Going Green: The Adaptation of Eco-Friendly Products in the CIHTM Department of Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation as its Post-Pandemic CES Program

The study aimed to determine the perceptions of the College of International Hospitality and Tourism Management (CIHTM) students in the adaptation of ecofriendly products in the CIHTM department of Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation (MSEUF) as its post-pandemic Community Extension Service (CES) program. Eco-friendly products generate low environmental degradation and bring significant environmental benefit as it lessens the waste. Excessive plastic wastes deteriorate the environment and in return, many have become more conscious of their actions and are continuously looking for ways to reduce the plastic consumption. The researchers used a quantitative method of research that summarized all the data through statistical methods such as Frequency, Percentage, Weighted Mean, and Analysis of Variance. This study utilized stratified random sampling. The respondents of this study are 168 students from the CIHTM department. An online survey through Google Form was distributed to the selected students of the CIHTM department. The majority of the respondents are in the program Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management and in the third-year level. The respondents’ overall perception towards the adaptation program is positive as they strongly agreed that the use of eco-friendly products within the department will be beneficial to the university. The perceptions, in terms of the following factors namely social influence, habit formation, and individual self are described as agree. Consequently, feelings and tangibility are both described as strongly agree. This shows that the CIHTM students’ perception of eco-friendly products are highly influenced by the factors stated above, in which, feelings are perceived to be what influences them the most. The challenges perceived by the respondents got an overall rating of moderately agree. This emphasizes that the respondents perceived various challenges that may affect the adaptation of ecofriendly products. Additionally, the extent of willingness of the CIHTM students got an overall weighted mean of strongly agree. The researchers concluded that the CIHTM students are willing to adapt the use of eco-friendly products in the CIHTM department. The results showed that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of the respondents on the adaptation of eco-friendly products in the CIHTM Department of MSEUF. With this, an action plan for the adaptation of ecofriendly products as a post-pandemic CES program was proposed that will serve as a guide for the activities to be done for community extension service.