Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Business Administration

Advisor

Erica Gamble

Abstract

Hotel guests can use 2 to 3 times more water than community residents. Hotels are water-intensive businesses, and water scarcity presents a pressing problem for managers who rely on an uninterrupted supply of water to meet guests' needs and maintain profitability. Using the resource-based view (RBV) as a conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that hotel managers used to successfully maintain adequate water supplies in the Spanish Canary Islands, an historically arid site and a tourism destination. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and hotel water usage reports. Yin's 5-step approach of examining, categorizing, tabulating, testing, and recombining evidence to draw conclusions guided the data analysis. Four key themes emerged from the findings: value water as a strategic business resource, mitigate risks of natural resources scarcity, promote water efficiency and conservation, and sustain supplies through corporate water stewardship. This study may contribute to positive social change by illuminating processes that hotel managers, employees, guests, and partners, can take to improve environmental stewardship and align their practices with sustainable water governance.

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