Examining business-driven environmental sustainability initiatives in agriculture based tourism clusters in Norway and Australia

Studying business driven sustainability initiatives can teach us how businesses and their managers/owners decide and justify why and what environmental actions they undertake. While sustainability can be defined as including both social, economic, ecological and cultural aspects, this study will focus on the balancing act that small businesses perform between economic and ecological sustainability. Through examining environmental actions that are beyond compliance and voluntary it is hoped that a better understanding of how the social, political and cultural contexts influence behaviour in agriculture based tourism businesses. While empirical data on environmental behaviour in different industries shows that the motivation to undertake environmental improvements are either to fulfill environmental regulations, cost reductions or to obtain competitive advantage, other lines of research points to the business owner/managers own values and conviction as a strong influence on environmental behaviour. Within institutional theory there is debate as to whether behaviour is only guided by self-interest and maximisation of personal or business benefits (neo-institutionalist stance), or whether there are other more normative and cultural cognitive institutional pressures that would lead business owners to undertake nonmandatory environmental investments (classical institutionalists). A mixed methods research design will be undertaken in two different institutional frameworks, the liberal market economy of Australia and the coordinated market economy of Norway in order to develop theory around how institutional frameworks influence implementation of environmental sustainability measures. Two cases of business-initiated sustainability processes have been selected; In Australia, Lovedale Chamber of Commerce which is part of the Hunter Valley wine region, a major tourist destination in NSW, has initiated a “Greening of Lovedale” Process. The area has a mix of smaller wineries, accommodation, food and adventure businesses. In Norway, Vikebygd Landskapspark, located in one of Norway’s major tourist attractions, the applegrowing Hardanger fjord, has been selected. Vikebygd Landskapspark has been established as a private shareholding company with the purpose of establishing sustainable business opportunities within agriculture based tourism, accommodation, adventure and local foods. This paper will review and discuss different aspects of institutional and resource based-theory in relation to how these might explain environmental decision-making.