Investigating the Role of Green Hotel Sustainable Strategies to Improve Customer Cognitive and Affective Image: Evidence from PLS-SEM and fsQCA

Abstract

Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were used to uncover the determinants of customers’ overall positive image of green hotels, which can affect behavioral intentions. A sample of 323 customers of 54 four- and five-star “green” hotels in the Sultanate of Oman were surveyed. The findings can explain the complex process shaping customers’ perceived image. The fsQCA analysis shows that the overall positive image of green hotels was driven by the interaction of two core conditions, environmental values and cognitive image, and one peripheral condition, low-carbon knowledge. Together, these factors are sufficient to form a favorable image of eco-hotels and could make a favorable affective image unnecessary. The PLS-SEM approach clarifies that this process takes place through an indirect mechanism wherein environmental values and low-carbon knowledge shape customers’ cognitive image, which then boosts the overall positive image of eco-hotels. Such comprehensive insights address the gap in the body of literature vis à vis the influence of customers’ psychological factors through cognitive and affective images. Theoretical and practical implications are examined.