Uniting ecological belief and social conformity in green events

Abstract

Although practitioners are increasingly interested in promoting greening as a means to fulfill tourists’ ecological needs and to conform to the pro-environmental norm, it remains unclear how ecological beliefs and social conformity to greening unfold to promote event tourism. The purpose of this study is to investigate how ecological belief can be translated into action by considering the role of social conformity in the context of green events. A field survey was conducted to examine our proposed belief–norm–conformity framework by integrating the value–belief–norm model, theory of reasoned action, and social conformity lens to predict future patronage of green events. Results show there is a serial mediation effect between ecological belief with revisit intention concerning green attitude, social norm and event conformity. The findings provide an insightful understanding of social influence in sustainable tourism. The results can assist event operators to leverage social conformity for environmentally conscious event-goers to promote green event repatronage.