Weaving Technology Into Green Practice
Hotels play an indispensable role in environmental stewardship. Yet how new technologies can actually translate into green hotel management is not straightforward. Taking their cue from sociological approaches, the SHTM’s Ms Sherry D.B. Mi, Professor Dan Wang and Professor Qu Xiao shine new light on this question in recently published research. Their real-world observations offer practical guidance for hotel governance, in light of growing calls for the industry to prioritise environmental management (EM).
Advances in environmental technology (ET) are the driving force for the spread of EM practices in hospitality. As the authors point out, technology in one form or another is now used to support EM in over 50% of hotel properties worldwide, a trend led by major chains. “Hilton uses water management systems for usage monitoring”, they note, “and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has installed smart mirrors in bathrooms to showcase sustainability initiatives to guests”.
ET as a set of technical capabilities is separate from EM as a managerial practice, and researchers need to bear this difference in mind. “While hotel EM and ET are foundational to sustainability”, the researchers argue, “they operate as distinct entities. Their integration can generate dynamic interactions that transform both ET usage patterns and hotel EM practices”. How the material features of ET shape trends in EM, and how EM philosophies drive ET’s implementation, were the key unknowns motivating their study.
In today’s climate, both literal and political, the importance of ecological sustainability is in little doubt. The public, firms and shareholders generally agree that ET and EM should be adopted. The time has thus come for a more sophisticated examination of how this happens in practice, which the authors aimed to provide. “Moving beyond the traditional adoption perspective”, they explain, “this study shifts the focus from what factors influence adoption to how affordances and constraints shape ET implementation and its impact on hotel green performance”.
The concepts of affordances and constraints stem from the researchers’ chosen theoretical lens: technology affordances and constraints theory (TACT). In this view, affordances are processes by which users perceive the potential of technologies and deploy them to achieve practical effects. “Affordances and constraints emerge not from technological features alone, but from the interaction between technology and users, creating action possibilities”, the researchers explain. In management, however, barriers are rife: firms “often struggle to recognise technological affordances or face constraints during implementation due to complex organisational factors”.
Guided by TACT, the authors emphasised the interaction between ET affordances and organisations in shaping practical EM outcomes. “We conceptualise ET implementation as a dynamic, relational process”, they explain, “examining how hotels navigate ET’s affordances and negotiate constraints throughout implementation”. To conceptualise these affordance–constraint interactions, they adopted a vivid metaphor from sociology research: imbrications, or “the interweaving of human and material agencies and how this interlock shapes human actions”.
The team’s synergy of TACT and the imbrication lens was further informed by an analytical toolkit derived from the technology–organisation–environment (TOE) framework. “Rooted in the contextual realities of hotels in emerging markets”, they write, “the TOE framework supports our analysis by systematising how technological, organisational and environmental contexts shape ET’s affordances and constraints”. This well-founded theoretical basis was crucial for interpreting their empirical data as fruitfully and rigorously as possible.
The team initially conducted a two-stage, phenomenon-driven investigation of affordance–constraint imbrications in hotels across China and Hong Kong. “The first round comprised 36 in-depth semi-structured interviews with hotel senior managers”, they note. “The second research phase involved on-site visits to two hotels in Hong Kong that demonstrated exemplary ET practices”. In particular, “informal interviews with managers and operational staff provided valuable insights into the daily routines and practical aspects of ET implementation”.
Based on these findings, the team next proposed “a TACT-Imbrication framework that delineates the key phases and imbrications in hotel ET implementation”. The framework, they explain, “elucidates ET implementation as a dynamic and relational process shaped by the interaction between ET’s affordances/constraints and hotel EM”. This construct informed the second half of their study, a survey of over 350 hotel managers investigating how these imbrications influence hotels’ green performance.
Overall, the results showed that three key conditions shape ET implementation in hotels: digital transformation imperatives, organisational culture and regulatory requirements. While the pressure to go digital does not stem solely from green concerns, once digitalisation is underway, it naturally presents new technological affordances for EM. Similarly, organisational awareness of the requirement for technological renewal is an enabler of EM. The participating hotel managers “recognised ET’s potential to upgrade current infrastructure, particularly for those hotels with aging buildings and operational systems”.
ET implementation, however, can be a significant financial commitment. “The major constraint of implementing ET”, according to the on-site observations, “is substantial capital investment”. In the words of one interviewee, “we would love to invest in the latest green technologies, but the upfront cost is really high”. Such prohibitive cost factors may partly explain the researchers’ finding that “large hotels and those incepted more recently demonstrated a stronger commitment to green performance improvements”.
How are the affordances and constraints interwoven? “Imbrication 1”, according to the developed framework, “identifies green governance as a critical strategic affordance connecting the perception and preparation phases in ET implementation”. Green governance flows from a commitment to environmental protection at the top management level. “In the hotel context”, the researchers specify, “it manifests through strategic initiatives, priorities and resource allocation toward ET”.
Meanwhile, imbrication 2 establishes employee training as essential for transforming perceived ET affordances into actual usage. “Successful ET implementation requires governance and staff training”, say the researchers. This has important managerial implications: “To stay ahead”, the authors advise, “managers could adopt a proactive stance toward ET advancements by piloting emerging ET tools and investing in staff training to bridge skill gaps, ensuring teams can adapt to technologies like AI-driven predictive maintenance”.
Further recommendations were drawn based on the TOE framework. “At the technological level, hotels could prioritise infrastructure modernisation to unlock ET’s full affordances”, the researchers suggest. At the environmental level, meanwhile, ET implementation could align with broader sustainability goals, going beyond mere compliance to drive market differentiation. For instance, the authors propose that “hotels can leverage ET-collected data to craft compelling narratives or integrate ET with ESG frameworks to attract eco-conscious stakeholders”. Policymakers should play a pivotal role in enabling this transition by offering financial incentives.
For hotels, translating technological possibilities into environmental practices is evidently a complex process, with interlocking pathways and numerous barriers. The researchers’ novel perspective helps unravel these phenomena. “ET’s affordances and constraints become imbricated during hotel implementation”, they tell us, “shaping green performance outcomes”. Plotting a course towards a technology-supported green future might soon become easier, thanks to this in-depth SHTM study.
Zhiming Deng, Sherry D.B. Mi, Dan Wang and Qu Xiao (2025). The Imbrications of Technology and Hotel Environmental Management: Implementation and Impact. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 37, No. 11, pp. 3657–3687.
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About PolyU School of Hotel and Tourism Management
For more than four decades, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has refined a distinctive vision of hospitality and tourism education and become a world-leading hotel and tourism school. Ranked No. 1 in the world for the tenth consecutive year in the “Hospitality and Tourism Management” category in the 2026 ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects; placed No. 1 globally for nine years in a row in the “Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services” category in the 2025/2026 University Ranking by Academic Performance; rated No. 1 in the world in the “Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism” subject area by the 2017 CWUR Rankings by Subject; and ranked No. 2 globally among comprehensive universities in the “Hospitality and Leisure Management” subject area in the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject, the SHTM is a symbol of excellence in the field, exemplifying its motto of Leading Hospitality and Tourism.
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