Επίδραση του πράσινου μάρκετινγκ στη συμπεριφορά συμμετεχόντων σε υπηρεσίες αθλητικού τουρισμού και αναψυχής

Abstract

The present dissertation dealt with concepts of the philosophy of green marketing and investigated the degree of its implementation in the Greek market of sport tourism and recreation. The research was based on two scales sets: a) the environmental interest and b) the interest in environmentally friendly services, specifically for sport and recreation centers. In particular, the two scales sets were created and psychometrically tested, differences between various sub-groups of the sample were sought and finally correlation and interactions between the two scales sets were investigated. 1033 Greek individuals, aged 18-80, who participated in active activities in regions of Central Greece, took part in the study. 386 individuals from the above sample participated in simple active leisure activities, 385 individuals participated in sport recreational activities and 262 individuals participated in active tourism outdoor activities. For the evaluation of the environmental interest the following scales were used: 1) seeking information about environmental protection, 2) knowledge on environmental protection, 3) attitudes towards the protection of the environment, 4) involvement in environmental actions, while for the evaluation of the interest in environmentally friendly services (EFS) the following scales were used: 1) environmentally friendly policy, 2) compliance of the sports centers with EFS, 3) disposition to change habits to environmentally friendly ones, 4) intention to visit sports centers with EFS and 5) word of mouth communication for using sports centers with EFS. The analyses‟ results revealed statistically significant differences in the scales of environmental interest and environmentally friendly services regarding demographical characteristics: age, level of education and involvement in environmental actions. The gender was demonstrated as a differentiation factor only for the interest in environmentally friendly services. Similar variations were found between the subgroups with different exercise degree. In particular, the systematic trained individuals reported higher scores in both scales sets, compared to the medium and low trained individuals. Finally, the regression analyzes supported a significant predictive ability of the dependent variables of environmental interest towards the scale set of environmentally friendly services variables. The theoretical and practical implications of the results of this thesis are extensively discussed, aiming to: a) the need for reinforcement actions to raise the citizens‟ awareness regarding environmental protection issues on behalf of the State, b) the prompting of the factors for adoption of green policy by the leisure and sport tourism market, c) the segmentation of customers of sport centers due to their environmental interest, d) the need for training of the administrations and officials concerning the seriousness of EFS, e) the development of green promotional strategies as a competitive advantage in the market of leisure, f) the attempt to create branded green services and sports tourism products. In conclusion, this thesis investigated thoroughly the existing literature on the principles of green marketing and connected it with the sport tourism and sport recreation market, also created new evaluation instruments regarding environmentally-friendly issues and finally recommended strategies for adopting green policy in the current industry of leisure and sports as an innovative competitive advantage in the modern sports leisure industry.