Green employee empowerment as a catalyst for the hotel industry’s sustainability performance: evidence from the luxury hotel sector

Purpose While consumers laud luxury hotels for their sustainability efforts, tensions persist because of the perception that exceptional guest experiences are often crafted around environmentally harmful practices. These tensions require luxury hotels to empower employees to integrate sustainability into their high-touch service delivery. Drawing on self-determination theory and the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study aims to explore whether green employee empowerment (GEE) and psychological need satisfaction (PNS) influence employee green performance (EGP) in luxury hotels. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 545 employees and managers in US luxury hotels and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The results of this study show that GEE positively affects both PNS and EGP. Moreover, PNS mediates the relationship between GEE and EGP, suggesting that empowerment and intrinsic motivation jointly drive sustainability-related performance. These findings highlight the role of employees’ psychological needs in transforming empowerment into eco-friendly behaviors in high-touch service environments. Originality/value This study integrates human resource practices into sustainability management within high-touch service environments. It shifts attention from leadership-driven perspectives of empowerment to employees’ psychological experiences, highlighting how empowerment is internalized and translated into sustainable behaviors. By framing GEE as both a managerial practice and a psychological mechanism, this research offers a bottom-up perspective on how luxury hotels can reconcile sustainability tensions without compromising their hallmark service quality. Study results extend prior research beyond conventional job-related indicators to emphasize intrinsic motivation as a critical enabler of employees’ sustainability performance.