Guests’ pro-environmental decision-making process: Broadening the norm activation framework in a lodging context

• Published in: International journal of hospitality management 2015-05, Vol.47, p.96-107
• Main Authors: Han, Heesup, Hwang, Jinsoo, Kim, Joohyun, Jung, Heekyoung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Environmentally responsible hotel; Moral norm; Norm Activation Model (NAM); Pro-environmental behavior
• ISSN: 0278-4319; 1873-4693
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.03.013

This study sought to provide a clear understanding of hotel guests’ post-purchase decision-making process, and whether it occurred in an environmentally responsible manner. Volitional, emotional, experiential, and habitual processes imperative in pro-social/pro-environmental consumer behavior were successfully integrated into the Norm Activation Model (NAM). Results of the structural model and metric-invariance test with 316 samples gathered via an online survey indicated that the extended norm activation framework comprising such important processes and interpretation of the NAM as a sequential model was more effective in predicting guests’ pro-environmental intention than the original NAM and the rival model, which offered an alternative interpretation of the NAM (moderator model). Additionally, the prominent role of moral norm was evident; this personal obligation served to mediate the proposed theoretical framework. Our results also generally supported hypothesized associations among study constructs. Our theoretical model provided a sufficient level of prediction power for guests’ pro-environmental intentions.