Narrowing the intention-behavior gap: The impact of hotel green certification

Abstract

The looming threat of climate change on the environment has called for sustainable consumption and business practices. This study aims to address the paradox of green consumption, i. e. customers’ intention-behavior gap, by examining the role of green certification. Via three sub-studies that involve primary data collected through experimental studies (n = 1060 customers) and secondary time series data obtained from a hotel analytics firm (n = 1238 hotels), it’s revealed that (1) customers’ visit intention is significantly influenced by hotels’ green certification status via their green perceptions (Study 1); (2) compared to their non-green counterparts, green-certified hotels do not exhibit better financial performance, highlighting an intention-behavior gap (Study 2); and (3) furnishing information such as hotel green certification and comparable pricing helps to bridge the intention-behavior gap (Study 3). This study makes profound theoretical contributions to the literature by filling several research gaps and providing considerable practical benefits to the hotel industry.