MIYENE Charles Tom1
NWANKWO Greg Chigemecha2
1Department of Marketing, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State
2 Department of Marketing, Rivers State University
Abstract
Sustainable tourism development that emphasizes a balance between economic, social and environmental considerations has gained prominence in Nigeria, in recent years. Leveraging ESG-embedded service innovation (ESG-E SI) for sustainable business growth (SBG) in the tourism industry in Nigeria, involves integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into service innovation strategies to drive SBG. This research examined the influence of ESG-E SI on SBG in the tourism industry in Rivers State. The study adopted quantitative approach and a causal research design, and a survey strategy. A survey of 92 tourism businesses in Rivers State was conducted, and a total of 346 respondents were surveyed using questionnaire as data collection instrument. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics for univariate analyses. Linear regression was used to test the influence of dimensions of ESG-E SI on SBG. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was relied upon for data analyses. The results of test of hypotheses show that sustainable accommodation, cultural heritage preservation, and transparency all have significant influence on SBG in the tourism industry in Rivers State. Thus, the study concluded ESG-E SI has significant positive influence on SBG in the tourism industry in Rivers State, and recommends that tourism businesses in Rivers State that seek SBG should adopt sustainable accommodation, cultural heritage preservation, and transparency as ESG-E SI in their business operations.
Keywords: ESG-embedded service innovation, business growth, tourism industry.