Abstract
International tourists in Malaysia have been playing a significant role in the economy. However, tourists’ consumption of natural resources could be a threat to the environment. Green practices in the hotel industry have triggered a great opportunity to save water and energy consumption and maintain sustainable practices in the tourism and hospitality industries. This is a study on international tourists’ intention to visit green hotels in Malaysia with related factors such as green availability, green price sensitivity, attitude, and subjective norm. For data collection, the researchers used self-administered questionnaires and distributed them to international tourists in Malaysia. For the analysis, structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied for analysis. Results found that green price sensitivity, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control positively influence tourists’ intention to visit green hotels in Malaysia. Attitude also mediated between green price sensitivity and tourists’ intention to visit green hotels in Malaysia. This study has shown the novelty by establishing the relationships among variables and contributing to the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which will benefit future researchers. The study posed several recommendations for practitioners as there is a need to maintain appropriate standards of environmentally friendly practices in hotels, and consumers’ support for consuming green-related products impacts their survival, growth, and sustainability. It will help hotel managers learn more about their guests and create more effective marketing plans.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available on request.
References
Adedeji AN, Lawan MO, Sidique SF (2017) Testing validity of observed indicators of local content policy in Nigeria: evidence from four-factor measurement model. CBN J Appl Stat (JAS) 8(1):7
Afthanorhan A, Awang Z, Fazella S (2017) Perception of tourism impact and support tourism development in Terengganu. Malay Soc Sci 6(3):106
Ajzen I (1991) The theory of planned behavior. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 50(2):179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Ajzen I, Fishbein M (1975) A Bayesian analysis of attribution processes. Psychol Bull 82(2):261
Ajzen I, Fishbein M (1980) Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River
Ajzen I, Madden TJ (1986) Prediction of goal-directed behavior: attitudes, intentions, and perceived behavioral control. J Exp Soc Psychol 22(5):453–474
Akadiri SS, Lasisi TT, Uzuner G, Akadiri AC (2020) Examining the causal impacts of tourism, globalization, economic growth and carbon emissions in tourism island territories: bootstrap panel Granger causality analysis. Curr Issue Tour 23(4):470–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1539067
Ali F, Kim WG, Li JJ, Cobanoglu C (2018) A comparative study of covariance and partial least squares based structural equation modelling in hospitality and tourism research. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 30(1):416–435
Alom S, Patwary AK, Khan MMH (2019) Factors affecting the turnover intention of Bangladeshi migrants in the United Arab Emirates: an empirical study on the hotel industry. Int J Innov Creat Chang 8(3):344–360
Aman AHL, Harun A, Hussein Z (2012) The influence of environmental knowledge and concern on green purchase intention the role of attitude as a mediating variable. Br J Arts Soc Sci 7(11):145–167. https://doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v6i2.706
Amberg N, Fogarassy C (2019) Green consumer behavior in the cosmetics market. Resources 8(3):137
Amin M, Aldakhil AM, Wu C, Rezaei S, Cobanoglu C (2017) The structural relationship between TQM, employee satisfaction and hotel performance. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 29(4):1256–1278
Baron RM, Kenny DA (1986) The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol 51(6):1173
Biswas A (2020) A nexus between environmental literacy, environmental attitude and healthy living. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27(6):5922–5931
Bonini SM, Oppenheim JM (2008) Helping ‘green products grow. McKinsey Q 3(2):1–8
Bunte FH, van Galen MA, Kuiper WE, Tacken G (2010) Limits to growth in organic sales. De Economist 158(4):387–410
Carrington MJ, Neville BA, Whitwell GJ (2010) Why ethical consumers don’t walk their talk: towards a framework for understanding the gap between the ethical purchase intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded consumers. J Bus Ethics 97(1):139–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0501-6
Cheah JH, Sarstedt M, Ringle CM, Ramayah T, Ting H (2018) Convergent validity assessment of formatively measured constructs in PLS-SEM: On using single-item versus multi-item measures in redundancy analyses. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 30(11):3192–3210
Chen MF, Tung PJ (2014) Developing an extended theory of planned behaviour model to predict consumers’ intention to visit green hotels. Int J Hosp Manag 36:221–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.09.006
Chen TB, Chai LT (2010) Attitude towards the environment and green products: consumers’ perspective. Manag Sci Eng 4(2):27–39. https://doi.org/10.3968/j.mse.1913035X20100402.002
Chong H, Verma R (2013) Hotel sustainability: Financial analysis shines a cautious green light. The Center for Hospitality Research, pp 1–16
Chuah SC, Lu J (2019) Green purchase behavior: a study on Malaysian and Chinese Millennials. Malay J Consum Fam Econ 23:149–172
Danes JE, Lindsey-Mullikin J (2012) Expected product price as a function of factors of price sensitivity. J Prod Brand Manag 21(4):293–300
Deraman F, Ismail N, Arifin M, Izzat A, Mostafa MIA (2017) Green practices in hotel industry: factors influencing the implementation. J Tour Hosp Culinary Arts 9(2):1–12 (http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/19482)
Dijkstra TK, Henseler J (2015) Consistent and asymptotically normal PLS estimators for linear structural equations. Comput Stat Data Anal 81(1):10–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2014.07.008
Dube K, Nhamo G (2020) Greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability in Victoria Falls: focus on hotels, tour operators and related attractions. Afr Geogr Rev 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376812.2020.1777437
Erul E, Woosnam KM, McIntosh WA (2020) Considering emotional solidarity and the theory of planned behavior in explaining behavioral intentions to support tourism development. J Sustain Tour 28(8):1158–1173
Gleim MR, Smith JS, Andrews D, Cronin JJ Jr (2013) Against the green: A multi-method examination of the barriers to green consumption. J Retail 89(1):44–61
Hair JF Jr, Howard MC, Nitzl C (2020) Assessing measurement model quality in PLS-SEM using confirmatory composite analysis. J Bus Res 109:101–110
Han H, Hsu LTJ, Lee JS, Sheu C (2011) Are lodging customers ready to go green? An examination of attitudes, demographics, and eco-friendly intentions. Int J Hosp Manag 30(2):345–355
Han TI, Stoel L (2017) Explaining socially responsible consumer behavior: a meta-analytic review of theory of planned behavior. J Int Consum Mark 29(2):91–103
Haque A, Patnaik AK, Ali MA (2016) Contribution of tourism sector to Oman’s GDP. Int J Econ Commer Manag 4(7):185–195
Henseler J, Ringle CM, Sarstedt M (2015) A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. J Acad Mark Sci 43(1):115–135
Heung VC, Pun PS (2013) Dimensions of environmentalism: a study of policies and good practices in the Hong Kong Hotel Industry. J China Tour Res 9(1):50–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2013.756770
Indriani IAD, Rahayu M, Hadiwidjojo D (2019) The influence of environmental knowledge on green purchase intention the role of attitude as mediating variable. Int J Multicult Multireligious Underst 6(2):627–635. https://doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v6i2.706
Islam R, Patwary AK (2013) Factors influencing to the policy and strategies used to disabled employment in hospitality industry. Adv Environ Biol 2598–2606
Jaini A, Quoquab F, Mohammad J, Hussin N (2019) Antecedents of green purchase behavior of cosmetics products: an empirical investigation among Malaysian consumers. Int J Ethics Syst 36(2):185–203. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-11-2018-0170
Joshi Y, Rahman Z (2015) Factors affecting green purchase behaviour and future research directions. Int Strateg Manag Rev 3(1–2):128–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ism.2015.04.001
Karatu VMH, Mat NKN (2015) The mediating effects of green trust and perceived behavioural control on the direct determinants of intention to purchase green products in Nigeria. Mediterr J Soc Sci 6(4):256. https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4p256
Kautish P, Sharma R (2019) Value orientation, green attitude and green behavioral intentions: an empirical investigation among young consumers. Young Consum 20(4):338–358. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-11-2018-0881
Khalil ME (2020) Exploring inclusiveness in green hotels for sustainable development in Egypt. Int J Ind Sustain Dev 1(1):15–23. https://doi.org/10.21608/ijisd.2020.73450
Kim HY (2013) Statistical notes for clinical researchers: assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis. Restor Dent Endod 38(1):52–54
Kwon J, Ahn J (2020) Socio-demographic characteristics and green consumption behavior in developing countries: the case of Malaysia. Soc Responsib J. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-02-2020-0071
La Barbera F, Ajzen I (2020) Control interactions in the theory of planned behavior: rethinking the role of subjective norm. Eur J Psychol 16(3):401
Li L, Wu B, Patwary AK (2022) How marine tourism promote financial development in sustainable economy: new evidences from South Asia and implications to future tourism students. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(1):1155–1172
Lowry PB, Gaskin J (2014) Partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) for building and testing behavioral causal theory: when to choose it and how to use it. IEEE Trans Prof Commun 57(2):123–146
Lynch SM (2013) Using statistics in social research. Using Statistics in Social Research: A Concise Approach 1:1–15
MacNeill T, Wozniak D (2018) The economic, social, and environmental impacts of cruise tourism. Tour Manage 66:387–404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.11.002
Mahadevan R, Amir H, Nugroho A (2017) How pro-poor and income equitable are tourism taxation policies in a developing country? Evidence from a computable general equilibrium model. J Travel Res 56(3):334–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287516641781
Mahesh N, Ganapathi R (2012) Influence of consumer’s socio-economic characteristics and attitude on purchase intention of green products. Int J Bus Manag 4(5):33–37. https://doi.org/10.9790/487x-0453337
Mandese J (1991) New study finds green confusion. Advert Age 62(45):1–2
Mansor N, Yahaya SN, Nizam NZ, Aman O (2011) Consumers acceptance towards green technology in automotive industries, (icm). Mark J Bus Ethics 29(3):239–251. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v5n1p27
Mohamad ZZ, Arifin TRT, Samsuri AS, Munir MFMB (2014) Intention to visit green hotel in Malaysia: the impact of personal traits and marketing strategy. Int J Bus Soc Sci 5(7):167–173
Nagle TT, Holden RK (1995) The strategy and tactics of pricing. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Narula SA, Desore A (2016) Framing green consumer behaviour research: opportunities and challenges. Soc Responsib J 12(1):1–22
Nimri R, Patiar A, Kensbock S (2017) A green step forward: Eliciting consumers’ purchasing decisions regarding green hotel accommodation in Australia. J Hosp Tour Manag 33:43–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2017.09.006
Nisar QA, Haider S, Ali F, Jamshed S, Ryu K, Gill SS (2021) Green human resource management practices and environmental performance in Malaysian green hotels: the role of green intellectual capital and pro-environmental behavior. J Clean Prod 127504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127504
Nitzl C, Roldan JL, Cepeda G (2016) Mediation analysis in partial least squares path modeling. Ind Manag Data Syst 116(9):1849–1864. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-07-2015-0302
Nulty DD (2008) The adequacy of response rates to online and paper surveys: what can be done? Assess Eval High Educ 33(3):301–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930701293231
Patwary AK (2022) Examining environmentally responsible behaviour, environmental beliefs and conservation commitment of tourists: a path towards responsible consumption and production in tourism. Environ Sci Pollut Res 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22577-w
Patwary AK, Omar H, Tahir S (2020) A conceptual model of what influences consumers when visiting green hotels in Malaysia. Int J Innov Creat Chang 11(11):11–25
Patwary AK, Omar H, Tahir S (2021) The impact of perceived environmental responsibility on tourists’ intention to visit green hotel: the mediating role of attitude. Geo Journal of Tourism and Geosites 34(1):9–13
Patwary AK, Rasoolimanesh SM, Rabiul MK, Aziz RC, Hanafiah MH (2022) Linking environmental knowledge, environmental responsibility, altruism, and intention toward green hotels through ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag (ahead-of-print)
Podsakoff PM, Organ DW (1986) Self-reports in organizational research: problems and prospects. J Manag 12(4):531–544. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920638601200408
Podsakoff PM, MacKenzie SB, Podsakoff NP (2012) Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annu Rev Psychol 63(1):539–569. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100452
Postma A, Schmuecker D (2017) Understanding and overcoming negative impacts of tourism in city destinations: conceptual model and strategic framework. J Tour Futur. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2017-0022
Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2004) SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behav Res Methods Inst Comp 36(4):717–731. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206553
Rabiul MK, Patwary AK, Panha IM (2022) The role of servant leadership, self-efficacy, high performance work systems, and work engagement in increasing service-oriented behavior. J Hosp Mark Manag 31(4):504–526
Raghubir P, Corfman K (1999) When do price promotions affect pretrial brand evaluations? J Mark Res 26:211–222
Rasoolimanesh SM, Ali F (2018) Partial least squares-structural equation modeling in hospitality and tourism. J Hosp Tour Technol 9(3):238–248
Rasoolimanesh SM, Wang M, Roldán JL, Kunasekaran P (2021) Are we in right path for mediation analysis? Reviewing the literature and proposing robust guidelines. J Hosp Tour Manag 48:395–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.07.013
Rezai G, Teng PK, Mohamed Z, Shamsudin MN (2013) Is it easy to go green? Consumer perception and green concept. Am J Appl Sci 10(8):793–800. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2013.793.800
Rizvi WH, Oney E (2018) The influence of emotional confidence on brand attitude: using brand belief as mediating variable. Econ Res-Ekonomska Istraživanja 31(1):158–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2017.1421993
Roberts JA (1996) Green consumers in the 1990s: profile and implications for advertising. J Bus Res 36(3):217–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/0148-2963(95)00150-6
Sadati SA, Mohammadi Y (2012) Key values influence consumer intention towards organic food in Iran. Res J Appl Sci Eng Technol 4(14):2055–2060
Savita U, Kumar N (2010) Consumer attitude towards environment-friendly products: a comparative analysis. IUP J Mark Manag 9(1&2): 88-98. Available at SSRN : https://ssrn.com/abstract=1598227
Scott CG (1996) Understanding attitude change in developing effective substance abuse prevention programs for adolescents. School Couns 43(3):187–195. Retrieved June 17, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23901877
Serra-Cantallops A, Peña-Miranda DD, Ramón-Cardona J, Martorell-Cunill O (2018) Progress in research on CSR and the hotel industry (2006–2015). Cornell Hosp Q 59(1):15–38
Sofronov B (2018) The development of the travel and tourism industry in the world. Ann Spiru Haret Univ Econ Ser 18(4):123–137
Solomon MR (2010) Consumer behaviour: a European perspective. Pearson Education, London
Sreen N, Purbey S, Sadarangani P (2018) Impact of culture, behavior and gender on green purchase intention. J Retail Consum Serv 41:177–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.12.002
Suki NM, Suki NM, Azman NS (2016) Impacts of corporate social responsibility on the links between green marketing awareness and consumer purchase intentions. Procedia Econ Finan 37:262–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(16)30123-X
Suki NM, Suki NM, Afshan S, Sharif A, Kasim MA, Hanafi SRM (2022) How does green technology innovation affect green growth in ASEAN-6 countries? Evidence from advance panel estimations. Gondwana Research 111:165–173
Teng YM, Wu KS, Liu HH (2015) Integrating altruism and the theory of planned behavior to predict patronage intention of a green hotel. J Hosp Tour Res 39(3):299–315
Thompson R (2012) Environmental magnetism. Springer Science & Business Media, London
Tourism Malaysia (2019) Annual report: Malaysia tourism promotion board. Retrieved from https://www.tourism.gov.my/statistics. Accessed 26 Apr 2022
Verma VK, Chandra B (2018) An application of theory of planned behavior to predict young Indian consumers’ green hotel visit intention. J Clean Prod 172:1152–1162
Wang J, Wang S, Wang Y, Li J, Zhao D (2018) Extending the theory of planned behaviour to understand consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels in the Chinese context. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 30(8):2810–2825. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2017-0223
Wasik J (1992) Green marketing: marketing is confusing, but patience will pay. Mark News 26(21):16–18
Weber F (2019) Demand for sustainable tourism. In Corporate sustainability and responsibility in tourism (pp. 265–281). Springer, Cham
Wood RE, Goodman JS, Beckmann N, Cook A (2008) Mediation testing in management research: a review and proposals. Organ Res Methods 11(2):270–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428106297811
Wu TP, Wu HC (2019) Tourism and economic growth in Asia: a bootstrap multivariate panel Granger causality. Int J Tour Res 21(1):87–96. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2243
Wu B, Liu S, Wang J, Tahir S, Patwary AK (2021) Assessing the mechanism of energy efficiency and energy poverty alleviation based on environmental regulation policy measures. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(30):40858–40870
Yan H, Chai H (2021) Consumers’ intentions towards green hotels in China: an empirical study based on extended norm activation model. Sustainability 13(4):2165. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042165
Yarimoglu E, Gunay T (2020) The extended theory of planned behavior in Turkish customers’ intentions to visit green hotels. Bus Strateg Environ 29(3):1097–1108
Zainuddin MF, Riazi SRM, Rashid ZZA, Nawi MNM (2018) Hotel’s consumer attitude about ecology and perception of the green hotel. Ekoloji Dergisi 10(1):106–119
Zhao X, Lynch JG, Chen Q (2010) Reconsidering baron and Kenny: myths and truths about mediation analysis. J Consum Res 37(2):197–206. https://doi.org/10.1086/651257
Funding
This research was funded by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The following is the code of the research grant: FRGS/1/2022/SS02/UMK/03/3.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ataul Karim Patwary: conceptualization, idea generation and final review, data analysis, and discussion. Roslizawati Che Aziz: literature review and editing. Nik Alif Amri Nik Hashim: methodology, literature review, data screening, and coding.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval and consent to participate
N/A.
Consent for publication
We do not have any individual person’s data in any form.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Patwary, A.K., Aziz, R.C. & Hashim, N.A.A.N. Investigating tourists’ intention toward green hotels in Malaysia: a direction on tourist sustainable consumption. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 38500–38511 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24946-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24946-x