1. Introduction
With the evolution of customer demand and the increase in the level of competition, companies have started to look for new ways and strategies to increase competitiveness in order to improve their capabilities and create added value for their products and services. One of the strategies adopted by organizations is outsourcing in a pressured attempt to reach a competitive advantage, as it is recognized as a plausible strategic decision for certain functions [
1].The hotel sector is characterized by having a variety of outsourced activities due to the complexity of performing them all with a high level of quality and efficiency [
2].
Hotels began to adopt these strategies in order to outsource their secondary activities, focus on their core competencies and capabilities [
3], and cope with globalization and the competitive environment [
4]. According to Espino-Rodríguez and Padrón-Robaina [
4], hotels outsource some activities, such as leisure activities, gardening, laundry, security and surveillance, information systems, and cleaning. Other activities are also outsourced, such as public relations, entertainment and business centers [
5], transport services, and staff training [
6]. Outsourcing corresponds to a structural decision of the hotel.
Hotel outsourcing can be defined as a management strategy where a hotel forms a strategic alliance with a supplier to carry out certain activities in the hotel in order to reduce costs and risks and improve efficiency [
7]. According to Dorasamy et al. [
8], several factors influence the adoption of outsourcing, such as the costs, the supplier’s resources and capabilities, the risks, and the hotel’s culture.
The organizational culture has become one of the most important factors to consider when planning and utilizing outsourcing strategies [
9]. These strategies are developed according to the values and beliefs of the hotel, i.e., the organizational culture. Whenever any new managerial practices are implemented, it is necessary to comprehend its organizational culture in relation to its daily practices and its system of values and beliefs [
10].
The literature has not produced a common definition of the concept of organizational culture, but rather various definitions depending on the study’s approach. In the present study, a generic definition is used that describes culture as the pattern of values and beliefs shared by the members of an organization [
11]. Organizational culture is a valuable factor in hotel policy, and it plays an important role in employee behavior and organizational outcomes. In addition, it is important to understand the role played by culture in outsourcing. Sometimes outsourcing forces hotels to change some values and beliefs in order to accept external suppliers [
12]. This cultural adaptation may require the hotel to make changes in its policies and objectives.
Therefore, suppliers must understand and adapt to the hotel’s organizational culture in order to create an appropriate atmosphere within the hotel, reap the benefits of outsourcing, and achieve the hotel’s objectives [
9]. Otherwise, a cultural disintegration could take place between the organization and the outsourcing companies [
13].
The organizational culture influences the activities and behaviors of the staff of outsourcing companies when trying to achieve their goals [
14]. The culture can have an important effect on organizational performance in areas such as sustainability and the outsourcing strategy. To date, these aspects have not been studied in the academic literature.
The tourism sector is currently experiencing a new environment in which customers increasingly demand to know the conditions of the products and services they are using. Furthermore, they want products and services produced in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way [
15]. Therefore, hotels must adapt to this new reality by looking for new strategies where the sustainability factor is the basic principle [
16]. Therefore, it is important to know whether outsourcing influences the sustainable performance of a hotel. This aspect has not been considered in previous research either.
In this regard, hotels should adopt sustainability strategies, not only to meet the needs of their customers, but also to fulfill the expectations of other stakeholders, such as individuals, partners, and governmental and non-governmental organizations [
17,
18], in order to give added value to their products or services and gain competitive advantages. Therefore, hotels have to understand their customers’ needs and stakeholders’ expectations in designing outsourcing strategies that allow greater sustainability.
In fact, many companies have introduced or changed policies, processes, products, or services as a way to improve their relationship with the environment and become more sustainable [
19]. However, various researchers suggest that these changes are superficial and insufficient, and that significant transformations must be made in the company’s organizational culture [
20,
21]. In this context, the impact of the organizational culture on sustainable performance emerges. For Ibarra-Michel et al. [
22], sustainability is considered a particular type of organizational culture. The cultural changes stemming from the adoption of sustainability strategies are reflected in the acceptance of certain new values and beliefs that respect the environment and are concerned with social and ethical issues. In this regard, several researchers suggest that sustainable performance is not only a humanistic, ethical, and conscientious issue, but it also produces economic effects for the company by improving its organizational performance and increasing its competitiveness [
23,
24,
25,
26]. The companies presenting a high sustainability performance show a specific organizational culture [
27]. The sorts of cultures prove different impacts in performance [
28,
29].
A review of the existing literature shows that no studies have analyzed the impact of the organizational culture on outsourcing and sustainable performance worldwide. Based on the above, the present study aims to fill this gap in the academic literature and contribute some theoretical and practical implications to the literature in general and to the Egyptian hotel sector in particular.
The general objective of this study is to provide a structural model that analyzes the impact of the organizational culture on the level of outsourcing and sustainable performance. To achieve this objective, we used the CompetingValues Framework of organizational culture (CVF) [
30]. The CVF was chosen because it has been validated in previous studies and research related to organizational culture, operations management, and sustainability [
22,
31,
32,
33].
3. Methodology
3.1. Study Setting and Sample
The setting for our research was the tourist destination of Egypt. Egypt is considered one of the most important tourist destinations in the world due to the competitive advantages of its different types of tourism. A total of 13.6 million foreigners visited Egypt in 2019, with an income of 13 billion dollars, which represents an increase of almost 12% compared to the previous year [
92].
Within this broad destination, two tourist cities, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurgada, were selected. These two cities were selected because, along with Cairo, they are the most popular tourist destinations in Egypt, and they have the bulk of the accommodation offer. They have a wide variety of hotels with different characteristics, and so they are considered an ideal population for our study.
In addition, these two cities are considered a consolidated segment of sun and beach tourism, as well as sport and conference tourism. These destinations have a diversified tourist offer with signs of maturity and greater competitiveness due to the appearance of new destinations and tourism products.
After determining the geographical area for the research, we chose the unit of analysis; therefore, we decided to focus on 4- and 5-star sun and beach hotels in the cities of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurgada. A list of the 4- and 5-star establishments in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurgada was prepared containing their data, including name, address, category, and telephone number. This information was collected from the Egyptian Hotel Industry Association, which comprises149 registered establishments.
The distribution of these establishments is as follows: Sharm El Sheikh has 93 hotels (51 5-star and 42 4-star establishments), and Hurgada has 56 hotels (25 5-star and 31 4-star establishments). A structured questionnaire was developed to obtain the research data. The survey was carried out personally by the researcher in order to obtain a higher response rate.
First, we contacted the directors of the tourism offices dependent on the Ministry of Tourism in these two cities to help us arrange appointments with the hotels. These directors and colleagues contacted the hotels to make an appointment with each of them. In addition, some hotel directors or managers helped us to contact people from other hotels so that they could participate in the research.
Of the entire study population of 149 hotels, 114 hotels participated in the study. This means that we obtained an actual response rate of 76.5%, the majority of the hotels in the two cities, and so the representativeness of the sample was high. In the city of Sharm El Sheikh, the sample consisted of 72 hotels, whereas, in the city of Hurgada, 42 hotels participated in the survey. Finally, it should be noted that, of the hotels that participated in the sample, 33 of them belonged to international chains.
3.2. Measurement of the Variables
Based on the review of the theoretical and empirical literature on outsourcing, organizational culture, and sustainable performance, a questionnaire was created to achieve the proposed objectives of this research. Before collecting the data, the questionnaire was subjected to a pilot test. The pre-test was carried out by a group of two academics and two managers to validate the scales and clarify ambiguous expressions on the questionnaires.
To measure the chosen constructs, previously developed and validated scales were selected from the literature. Furthermore, in this research, a 7-point Likert-type scale is used, where 1 means strongly disagree and 7 means strongly agree. Respondents express the degree of agreement or disagreement with each item (See
Appendix A).
Organizational culture. Although different cultural typologies have been proposed, Quinn and Spreitzer’s [
52] cultural typology is the one most widely used in empirical studies because it has a solid theoretical base in the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and rather short and validated measurement scales for organizational culture. Therefore, in this study, we used the Quinn and Spreitzer [
52] typology to measure organizational culture. Quinn and Spreitzer [
52] divided organizational culture into four types: hierarchical, group, rational, and development cultures. The scales for the four types of organizational culture are taken from the work by Gambi et al. [
93], and Prajogo and McDermott [
31]. Each type of culture has five items (See
Appendix A).
Hierarchical culture. This type of culture emphasizes order, stability, rules and regulations within the organization and internal efficiency, as ways to regulate the behavior of all employees. On this scale, we assess the degree of control in the hotel, the decision-making structure, and the aims of this culture. Each type of culture has been measured with a scale containing five statements to measure this type of culture (See
Appendix A).
Group Culture. It is based on values such as teamwork, members’ participation in the organization, and increasing the capacity and knowledge of the employees. Managers reinforce these values to create a perfect environment within the organization. On this scale, we measure the degree of communication among employees, participation in decisionmaking, and management’s concern and support for human resource development.
Rational Culture. This culture focuses on production and achieving objectives and performing tasks, with the objectives representing a way of controlling employee behavior. It evaluates whether the hotel’s objectives are clear, whether the incentives encourage the employees, and whether the hotel’s strategies are oriented towards competitiveness.
Development Culture. The emphasis is on innovation, creativity, and adaptation for growth. Leadership supports companies and inspires creativity in employees with the hope of acquiring new resources for the organization. This scale measures the degree of the use of technology and innovation, the continuous search for new opportunities and markets, and the ability to take risks.
Outsourcing level. This scale focuses on measuring the total degree of outsourcing in the entire hotel, not in the activity. In this regard, we measure whether the hotel is highly outsourced or not, to what degree the departments are dependent on external companies, the volume of services the hotel has outsourced, and the percentage of external workers. In this study, a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 7 was used to rate five items [
64]. (See
Appendix A).
Sustainable performance. For Morelli [
94], sustainability is considered a new type of organizational culture because hotels are forced to change certain values and adapt to a new setting where they focus the attention on the environment. Sustainable performance is measured with the scale used by [
33]. The scale is composed of five items and measures questions about the extent to which the hotel responds to social and ethical demands, as well as the degree to which the hotel’s reputation for sustainability is better than that of its competitors.
4. Analysis and Results
To test the research hypotheses, a structural equation model was carried out using the statistical program SmartPLS 3.2.8 [
95]. Structural equation models allow researchers to statistically examine a series of dependent and interrelated relationships among theory-based constructs and their indicators, measured through directly observable variables [
96].
The Partial least squares PLS technique is primarily used for the theoretical development of exploratory research [
97], and it is currently considered the most widely used technique in social science studies and the best method for multivariate analysis [
98]. PLS is a well-established structural equation analysis technique that is used in a variety of outsourcing studies [
64,
99,
100].
PLS is used when the theory is not solidly developed, as in the case of the relationship between organizational culture, outsourcing, and sustainable performance. This technique is less demanding about the minimum sample size requirements than other techniques such as Linear structural relations LISREL or Structural equation modeling EQS [
101]. PLS does not require data to come from normal or known distributions, and it is more suitable for theories and research topics with few studies [
98].
The process of analyzing a PLS model has two steps: the measurement model (Outer Models) and the structural model (Inner Models) [
98]. The evaluation of the measurement model consists of analyzing the reliability level of the observed variable in the model and in each construct, as well as the convergent and discriminant validity [
102]. The structural model compares the hypotheses and analyzes the predictive capacity of the proposed model [
103].
4.1. Measurement Model
In order to evaluate the measurement model designed to assess the relationships between each construct and its indicators in PLS, an analysis is performed on the variables in the model with regard to (i) individual reliability coefficients for the indicator and the construct; (ii) convergent validity; and (iii) discriminant validity [
98,
102,
104,
105].
On the one hand, to analyze the reliability of each indicator in the measurement model, the factor loadings of the items on their respective constructs were evaluated. Carmines and Zeller [
106] suggested that the individual reliability of an item is considered adequate when it exceeds the recommended threshold of 0.707. However, Tenenhaus et al. [
105] observe that a loading level equal to or greater than 0.7 may be too rigid. Therefore, they suggested that items are acceptable when they exceed the threshold of 0.5. Items with values below 0.50 were eliminated. In our study, the results show that all the factor loadings exceed 0.6, suggesting acceptable individual reliability.
Table 1 shows that the factor loadings range from 0.614 to 0.976.
On the other hand, Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (CR) are used to evaluate the reliability of the constructs. The recommended value for Cronbach’s alpha and the composite reliability of the constructs should be above 0.7 [
104]. The results in
Table 1 indicate that all the latent variables are reliable because the composite reliability values exceed the threshold of 0.7, ranging between 0.864 and 0.975. In addition, the Cronbach’s alpha value for each construct exceeds the recommended threshold of 0.7, ranging from 0.765 to 0.968. Therefore, the reliabilities of the latent variables in our study exceed the necessary thresholds [
96].
Convergent validity is measured with the average variance extracted (AVE) from each construct, which refers to the mean variance shared by the latent variable and its items. The recommended AVE value is equal to or greater than 0.5 [
98,
104].
Table 1 shows that the AVE values exceed the threshold of 0.5, ranging from 0.643 to 0.888, thus confirming convergent validity.
Discriminant validity refers to whether the measure of a construct is empirically different from the other constructs in the same model [
107]. To evaluate discriminant validity, theFornell–Larcker criterion, the cross-loadings, and the Heterotrait–MonotraitRatio (HTMT) correlations are used [
108].
Fornell and Larcker [
104] indicate that, for discriminant validity to exist, the square root of the AVE values must be greater than all the correlations between all the constructs in the same model.
Table 2 shows that, in all cases, the square root of the AVE (main diagonal) is higher than the correlations between the constructs. The results of this analysis suggest that all the constructs are unique concepts.
Factor cross-loadings. According to this criterion, the cross-loadings for the observed variables in a construct are compared to the loadings for the observed variables in the other constructs. The value of the cross-loadings for a latent variable has to be greater than the values for the other variables in the same model [
103].
Table 3 shows that the loadings are higher in their respective constructs than in the other constructs, providing evidence of the discriminant validity of the constructs [
98]. Therefore, these results suggest that there is discriminant validity.
The Heterotrait–Monotrait Ratio correlations. The Heterotrait–Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) inference test was used to determine whether the HTMT values were significantly less than one [
109]. The 95% confidence intervals of the HTMT values were calculated using the bootstrapping procedure in SmartPLS.
Table 4 shows the lower and upper limits of the confidence intervals. None of them includes the value of one, and so there is discriminant validity for all the constructs [
108].
4.2. Structural Model
After establishing and confirming the reliability and validity of the measurement model, hypothetical relationships and structural model results were evaluated. This process is based on observing the relevance and predictive capacity of the model and the relationships between endogenous constructs [
98].
The evaluation of the structural model involves examining the explained variance (R2), the standardized path coefficients (β), the statistical t value, the effect size (f2), the predictive relevance of the model (the Stone–Geisser test Q2), and the goodness-of-fit index (GOF).
Following Hair et al. [
98], the non-parametric Bootstrap test with 500 repetitions was performed to obtain the explained variance (R
2), the f
2 effect, and the standardized Path coefficients (β) for each of the predicted relationships in the hypotheses of the model, with the observed t values. First, the fit of the structural model was confirmed with the R
2, which represents the explained variance of the dependent variables. For Falk and Miller [
110], these values should be higher than the threshold of 0.1, which means 10%, in order for the model to have a predictive capacity. As
Table 5 shows, the dependent construct that measures sustainable performance presents an R
2 of 0.696, which means that 69.6% of the variability in sustainable performance is explained by the organizational culture and by the level of outsourcing. In contrast, 44.6% (R
2 = 0.446) of the variability in the outsourcing level is explained by the organizational culture. This suggests that the model has a predictive capacity (see
Table 5).
In relation to the predictive relevance of the model, which is calculated through the Q
2 value, we employed the Stone–Geisser Q
2 test [
111,
112], a technique used to measure the predictive relevance of independent constructs [
108]. According to the Stone–Geisser test, a model can have predictive relevance when the Q
2 values are greater than zero [
98].
Table 5 shows that all the Q
2 values are above the threshold limit (the level of Outsourcing, 0.303, and the level of sustainable performance, 0.574), and so the model has predictive relevance.
For the goodness of fit, Tenenhaus et al. [
105] propose using a global criterion for model validation. Specifically, we use the Goodness-of-fit (GOF) indicator, which consists of calculating the geometric mean of the average communality (AVE) by the average R
2. According to Chin [
113], models that reach a value of more than 0.36 are considered good-fitting models. In this case, the value is 0.645 (see
Table 5), and so we can state that the model has sufficient predictive quality.
The f
2 effect size measures the impact of each exogenous (independent) latent variable on the endogenous (dependent) latent variable. This effect measures whether removing an independent variable from the model changes the value of the determination coefficient, and it defines whether the exogenous variable removed has a significant influence on the value of the endogenous variables. Based on Cohen [
114], the f
2values have to be above the recommended threshold of 0.02. As
Table 6 shows, most of the f
2effects obtained from the significant variables that explain the variability in the dependent variables are higher than the base level of 0.02.
The standardized path coefficients are shown in
Table 6 and
Figure 3. With regard to hypothesis H1a, the results show that a hierarchical culture has a negative influence on the level of outsourcing (β = −0.249,
p < 0.05); therefore, this hypothesis is supported. In addition, hypothesis H1b, which predicted the negative impact of the hierarchical culture on sustainable performance, is found to have a significant impact, although the relationship is positive (β = 0.254,
p < 0.01), contrary to the prediction. Therefore, hypothesis H1b is rejected.
For hypotheses H2a and H2b about the influence of the group culture on the level of outsourcing and sustainable performance, the results show that this culture does not significantly influence the level of outsourcing (β = 0.001, p > 0.05), but it has some positive influence, with 10% significance, on sustainable performance (β = 0.135, p < 0.10). Therefore, we only relatively confirm hypothesis H2b from our model, whereas hypothesis H2a is not accepted.
In relation to H3a, the results (β = −0.205, p < 0.10) show that the rational culture has a certain negative and significant influence, at 10%, on the level of outsourcing. This is contrary to the prediction because H3a suggests a positive relationship between the rational culture and outsourcing. However, in hypothesis H3b, the rational culture has a positive effect on sustainable performance, with (β = 0.161, p < 0.05), and so we can confirm hypothesis H3b from our model.
With regard to hypothesis H4a, which predicts that the development culture has a positive influence on the level of outsourcing, the results show that the relationship is negative (β = −0.276, p < 0.05). Therefore, hypothesis H4a is rejected, which indicates that a development culture negatively influences the level of outsourcing. However, there is a positive relationship between the development culture and sustainable performance (β = 0.281, p < 0.01), and so we can accept hypothesis H4b.
Finally, hypothesis H5, which refers to the impact of the level of outsourcing on sustainable performance, is rejected because its impact is negative and significant (β = −0.112, p < 0.05).
5. Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of four types of organizational culture—hierarchical, group, rational, and development—on the level of outsourcing and sustainable performance. To achieve this objective, the CVF framework was used, which provides insight into the way the ideological foundations and approach of each culture influence the level of outsourcing and sustainable performance.
Based on this impact and relationship, it was predicted that the organizational culture could positively and negatively influence the degree of outsourcing, depending on the type of culture. The idea is to reflect which types of organizational culture might favor the use of external suppliers, and to what extent the organizational culture plays a relevant role in sustainable performance, as well as the impact of outsourcing on results related to sustainable performance. No studies in the hotel context have investigated the relationships between these three concepts—organizational culture, outsourcing and sustainable performance—which gives added value to the results obtained.
Before analyzing the results, it should be kept in mind that outsourcing in Egypt is in its infancy, which means that hotels are now examining and testing outsourcing strategies in an attempt to maximize their profits, reduce their risks, and exchange information and experiences with these companies [
115]. For this reason, the conclusions obtained are just referred to the Egyptian hotel sector as the outsourcing practice might hold other different characteristics in other tourist destinations.
This outsourcing immaturity indicates that few suppliers are quality firms, forcing hotels to seek and identify reliable and capable firms taking into account several factors, such as experience, past performance, and the company’s culture and values [
7]. When contracting an external supplier, hotels must adopt intercultural management approaches to achieve successful outsourcing because the organizational cultures of the hotel and the external supplier may be incompatible due to having different work processes, policies, strategies, objectives, and values. Therefore, the relationship between them should be strengthened through ongoing communication, frequent meetings, mutual trust, and transparency.
The results of this study are mixed because not all the proposed hypotheses are supported, and some of them even show the opposite of what was predicted. Regarding the impact of the organizational culture on outsourcing, the results indicate that the hierarchical culture has a negative impact on the level of outsourcing. In this regard, the results are consistent with those obtained by Zoghbi and Ting-Ding [
116] when they point out that, in the hierarchical culture, there is greater task conflict between internal employees and outsourced personnel. For this reason, it is possible that hotels where the hierarchical culture predominates have a lower level of outsourcing.
Furthermore, this negative influence is due to the nature of the hierarchical culture, which is characterized by excessive control and strict rules and procedures in managing the hotel. Outsourcing implies a loss of control and autonomy [
64,
117], which leads these hotels with a hierarchical culture that focuses on control and rules to rely less on external suppliers. As a result, internal and external employees are not encouraged to participate or act flexibly when developing work processes.
Another result that stands out in this research is the negative impact of the development culture on the level of outsourcing. This means that hotels that use innovative strategies and an orientation towards creation and development have a lower level of outsourcing. According to Espino-Rodríguez et al. [
118], due to outsourcing, the hotel may be unable to develop learning and exploit technological advances, and it may lose some basic skills and capacities. Furthermore, McIvor [
3] suggests that outsourcing can lead to a loss of innovation potential and service quality, which signifies a reduction in hotel performance and a loss of the necessary skills to exploit new opportunities.
In the case of the group culture, the results show that the group culture does not significantly influence the level of outsourcing, suggesting that there is no direct relationship between the group culture and outsourcing. The prediction we made about this type of culture was that it would have a negative influence on outsourcing. However, the group culture does not favor or hinder outsourcing, possibly because this culture might include external suppliers as members of the company who form part of the production process, in addition to maintaining close relationships with them. Hotels that prioritize the group culture have other reasons for outsourcing activities, apart from the typical characteristics of this culture.
Finally, the results suggest a certain negative influence, but to a lesser extent, of the rational culture on the level of outsourcing. This negative impact is due to the control this culture exerts on work processes and employee behaviors in following the strategies that make it possible to reach the objectives. Therefore, these issues keep external suppliers from participating in the strategies or jointly developing the objectives. In addition, for Doran et al. [
119], this kind of culture makes internal employees extremely concerned about doing their tasks well in an effort to achieve the objectives. This makes coordination and communication with external staff difficult. Therefore, this type of hotel may also reject outsourcing because of a lack of confidence in the way external suppliers carry out their processes. In this regard, Zoghbi and Ting-Ding [
116] show that in a rational culture there is a greater degree of relational conflict and task conflict between internal and external staff, which can lead to less outsourcing in hotels with a rational culture.
In the case of sustainable performance, the results show that all the types of organizational culture positively affect sustainable performance. First, the findings reveal that the development culture has the most influence on sustainable performance, due to the nature of this culture and its relationship with the environment. According to Linnenluecke and Griffiths [
32], this culture is the one most interested in environmental and sustainable ideas and trends. Moreover, the results of Sugita and Takahashi’s [
86] study suggest that the most successful companies in terms of sustainability strategies are those that have a development culture, as well as those with a hierarchical culture. Hotels with a development culture pursue practices of sustainable performance aimed at the efficient use of their skills and knowledge for environmental concerns, the use of renewable energy, and the development or acquisition of technology for marketing strategies or processes and services.
Second, the results of our study demonstrate the positive influence of the hierarchical culture on sustainable performance, whereas previous studies Cameron and Quinn [
61], Senge et al. [
69] and Griffiths and Petrick [
66] suggest a negative impact and lack of interest of hierarchical culture in sustainable performance. In the hierarchical culture, efficiency and profitability are the most valued parameters [
61]. In this regard, this significant influence between the hierarchical culture and sustainable performance may be due to the fact that this culture focuses on the economic approach (economic sustainability) by concentrating on growth and profitability. For this reason, a hierarchical culture can favor sustainability and generate short-term profits, mainly economic, for the company [
32]. Hotels that are oriented towards this culture can take advantage of their strict atmosphere to engage in environmentallyfriendly alternative technologies, best practices for more efficient use of resources, such as water and electricity, and cleaner production (reducing pollution), thus reducing the environmental impact and lowering the hotel’s costs in the short term [
120,
121]. These practices are considered the first steps towards sustainability [
122]. Similar results are obtained in the study by Abett et al. [
123], who demonstrate the positive impact of the hierarchical culture on sustainability due to the strict rules managers adopt related to sustainability. In addition, Sugita and Takahashi [
86] highlight the important role the hierarchical culture plays in aspects related to sustainability and the environment through managers’ positive perception and interest in designing sustainability strategies.
Third, the hypothesis that establishes the positive impact of the rational culture on sustainable performance is confirmed. According to Scott [
41], this culture fosters the efficient use of resources, competitiveness, and planning, which favors a broad vision of the environment and a move towards sustainability in fulfilling the company’s objectives. This positive relationship consists of service innovation, adaptation to changes in consumer preferences and new market conditions, cost reduction, image improvements, and increases in efficiency and the hotel’s reputation [
32,
124].
Finally, the results suggest that the group culture has a positive influence on sustainable performance. This positive impact is due to the nature of this culture, which focuses on employees, the development of their knowledge and skills, and other aspects such as cohesion, loyalty, and moral commitment. These principles motivate employees to be more sensitive to environmental issues and to use their skills to find ways to improve sustainability [
32]. The results showing the positive impact of the group culture on sustainable performance are consistent with those found by Del Rosario and René [
124], who demonstrate the significant influence of the group culture on eco-innovation.
Regarding the relationship between the level of outsourcing and sustainable performance, the results of our study show that the outsourcing level has a negative influence on sustainable performance. There are several possible reasons for this negative impact, including the limited capacities of external suppliers in this tourism destination and the high cost of performing activities aimed at sustainable performance. Hotels might reject these practices because they are probably more interested in reducing costs. Outsourcing is detrimental to sustainable performance; that is, hotels that choose to outsource have worse sustainable performance than those with less outsourcing. This aspect is quite worrisome because it indicates that outsourcing does not favor a more sustainable hotel, probably because outsourcing is not done with social and ethical demands or ecological criteria in mind. It also shows that hotels that outsource develop fewer resources and capacities in certain areas, which makes them less interested in sustainable development. These results are consistent with those obtained in the study by Espino-Rodríguez and Ramírez-Fierro [
89], who suggest that outsourcing strategies do not positively affect certain non-financial aspects related to job quality and satisfaction.
5.1. Academic and Practical Implications
This research, through its structural model, contributes novel implications, both theoretical and practical, to the literature related to outsourcing and sustainable performance from the perspective of organizational culture. The results obtained can be quite useful for hotels in adapting their strategies and achieving success in outsourcing and sustainable performance.
From an academic point of view, the paper shows that the competing values framework (CVF) is valid to explain the level of outsourcing. It shows that certain types of culture have a negative influence on outsourcing. There are no papers in the literature that analyze the impact of culture on outsourcing and sustainable performance. The CVF is also a valid framework for explaining sustainable performance. The negative influence of outsourcing on sustainable performance can hinder a sustainable competitive advantage. This research contributes to developing a sound theoretical framework with which to better understand the determinants of outsourcing from the perspective of organizational culture and sustainable performance.
With regard to the implications for practitioners, this study generates knowledge and assists managers with outsourcing decisions, based on the type of organizational culture they follow. Depending on the type of culture, hotels will engage in outsourcing to a greater or lesser degree. Moreover, although all the cultures influence sustainable performance, a more innovation-oriented culture has the greatest impact on social and ethical demands, as well as on ecology. Thus, to obtain more sustainable hotels, managers should promote relevant aspects of the development culture, such as creativity, flexibility, and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this study reveals the importance of creating a collaborative culture within the hotel that accepts external suppliers and gives them a space to carry out their work in the best possible way without harming sustainability. On the one hand, managers should be concerned not only with outsourcing, but also with the implementation phase. They should maintain inter-organizational relationships based on trust, so that external members become part of the company culture, in order to avoid undermining sustainability. At the time of the study, it was noted that there were no suppliers capable of improving sustainability. Outsourcing is a dynamic strategy that changes over time, and so managers must constantly evaluate their evolution in the different aspects related to sustainable performance. On the other hand, the findings of this study indicate that external suppliers must develop the necessary skills and capacities to achieve the hotel’s objectives, and they must be more aware of sustainability and environmental issues. There should also be an atmosphere of cooperation with hotels to coordinate work processes and tasks. In addition, suppliers should keep hotels informed of new technologies and continuous changes in social, ethical, and environmental issues.
5.2. Limitations and Future Research
The present study has some limitations that may lead to future research. The results of thisstudy can only be generalized to the chosen hotel sector. The results and conclusions of this research only concern hotel accommodation from two cities in Egypt. Therefore, studies that test the hypotheses of the proposed model in other destinations or even in sectors other than tourism would be desirable. This would allow the theoretical relationships between culture, outsourcing, and sustainable performance established in this study to be strengthened and contrasted. Future studies should consider the relationship between organizational culture and outsourcing and sustainability by considering other organizational culture classifications in the literature. It is also important to be cautious in interpreting the results on sustainability because this study has not taken into account the practices hotels use to become more sustainable. Therefore, future research should study, in the same tourism destination, the impact of outsourcing on sustainability practices, and not just on performance, as in this paper. It is important to know external suppliers’ degree of responsiveness to sustainability issues because they are considered key participants in the development of a competitive advantage. Another limitation is that the results are based on the point of view of management, which can produce bias. Therefore, future studies should analyze perceptions of sustainable performance from the point of view of customers.