Exploring the influence of ecotourism operators’ environmental ethics, values and vision on their employees

The integration of sustainability into business operations is an increasing trend in a range of industries; however, it is particularly pertinent to the tourism industry which has a significant economic, social and environmental impact (van Haastert & de Grosbois, 2010). The predicted growth of the industry and the expectations of consumers have put additional pressure on tourism operators to operate sustainably and ethically. Ecotourism operators embody the principles required to achieve sustainable and ethical tourism and are in the position to provide tourists with a deeper understanding of the need to preserve the natural environment and to implement small changes in their daily lives. The organisational leaders of ecotourism operations have accountability to ensure their employees, who are often frontline to the tourists, adopt the same ethical principles and model the corresponding behaviour. This thesis draws on environmental ethics, organisational culture and leadership literature to explore the influence of operators’ environmental ethics, values and vision on their operation and their staff. Using a qualitative semi-structured interview approach, the researcher interviewed 18 leading Australian Advanced Ecotourism certified operators. Interestingly, the findings revealed these operators did not see their role as primarily influencing their staff but instead as mentoring and guiding the employee’s pre-existing environmental ethics and values. Operators maintained that strategic recruitment is the key strategy to ensuring their staff align with the operation’s vision. This research has contributed to the further understanding of the role ethics, values and vision play in fostering ethical ecotourism in practice in Australia and ensuring future leaders uphold these same operating philosophies