Unit 18 Research Project Proposal: Hospitality Industry

This research proposal investigates the impact of sustainability on the hospitality industry, particularly focusing on the airline sector. The study aims to analyze the importance of sustainability in a pandemic situation. The objectives include defining sustainability, assessing current sustainable practices in airlines during COVID-19, and recommending strategies to mitigate losses. The research questions address the meaning of sustainability, the impact of COVID-19 on current practices, and strategies for maintaining sustainability. The scope is limited to the UK, focusing on individuals within the hospitality industry, with Portugal Airline as a selected organization. The methodology involves a research onion framework with a qualitative approach, employing interviews and secondary data analysis. Ethical considerations include unbiased opinions from respondents and confidentiality. The proposal outlines a detailed timeline for activities, including literature review, data collection, and analysis, and includes a list of references.

Unit 18 Research Project
RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORM
STUDENT DETAILS
Student Name Student Number Submission Date
Centre Name
Tutor
Section One : Research Title, Aim and Objectives
Research Title: Impact of sustainability in transforming the hospitality industry
Research Aim :
The aim of this project is to analyse the importance of sustainability in changing hospitality industry
in the in this pandemic situation Research Objectives
To achieve this aim, the following objectives have been proposed.
i. To identify the meaning of sustainability.
ii. To assess the current practices of sustainability in airlines during COVID.
iii. To be able to recommend better strategies for maintaining sustainability in mitigating the
losses occurred due to COVID.
Research Questions
i. What is the meaning of sustainability?
ii. How COVID situation has affected current practices of sustainability in airlines
industry?
iii. What are some recommendations/strategies for maintaining sustainability in reducing
the losses occurred due to COVID?
Section Two: Research Rationale and Scope
Rationale/Justification for the Topic:
i- This has been a topic in which I have always interested into as it will help me in future
career making and developing skill.
ii- There have been different opinions posted by different authors which have been taken
into account in order to understand various viewpoints.
iii- Studying the importance of sustainability is useful in real scenarios as people it is a way
for long term business.
Unit 18 Research Project Proposal–
Spring 2021

Research Scope:
i. The geography area of this research is limited to the United Kingdom and the people
working in hospitality industry and the name of the selected organization is Portugal
Airline. The reason for the same is that people belonging to this industry are at better
position to answer the questions asked.
ii. It will based on the opinions of respondents chosen for the interview for the topic.
iii. The theories that will be included in this research interviews and other secondary data.
Section three : Preliminary Literature Review
i. Meaning of sustainability- According to Daniel Christian Wahl, sustainability is to keep or
maintain underlying pattern of resilience, health and adaptability leading to a condition of
this planet to be flourished in all the areas and aspects. It has been applied in different areas
for example manufacturing operations, natural resources explorations, lifestyle of people,
and many similar changes in order to reduce the harm to nature for over utilizing these
elements. It a widely accepted practice for living a healthy life and saving the nature from
any harm so that existing and future generations can live peacefully without making any
compromise to any of the natural resources. In other words, it is a way which for long term
survival.
ii. Assess the current practices of sustainability in airlines during COVID- Coronavirus
has affected the working and function of airline industry around the world which affected
the survival of it. It caused huge losses to such industry in terms of suspended operations. It
has reduced the profit substantially because of stoppage in commercial operations. The
current practices of sustainability in aviation industry can be seen in number of form such as
airlines are providing basic kit to the passengers for their safety, giving green offers for
attracting them, food services are being provided by choosing the local and seasonal food
and reducing the number of single uses plastics. Furthermore, fuel consumption is reduced
by improving fuel efficiency, using bio fuels which may be expensive currently but it is
helpful in long term, planting of new trees as this would help in reducing the carbon offsets,
providing education to passengers for being environmental aware. Since, COVID has made
us seen the worst conditions and also it is bad for our immune system hence, it is required to
reduce the pollution level and other gases emission so that people can live healthy lifestyle.
iii. Strategies of sustainability in reducing the losses occurred due to COVID- The people
who have been affected with this pandemic from severe air pollution possess greater risk of
death. Aeroplanes in airlines have internal combustion engines which cause adverse effect
on respiratory health and climate change. Hence, the airlines are developing flights with
improved engines which will reduce less air pollution to a good extent. Also, the airlines are
providing PPE and other kit to customers for protecting them from any airborne virus along
with this, airlines have cut their capacity by as much as 85% for combating the emissions.
The airlines should invest more in innovation stimuli designs for building zero emission
flights such as electro planes. Apart from this, airlines have also started self-service facility
for no contacting, thermal scanners have been put for assessing the health of passenger
before they board the flights and some other similar strategies may be used for mitigating
Unit 18 Research Project Proposal–
Spring 2021

the losses caused by this pandemic.
Section Four: Overview of Research Methodology:
Research onion is used to understand research methodology in which research onion framework is
adopted from Saunders and Lewis (2012). According to this approach, there are number of layers
providing one specific task and which goes from outer most layer to the inner of layer of research.
Research Philosophy- This layer talks about the research philosophy which includes the fact that
CSR has different opinions and is known as responsibility having results. It is defined as fixed
principles taking into account the opinions of various authors around the world. It is divided into
two categories viz. epistemology which is about valid information that will be needed for conducting
the research and the other being ontology which talks about the authenticity of the research. This
phase emphasize on understanding the interventions made by different researchers.
Approach- There are various methods for conducting a research viz. quantitative based on numbers
and data expressed in numerical and the other method is qualitative which is the opinions of the
respondents who participated in the interviews. Furthermore, the literature review is tested on the
basis of hypothesis for developing a new theory.
Strategy- This layer of onion research approach is about various strategies such as experimental
research, interviews, surveys, case study etc. The most suitable one is chosen on the basis of data
gathered from different sources.
Choices of methods- In this layer, many different methods are there such as mono method, mixed
and multi and the researcher selects it on the basis of his requirements. Each of these has their own
characteristics and purpose and the research choose the most suitable one.
Time horizons- It is about the time frame which should be decided for the research. It is categorised
into two categories such as cross sectional where data holding the same viewpoint of different
authors and longitudinal in which observations may differ in each case.
Data collection and analysis- This is the final layer in which various sources and techniques are
used for collecting the data and further their analysis is done for determining the results. The
sources can be primary as well as secondary depending on the needs of the researcher.
In this research, 50 respondents from the aviation industry has been chosen to who various
questions are asked for obtaining their opinions.
Ethical Aspect of Study
The following are the ethical consideration for this research.
The ethical consideration of this research has taken into account the current situation in aviation
industry after the COVID. The pandemic has hit hard this industry and made such industry to suffer
losses. All the opinions of the respondents are based on their personal choices thus unbiased. This
Unit 18 Research Project Proposal–
Spring 2021

give the clarity of their thoughts on this virus affecting the industry. Furthermore, the respondents
were given the freedom to choose their answers from various options given to them. Also, their
identity has been kept secret.
See Ethics Form below
SECTION FIVE: BREAKDOWN OF ACTIVITIES AND TIMESCALE
Activities Start date Finish date Duration ( in weeks or
months)
Introduction Sat 27/02/21 Wed 10/03/21 12 days
Aims and objectives Wed 24/03/21 Wed 7/04/21 15 days
Literature Review Thu 8/04/21 Sun 18/04/21 10 days
Research Methodology Thu 22/04/21 Wed 07/05/21 15days
Data Collection Sun 09/05/21 Thu 27/05/21 18 days
Data Analysis Sun 30/05/21 Mon 14/06/21 13 days
Conclusion and
Recommendation
Wed 16/06/21 Mon 21/06/21 5 days
Submission of final report Tue 22/06/21 Tue 22/06/21 1 day
List of References :
Wahl, D., 2016. Designing regenerative cultures. Triarchy Press.
Soyk, C., Ringbeck, J. and Spinler, S., 2017. Long-haul low cost airlines: Characteristics of the
business model and sustainability of its cost advantages. Transportation Research Part A: Policy
and Practice, 106, pp.215-234.
Kim, H. and Son, J., 2021. Analyzing the Environmental Efficiency of Global Airlines by Continent
for Sustainability. Sustainability, 13(3), p.1571.
Amankwah-Amoah, J., 2020. Stepping up and stepping out of COVID-19: New challenges for
environmental sustainability policies in the global airline industry. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 271, p.123000.
Melnikovas, A., 2018. Towards an explicit research methodology: Adapting research onion model
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for futures studies. Journal of Futures Studies, 23(2), pp.29-44.
Student Declaration
I confirm that the proposed Research Project is not work that has been or will be submitted for
another qualification or by another student and is appropriate:
Student Name and Signature: Date:
Comments and Agreement from Tutor
Comments:
I confirm that the project is not work that has been or will be submitted for another qualification and
is appropriate:
Agreed: (Name) (Date)
Unit 18 Research Project Proposal–
Spring 2021