Golf Tourism, its institutional setting, and environmental management: a longitudinal analysis

Abstract

The present article describes a longitudinal study made of the influence that the institutional setting, with respect to protection of the natural environment, has on the development of environmental management practices in the golf courses of Andalusia (Spain). In our study, a model of behaviour based on the precepts of the Institutional Theory has been tested, using the Partial Least Squares technique, at two different points in time; the empirical data used corresponds to the years 2007 and 2010. The sample was administered to managers or green-keepers of golf courses located in the above mentioned region, being that 28 of the 33 questionnaires of the 2010 sample were answered by those already sampled in 2007. It is observed that the environmental performance of these organizations is strongly conditioned by the laws, and that as both normative and mimetic practices settle, organizations under study develop environmental management policies seeking to improve their bottom line.