Going green: an application of personal value theory to understand consumers visiting intention toward green hotels in Pakistan

Purpose: Personal values, ascribed responsibility and green self-identity (GSI) have been analyzed separately for a long time, but a more in-depth investigation is required on the relationships between these variables and their combined effects on consumers' visiting intention toward green hotels. Thus, this study aims to draw on Schwartz's (1992) personal values framework and ascribed responsibility. It expands the Schwartz personal values framework by incorporating GSI as a moderator to understanding consumers' visiting intention toward green hotels. Design/methodology/approach: Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to analyze 387 responses collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire from hotel consumers in Pakistan. Findings: The findings revealed that ascribed responsibility and self-transcendence values were significant factors in predicting consumers' intention toward green hotels. Moreover, GSI significantly moderated between self-conservation values, self-transcendence values and attitude. However, the association between self-conservation values and attitude was found insignificant. Practical implications: This study can assist hotel management in planning and implementing efficient hotel marketing strategies. Hospitality marketers should heed attention to self-transcendence values, ascribed responsibility and stress on using these aspects to sustain green hotels' adoption. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature on the antecedents of consumers' visiting intention toward green hotels by expanding the Schwartz personal values framework by adding ascribed responsibility. Further, the authors incorporated GSI as a moderator to understand consumers' visiting intentions toward green hotels in Pakistan.