Abstract
PurposeThis study aims to explore the relationships among green practices, environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) image, customers’ trust and their behavioral intentions in a certified hotel context and examine the moderating effect of customers’ involvement in the buying process.Design/methodology/approachA survey was used to collect data from Spanish hotel customers. A structural equation model was developed to assess the research hypotheses.FindingsConsumers’ trust on environmentally certified hotels has a direct effect on their behavioral intentions. Environmental CSR image has a direct effect on consumers’ trust on environmentally certified hotels, but it does not exert significant influence on consumers’ behavioral intentions. Additionally, the results support a positive and significant influence of consumers’ perceptions of green practices on the environmental CSR image of hotels. Finally, there is not a moderating effect of consumers’ involvement on the effects of green practices on CSR environmental image and of this variable on behavioral intentions.Research limitations/implicationsTo cross validate the results of this study, it is recommended that the formation of behavioral intentions in various types of environmentally certified hotel settings be investigated in future research.Practical implicationsHospitality managers should design strategies to raise the perception of the green-related features of environmentally certified companies.Originality/valueNo prior study investigates the relationship between green practices, customers’ trust, their degree of involvement in the buying process and their behavioral intentions in relation to companies’ environmental CSR image in the hotel sector.
Highlights
Certification is popular subject in tourism and hospitality
No prior study investigates the relationship between green practices, customers’ trust, their degree of involvement in the buying process and their behavioral intentions in relation to companies’ environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) image in the hotel sector
This paper addresses the calls for green marketing issues to be incorporated into the hospitality marketing literature (Chan and Hsu, 2016) and for the analysis of the relationship between environmental activities and corporate image and its outcome variables in explaining customer behavioral intentions (Yadav et al, 2016)
Summary
Certification is popular subject in tourism and hospitality. Certification is defined as a voluntary procedure that assesses audits and gives written assurance that a facility, product, process or service meets specific standards. Growing environmental awareness has made customers change their attitudes and increasingly demand that the hospitality industry provides products and services that are ethically correct and environmentally friendly. This sector faces increasing pressure to operate in a more ecofriendly manner given its negative influence on the natural environment. The industry’s impact on the natural environment includes habitat destruction and water and energy over-consumption, as well as soil, water and air contamination (Bohdanowicz, 2005) For these reasons, a number of stakeholders have called for the hospitality industry to actively engage in addressing environmental issues
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