Environmental Communication as a Mediator in the Relationship between Environmental Concern and Attitude Towards Green Services in a Sequential Mediation Model: Evidences from Restaurant Industry

Abstract

Tourism is a major economic activity of a nation but also contributes to about 5% of global emissions. Hospitality industry, a major arm of tourism industry, has initiated several measures for green sustainable practices. This research aims to understand the linkages between an altruistic mindset, environmental concern, environmental communication, green service attitude, and behavioural intentions through a sequential moderation model in the restaurant industry.

A literature review was done to understand the theoretical construct of the proposed model and extant research for last 30 years to develop the consumer behaviour model. A modified model of Theory of Planned Behaviour was chosen as the base theory and through a review of the extant literature, a hypothetical model was created. A covariance-based structural equation model (CB SEM) was created to test the strength of relationships across the variables. The findings indicate that consumer environmental concern do not directly lead to positive attitude towards green services until it is mediated by environmental communication. This finding will help the green restaurants to adequately design suitable communication strategies to increase consumer awareness, positive attitudes and pro-environmental behavioural intentions.