Consumers’ Intentions towards Green Hotels in China: An Empirical Study Based on Extended Norm Activation Model

Hongru Yan,Huaqi Chai

doi:10.3390/su13042165

Abstract

Although the occupancy rate of green hotels is a hot topic in the sustainable tourism economy, few empirical studies have used the expanded norm activation model to explore what drives consumers’ intentions to stay at green hotels. This study took environmental concern and perceived consumer effectiveness as antecedents, and perceived price, policy, and publicity as moderator variables to broaden the norm activation mode to explore consumers’ willingness to stay at green hotels. The hypothesis was tested in a survey that comprised a sample size of 435 participants in China. The outcomes exhibited environmental concern, and perceived consumer effectiveness as having a significant positive influence on personal norm and behavioral intention. Perceived price, as the external cost, negatively moderated the relationship between personal norm and consumers’ behavioral intentions. Policy and publicity had a positive moderating impact on the link between personal norms and consumers’ behavioral intentions.

Highlights

Hotels are an energy- and water-intensive industrial sector that rigorously consume non-renewable resources and generate greenhouse gases [1]
On basis of normative activation models (NAM) theory, this study explored the considerations that affect China’s consumers’ intention to stay at a green hotel, aiming to solve the following problems: (1) Do environmental concerns and perceived consumer effectiveness help to promote personal norms and green hotel occupancy intention?; and (2) do perceived price, policy, and publicity have a moderate link between personal norms and intention to stay at a green hotel?
The impact of personal norms on behavioral intention is higher than environmental concern and perceived consumer effectiveness

Summary

Introduction

Hotels are an energy- and water-intensive industrial sector that rigorously consume non-renewable resources and generate greenhouse gases [1]. Previous research [7,8] suggests the planned behavior theory (TPB) is widely used for exploring consumers’ intention to stay at a green hotel. TPB is a social cognitive model of human behavior. It takes a personal interest as the starting point and assumes one’s environmental protection intention and behavior [9]. Such pro-environmental intention or actions are activated by self-interest and pro-social motives [10]. Scholars who believe that personal environmental intentions and behaviors are motivated by pro-social motives always adopt normative activation models (NAM) [11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion