1. Introduction
Globalization, economic growth, and technological development have transformed the hospitality industry in many markets. Increasing awareness of sustainability in every sphere of life has important implications on consumer behavior within hospitality services. Sustainability and its triple bottom line become an important issue in all spheres of businesses in both developing and developed markets. “Triple bottom line” explains the method of corporate reporting integrating economic, environmental, and social dimensions considered as the pillars of sustainability. With the continuously rising awareness of sustainability worldwide, many organizations are trying to build up innovative ways to improve their sustainability performance in the marketplace [
1,
2]. Companies are feeling the pressure exerted from stakeholders, such as customers, employees, the media, public, NGOs, government agencies, and investors, to implement sustainability practices in their businesses [
3]. The rate of adopting and practicing sustainability in businesses in different parts of the world does vary greatly [
4]. The available literature on sustainability noticeably acknowledges that sustainability is well studied in developed countries compared to developing countries [
5,
6,
7]. As the literature on sustainability increases, the issue of generalizability remains, as the findings cannot be replicated across markets and geographies. After years of political turmoil, Pakistan is enjoying formidable peace and stability and the market of more than 220 million people is growing fast. With ancient and diverse culture and history, Pakistani markets for the hospitality industry present increasing business opportunities. However, little is known on how sustainable marketing assets attract consumers in this vast market. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap in literature by testing sustainable marketing approaches in the Pakistani hospitality market. By sustainable marketing assets, we mean brand equity and marketing innovations that can ensure continuous business success, creating a sustainable business opportunity.
According to resource advantage theory (RAT), when a firm orchestrates and manages its resources in a dynamic way, the consumption of its products or services provides superior market performance [
8,
9]. Resource advantage theory takes on a resource-based view (RBV) of organization by paying attention to marketing resources in terms of their capacity to gain a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). Marketing assets that influence the stakeholders in any trade, and company, generally organize these assets to attain a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace [
10,
11]. Assets can be tangible or intangible and have significant implications [
10,
12]. Direct or indirect contributions of marketing resources also vary in contributing to the competitive advantage [
10,
13] presented the idea of the resource-based view for the description of the importance of resources used by firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage [
14,
15]. According to [
16], the resource-based view explains how organizations achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Resource heterogeneity and resource immobility are the main suppositions of the resource-based view [
16,
17,
18]. The main important source for a sustainable competitive advantage is intangible assets, such as brand equity and marketing innovation that improve the market performance of a company [
19,
20,
21,
22,
23]. The resource-based view (RBV) basically clarifies and forecasts the relationships between the particular assets of a company and how those resources are organized in a meaningful way to create superior performances that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and well organized (VRIO) and create a sustainable competitive advantage [
24,
25]. To reveal the relationship between sustainable marketing assets, sustainable competitive advantage, and market performance, we will present a literature review, hypothesis development, and conceptual framework in
Section 2, research methodology in
Section 3, research findings in
Section 4, and a discussion of the findings in
Section 5, and then we will add our concluding remarks and limitations and future research avenues at the end. The measurements of sustainable marketing assets, SCA, and market performance have been provided in
Appendix A (survey questionnaire).
2. Literature Review
In the discussions of 21st century on the sustainability, role of the dimensions of development and managerial framework are considered as central [
26] in creating top-level sustainable organizations [
27]. A sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and performance can be achieved through the reconfiguration of resources according to the environment and their processes of organization [
28,
29]. In 1980, the “International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources” formally established sustainability as a construct to solve issues related to finance, environment, and society and defined it as “the integration of conservation and development to ensure that modifications to the planet do indeed secure the survival and well-being of all people” [
30]. Sustainability attained additional importance when the “United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development” released its report “Our Common Future” [
30]. In this report it was suggested that a new approach to the competing demands of environment protection and economic development is required, referring to sustainable development. According to [
31] sustainability has evolved as a critical component of sustainable business practice by adding social and economic responsibility.
2.1. Sustainability
Sustainability is an idea to produce products (goods and services) in such a way that does not use resources that cannot be replaced and does not harm the environment. Sustainability is the ability to sustain at a specific level for an interval of time. Sustainability symbolizes the progress of society and advancement in the direction of a prosperous and more stable world, which can save the natural environment and cultural attainments for the next generations [
32]. According to [
32,
33], sustainability is an essential component of a company’s strategy, which provides for the need of the long-term success of the future of people and the planet. A survey conducted by McKinsey proposes that companies are rapidly integrating sustainability preferences into their businesses. Firms are pursuing social and environmental sustainability in ways that are far from the reputation of organizations. Environmental sustainability is termed as the consumption rate of natural resources and this should either be below the rate at which the natural resources are renewed or a substitute should be used, producing less emission and avoiding activities that are degrading the ecosystem [
33,
34], social sustainability is defined as actively supporting the conservation and creation of skills as well as the capabilities of future generations, supporting health facilities, and promoting the equal and democratic actions that permit for a good standard of life both inside and outside of an organization’s context. “Sustainability is a company’s capacity to prosper in a hypercompetitive and changing global business environment. Companies that anticipate and manage current and future economic, environmental, and social opportunities and risks by focusing on quality, innovation, and productivity will emerge as leaders that are more likely to create a competitive advantage and long-term stakeholder value [
35].
2.2. Hypotheses and Theoretical Model Development
The service industry has observed growing expansion and growth throughout the last decades. Hence, competition in the service industry has become increasingly severe. As a result, dynamic service providers have come across more tactical methods for fulfilling and maintaining customers’ satisfaction. Many marketing managers and scholars view sustainability-based marketing assets i.e., brand equity and market innovation as indispensable elements of any tactic considered to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
2.2.1. Brand Equity and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Brand equity is the subjective evaluation of a brand by its customers. Brand equity is the result of past investments in the marketing mix that add value to a product or service [
36,
37]. Brand equity gives particular value to a product by its name [
38]. A successful strategy for building strong brand equity creates a wide range of marketing advantages [
39,
40].
There are various conceptualizations of brand equity in the marketing literature [
41,
42]. Brand equity is “the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name” [
43]. According to [
44], brand equity is defined as “a set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand that add to or subtract from the value of a product or service to a company and/or its customers”. [
45] describes brand equity as "a set of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and a symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service to a firm or that firm’s customers". According to [
46], well-established brand equity may be the foundation of competitive advantage. On the basis of the above literature it can be hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 1 (H1). Brand equity influences the sustainable competitive advantage.
2.2.2. Marketing Innovation and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
A marketing innovation is the execution of an innovative marketing technique (marketing ideas and strategies) that is considerably different from the prior marketing process implemented by a business and that has not previously been implemented by the business. The aim of marketing innovation is to give value to the customers and to improve competitive advantage.
Marketing innovation can also be described as “the execution of a new marketing method relating significant changes in product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion, or pricing” [
47]. Innovation is usually found to be mostly important to service companies because it is difficult for them to protect their products through copyrights and patents [
48]. Service companies can be innovated by generating novel services or devising existing ones and generating distribution channels other than the existing ones [
49]. According to [
50], marketing innovation increases the sustainable competitive advantage of a firm. They concluded that sustained competitive advantage is positively affected by developing marketing innovation. Innovation is the capability of a firm to effectively differentiate it from its rivals’ organizations and attain a sustainable competitive advantage [
51,
52,
53] argue that “marketing innovation had the strong potential to lead quickly to sustainable competitive advantage”. On the basis of the above discussion it can be hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Marketing innovation influences the sustainable competitive advantage.
2.2.3. Brand Equity and Market Performance
The constructs of customer-based brand equity are significantly associated with the market performance of a brand [
54,
55], in their study, pointed out that there is a relationship between brand equity and market performance. According to the research findings of [
56], corporate brand equity positively affects a firm’s performance. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 3 (H3). Brand equity influences the market performance.
2.2.4. Marketing Innovation and Market Performance
The practice of a novel marketing process that considers major changes in the design, delivery, promotion, or pricing of products (goods or services) is called marketing innovation [
57].
According to [
58], the main objectives of marketing innovation are an improvement in the position of the business in the market, better meeting the needs of consumers, opening new markets, and increasing sales. Innovation functions as a major factor in production, competitiveness, a business’s continued existence, growth, and the creation of employment by an organization [
59]. The performance of the firm can be enhanced positively by integrating complementary resources [
60]. It has been empirically proved that innovation has a positive effect on the performance of a firm [
61]. Mixed findings are frequently presented by empirical studies that investigate the innovation–performance relationship [
62]. The results of all studies that have been conducted to test the association between marketing innovation and the performance of a firm have proved a positive relationship [
50,
63]. Therefore, on the basis of the above literature review it can be hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 4 (H4). Marketing innovation influences the market performance.
2.2.5. Sustainable Competitive Advantage and Market Performance
The capability of a firm to do business by smartly using its resources in a meaningful way, which maximizes its value creation and cannot be replicated by rivals, is known as competitive advantage [
64,
65] states that when the corporation is capable of creating more financial value than a competitor’s corporation then the corporation is said to have a competitive edge over its competitor. To attain market performance, firms must create a sustainable competitive advantage [
66,
67,
68]. According to the [
69] study, competitive advantage and market performance are significantly associated. There are many studies in the strategic management, international business, and marketing literatures that presume a direct positive association between competitive advantage and market performance [
70]. On the basis of this it can be hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 5 (H5). The sustainable competitive advantage influences market performance.
2.2.6. Sustainable Competitive Advantage as a Mediator between Sustainable Marketing Assets and Market Performance
Brand equity along with marketing innovations can create the long-term appeal of a product or service to prospective consumers. There are studies in which the effects of brand equity [
46] and marketing innovation [
50] have been studied in relation to sustainable competitive advantage. It is also found in the literature that sustainable competitive advantage has an influence on market performance [
70]. In the light of the above discussion, the following hypothesis can be grounded:
Hypothesis 6 (H6). Sustainable competitive advantage mediates the relationship between marketing assets (a: brand equity, b: marketing innovation) and market performance. (See
Figure 1)
3. Research Methodology
In the present study, positivist philosophy was adopted because the nature of the study being conducted was to study the relationship of sustainability-based marketing assets, sustainable competitive advantage, and market performance. The reason for selecting this strategy was that it matched with existing marketing studies in the literature of same kind [
71].
A deductive research approach was incorporated in this study, which is related to positivist philosophy. It helps to formulate the hypotheses on the basis of the theory under consideration in the study, and furthermore it allows a specific research design to be made to verify it [
72].The deductive research approach selected for the current research threat further led to the selecting of a suitable research strategy to evaluate the selected theory [
73].The survey research strategy is used in a study of a quantitative nature [
74]. It is commonly linked with the deductive research approach [
75]. The survey research strategy is generally used in management and business studies and for explanatory research. As the current study is quantitative, deductive, and explanatory in nature, survey research strategy was suitable. Survey research design is defined as “a systematic set of methods used to gather information to generate knowledge and to help make decisions” [
76]. The current research applied the survey research strategy to explore the proposed research questions.
The survey research design allows the researcher to collect data for independent variables, mediating variables, moderating variables, and dependent variables. It tries to explain the beliefs, ideas, opinions, attitudes, behaviors, and viewpoints through primary data collecting from a defined sample of a population [
77,
78,
79]. According to [
79], the survey research design is helpful in collecting large amounts of data and in generalizing findings of a study. The current study used the survey research design through a self-administered questionnaire conducted within the Pakistani market to validate the proposed theoretical framework.
According to [
80], explanatory research explains cause and effect relationships and how the factors are inter-related in a proposed theoretical model. Explanatory survey research design was suitable in the current research because the cause and effect relations were established among the variables in it. Depending on the nature of the present study, the author applied explanatory survey design. In relation to the hypotheses developed, explanatory survey research design that focuses on the four following variables was used: (1) brand equity, (2) marketing innovation, (3) sustainable competitive advantage, and (4) market performance.
A survey research design was applied for this research and adopted the form of self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires were distributed face-to-face to the consumers of hotels/restaurants in Pakistan. [
81] indicated that questionnaires that informants fill out guarantee of a higher response rate and such an approach is efficient and effective for scholars in terms of time, cost, and effort. Before the official launching of the questionnaire, there was a phase of pilot testing to clarify and comprehend the questionnaires. We ensured confidentiality of the data to our informants. All the respondents participated in the survey voluntarily. After an announcement of anonymity, a paper-based questionnaire was distributed and participants were requested to fill out it and hand it over to the researcher on the spot to ensure unbiased analyses. The length of the study survey was comprised of five months in 2018. Authors ensured that all the questionnaires were fully filled, with missing data observed during the collection phase, and therefore the number of invalid responses or partially filled questionnaires could be reduced. No monetary or any other forms of reward were offered to respondents. A total of 360 paper-based questionnaires were distributed.
As far as the sampling strategy was concerned, to collect data in the current study a multi-stage sampling strategy and convenience sampling that belongs to the family of non-probability sampling was applied. Non-probability sampling strategy that is convenience sampling is commonly adopted in marketing research. Of course, there is an advantage to convenience sampling in that it permits researchers to collect a large sample in a quick and easy way [
82]. The use of convenience sampling strategy for hotels/restaurants’ customers was suitable for the current study to confirm the relationships among the study variables [
83]. Convenience sampling is used frequently in many fields by researchers due to situational and financial constraints [
84]. Various rules for opting fora sample size for studies are recommended in the literature and usually these rules are the function of researchers’ experience, an unspecified set of beliefs, or are announced from annunciated expert, and it is stated that for factor analysis a sample size between 150 and200 is considered as sufficient [
85,
86] endorses the recommendations of [
85] and suggests that some statistical techniques must be followed while determining the sample size adequacy and takes a sample size of 460 in total—the sum of two equal sample sizes of 230 from two groups of study belonging to different regions. [
86,
87] recommend a range of item-response ratio from 1:4 to 1:10 for an ideal sample size and further explain that this ratio is appropriate for confirmatory factor analysis. They claim that this ratio fulfills the criteria of the minimum sample size. [
88] also recommends guidance, related to an ideal sample size in which a 1:10 item to response ratio can be applied.
[
89] explains that a large sample size does not guarantee the achievement of accuracy, and according to the point of view of [
87], that precision decreases if a small sample size is used in SEM analysis. Another recommendation in the literature given by [
90] is that sample size of 200 or higher is helpful for a model having a complex path nature. [
91] give valuable suggestions regarding sample-size adequacy that evaluate on the estimations that 50 responses for a study are considered “very poor”, 100 responses are considered “poor”, 200 responses are considered “fair”, 300 responses are considered as “good”, 500 responses are considered “very good”, and 1000 or more responses are considered “excellent”. However, generally the ratio of 1:10 (i.e., 10 “cases” against 1 “indicator”) is taken by the methodologist [
90]. An item-to-response ratio of 1:10 is suggested by [
92]. By considered all the above discussed guiding principles, the author decided on a 1:10 ratio of item-to-response. Herein, in the study all constructs were adapted and a total of 18 Likert-scaled items were used, and thus the sample size was 180 (18 * 10 = 180). [
70] suggested that a sample size greater than thirty (> 30) and less than five hundred (< 500) is assumed to be suitable for much research.
5. Discussion on Findings
The postulated hypothesis (H1) indicates the relationship between brand equity and market performance. The value of correlation coefficient was (r = 0.204,
p < 0.01), which explains a strong positive relationship between brand equity and market performance. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to prove the adequacy of the proposed model to demonstrate and confirm the significance of relationships among independent and dependent variables. Structural equation modeling was used to calculate the standardized regression weights and indicate a positive significant relationship between brand equity and market performance, which is reflected through the statistical value of (β = 0.341,
p < 0.001). The results of the study showed that brand equity has a positive significant influence on market performance. This result of the study agrees with past studies (e.g., [
96]. This study verifies the positive influence of brand equity on market performance. The result of the current study is aligned with the findings of previous studies. Conclusively, the findings of the current study have revealed that customers in Pakistan consider brand equity positively. Based on these findings, managers should pay attention to brand equity to improve the performance of their products in the marketplace.
The postulated hypothesis (H2) indicates the relationship between marketing innovation and market performance. The value of correlation coefficient was (r = 0.395,
p < 0.01), which explains a strong positive relationship between marketing innovation and market performance. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to prove the adequacy of the proposed model to demonstrate and confirm the significance of relationships among independent and dependent variables. Structural equation modeling was used to calculate the standardized regression weights and indicate a positive significant relationship between marketing innovation and market performance, which is reflected through the statistical value of (β = 0.636,
p < 0.001). The results of the study showed that marketing innovation has a positive significant influence on market performance. Our findings are compatible with the study done by [
50,
63]. These studies predict the positive influence of marketing innovation on market performance. Conclusively, the findings of the current study have revealed that customers in Pakistan consider marketing innovation positively. Based on these findings, managers should pay attention to marketing innovation to improve the performance of their products in the marketplace.
The postulated hypothesis (H3) shows the relationship between brand equity and sustainable competitive advantage. The value of correlation coefficient was (r = 0.331,
p < 0.01), which explains a strong positive relationship between brand equity and sustainable competitive advantage. Our tests with the help of structural equation modeling (SEM) prove the adequacy of the proposed model to demonstrate and confirm the significance of relationships among independent and dependent variables. Structural equation modeling was used to calculate the standardized regression weights and indicate a positive significant relationship between brand equity and sustainable competitive advantage, which is reflected through the statistical value of (β = 0.470,
p < 0.001). The results of the study showed that brand equity has a positive significant influence on sustainable competitive advantage. This result of the study agrees with past studies [
39,
46,
97,
98,
99]. These studies verify the positive influence of brand equity on sustainable competitive advantage. The result of the current study is aligning with the initial findings of previous studies. Conclusively, the findings of the current study have revealed that customers in Pakistan consider brand equity positively. Based on this finding, managers should pay attention to building brand equity to attain a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The postulated hypothesis (H4) indicates the relationship between marketing innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. The value of correlation coefficient was (r = 0.446,
p < 0.01), which explains a strong positive relationship between marketing innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to prove the adequacy of the proposed model to demonstrate and confirm the significance of relationships among independent and dependent variables. Structural equation modeling was used to calculate the standardized regression weights and indicate a positive significant relationship between marketing innovation and sustainable competitive advantage, which is reflected through the statistical value of (β = 0.670,
p < 0.001). The results of the study showed that marketing innovation has a positive significant influence on sustainable competitive advantage. This result of the study agrees with past studies [
50,
51,
52]. These studies verify the positive influence of marketing innovation on sustainable competitive advantage. The result of the current study is aligning with the findings of previous studies. Conclusively, the finding of the current study has revealed that customers in Pakistan consider marketing innovation positively. Based on these findings, managers should pay attention to marketing innovation to attain a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The postulated hypothesis (H5) indicates the relationship between sustainable competitive advantage and market performance. The value of correlation coefficient was (r = 0.407,
p < 0.01), which explains a strong positive relationship between sustainable competitive advantage and market performance. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to prove the adequacy of the proposed model to demonstrate and confirm the significance of relationships among independent and dependent variables. Structural equation modeling was used to calculate the standardized regression weights and indicate a positive significant relationship between sustainable competitive advantage and market performance, which is reflected through the statistical value of (β = 0.595,
p < 0.001). The results of the study showed that sustainable competitive advantage has a positive significant influence on market performance. This result of the study agrees with past studies (e.g., [
67,
69,
70]. These studies verify the positive influence of sustainable competitive advantage on market performance. The result of the current study is aligning with the findings of previous studies. Conclusively, the findings of the current study have revealed that customers in Pakistan consider sustainable competitive advantage positively. Based on these findings, managers should pay attention to developing a sustainable competitive advantage to improve performance in the marketplace.
Direct beta without mediation (β
a), direct beta with mediation (β
b), and indirect beta (β
c) was calculated for hypothesis H6. The calculated values of three betas of these two sub-hypotheses with significance level were β
a = 0.341,
p = 0.000; β
b = 0.078,
p = 0.132; and β
c = 0.263,
p = 0.001 and (β
a = 0.636,
p = 0.000; β
b = 0.430,
p = 0.001; and β
c = 0.206,
p = 0.001, respectively. The results of H
6a show there was full mediation. The results of H
12b show there was partial mediation. Sustainable competitive advantage partially mediates the association between predictor variables of marketing innovation and outcome variable of market performance, while fully mediating between brand equity and market performance. These results, in view of the mediating effect, are not maintained by the literature, although it is pointed out that the establishment of a sustainable competitive advantage in a firm assists superior performance. It must be noted that there is a sustainable competitive advantage that is evident from the intangible sustainability-based marketing assets of either brand equity or even improved marketing innovation which can only be recognized in an organization in the presence of good management. In this way, the mediating effect of competitive advantage is displayed from the point of view of the literature. These results associate well with the theory of competitive advantage, which postulates that the existence of assets that are hard to imitate are associated with the competitive position of an organization [
100]. Similarly, [
101] pointed out that intangible assets more probably create the sustainable competitive advantage of an organization that transform into superior market performance than tangible assets.
6. Conclusions
In the context of customers in Pakistan, by thinking about the significance of sustainable marketing assets, the present research answers the question why customers in Pakistan use hospitality services and what are the encouraging factors that provide confidence to customers to acknowledge these services. The present research built up a theoretical model, to achieve the study objectives that merged the predictable factors: brand equity and marketing innovation are intangible marketing assets that were chosen on the basis of a resource-based view (RBV). All the study constructs, which are selected from the previous work of researchers who have recognized that these factors are prominent to finding out about market performance through sustainable competitive advantage, are discussed. The findings of the study illustrated that all three factors have a positive significant impact on market performance in the Pakistani hospitality market. Therefore, all the proposed hypotheses, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6, are supported.
The test of the conceptual model has contributed to knowledge generation and enhanced our understanding on how sustainable marketing assets influence both SCA and market performance in the hospitality industry in an emerging country market such as Pakistan. Several significant contributions of the current study to the hospitality industry for the adoption of sustainable marketing assets are as follows:
Firstly, the findings play a significant role in increasing the market performance of the various services that hotels/restaurants offer to potential customers. In regard to sustainable marketing assets, the current study has recommended a resource-based view for creating a sustainable competitive advantage and the impact of this on the market performance of an organization. Our results show that brand equity, marketing innovation, and sustainable competitive advantage have a significantly positive effect on market performance. The current study has contributed to the hospitality industry the findings that brand equity and marketing innovation have important roles in creating a sustainable competitive advantage, and consequently, influence market performance.
Secondly, the impact of intangible sustainable marketing assets, such as brand equity and marketing innovation, on market performance through sustainable competitive advantage is empirically tested in the context of an emerging market like Pakistan. This contributes to the existing body of knowledge on marketing strategy in emerging markets. The empirical results of the study have proved that marketing innovation is positively significant but has a partial effect on market performance mediated by sustainable competitive advantage. On the other hand, brand equity has a positive and significant effect on market performance. Hence, the hypothesis related to marketing innovation is partially supported and the hypothesis related to brand equity is fully supported. Conclusively, the study’s insights have contributed to the knowledge creation that the effects of brand equity and marketing innovation on Pakistani customers, and consequently on market performance, differ from each other.
Managerial implications of the study are manifold. This study can help business practitioners of hotels/restaurants to develop their understanding of the effects of brand equity and marketing innovation and develop their marketing strategy in order to effectively target the market segment in an emerging market like Pakistan. The study explains the strength of the relationships of brand equity, marketing innovations, and sustainable competitive advantages with market performance. By improving their knowledge on the effects of these driving forces, they can formulate effective marketing strategies to increase market performance by using sustainable intangible marketing assets in the field of the hospitality industry. Globalization, social media, free media, and openness to the world might have contributed to the awareness of consumers on sustainable marketing assets and attracted them to products and services offered by organizations, which adhere to those principles.
Despite the utmost efforts on this study, there are several limitations and opportunities for future research:
- i.
As the data was collected from customers who live in urban areas and not from rural areas, there is an issue in generalizing the findings of the current study to all customers of the whole of Pakistan. Future research may be conducted by collecting the data from both urban as well as rural areas to generalize the results of the research.
- ii.
The research took a few selected sustainable marketing assets only. Future research can consider sustainable marketing assets such as goodwill, corporate reputation, and several others. For example, corporate reputation can have a positive effect on the market performance of attracting customers, and marketers need to take care of the corporate reputation while developing marketing strategies.
- iii.
The sample of the current research was taken from the hospitality industry; therefore, the results of the study cannot be generalized in other sectors (industries) due to the embedded contexts, life cycles, and levels of competition in each industry (Nguyen and Papadopoulos, 2011), which might affect the investment of firms in sustainable marketing practices. In future, research should be conducted in other industries to generalize the results of the current study.
- iv.
In the current research, only the customers of hotels/restaurants were considered, while other stakeholders, such as hotels/restaurant clients and suppliers, have been overlooked. Future research should be conducted by considering other stakeholders to understand the sustainability issues in a more comprehensive way and by implementing them properly in hotels/restaurants industry.
- v.
Future research can also address the social, cultural, and economic difference among customers and the effects of sustainable marketing assets on them.