Keywords
digital competencies
Green HRM
sustainable development
hospitality industry
Saint Petersburg
smart hospitality
human capital
professional standards
GreenComp
DigComp 2.2
twin transition
How to Cite
Abstract
The article is devoted to the theoretical substantiation and conceptual elaboration of the category of green-digital competencies (GDC) of hotel enterprise personnel as an integrated and synergistic sustainable development driver for the hospitality industry, with specific reference to the economic context of Saint Petersburg and the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation. At the methodological intersection of the Green Human Resource Management conceptual framework, the Industry 4.0 paradigm of tourism, and the smart hospitality concept, an original three-tier green-digital competency model has been developed and differentiated across three functional levels of a hotel enterprise – line production staff, middle management, and senior executive management – and harmonized with the European institutional frameworks DigComp 2.2 and GreenComp, as well as with the international sustainable tourism standards GSTC, Green Key and ISO 21401. The empirical component of the study relies on a mixed-methods research design, encompassing systematic content analysis of the Russian regulatory framework and the corpus of international standards, statistical-analytical comparison of the general population of 7,632 classified hotels of the Russian Federation and a representative subsample of 118 quality accommodation facilities in Saint Petersburg, as well as an extensive international comparative analysis benchmarked against leading sustainable tourism destinations – Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Gothenburg. The study reveals a systemic gap between the declared national target indicators for industry sustainable development and the actually established qualification architecture of the hotel sector labour market: against a 73 % digital adoption rate among Russian hotels, the share of accommodation facilities certified under recognized international environmental standards does not exceed one percent, while the current professional standards of the Russian Ministry of Labour contain no formalized requirements for either green or digital competencies. Based on the identified patterns and substantive analysis of international best practices, project recommendations are formulated, structured across three priority streams: improvement of HR strategies and corporate training systems in hotel enterprises; updating federal professional standards, TVET state standards and higher education curricula; and developing a comprehensive regional policy for supporting the sustainable development of the hospitality industry in Saint Petersburg and the Northwestern Federal District.
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