, community wellbeing, cultural heritage, accessibility and equity.
The economic dimension concerns financial stability, local value cre-
ation, employment quality, and resilience. The value of the Triple Bot-
tom Line lies in its recognition that sustainability depends on alignment
across all three domains rather than on isolated interventions focused on
only one.
Stern’s Value-Belief-Norm theory (Stern et al., 1999) complements this
structural perspective with a behavioural foundation. This theoretical

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