Investigating Greek Consumers’ Intentions Toward Green Hotels: An Application of an Extended “Values Beliefs Norms” Model

The current study investigates consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels, as well as the factors that may affect them. Specifically, a search of secondary and primary data is carried out. The review of the related literature highlights two basic theoretical models that have been adopted in the investigation of consumer behavior, regarding the choice of green hotels: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Values Beliefs Norms (VBN) Theory. Taking into account that there is a gap in our country's research in the field of consumer behavior regarding the choice of green hotels, in this primary research, an attempt is made to fill this gap by adopting the VBN Theory. The factors influencing consumers’ intentions are biospheric values, the awareness of the consequences that human actions have on the environment, the ascription of responsibility for these actions, and the personal norms that each consumer has. In addition to this theoretical model, three factors have been added: green trust, which is shown by consumers in the hotel commitments to the environmental practices they follow, environmental friendly activities they apply in their daily lives, and the willingness to pay a premium price to visit green hotels. For this purpose, a sample of 201 respondents was used, through a structured online questionnaire. The results of the data analysis showed that the inhabitants of Thessaloniki Regional Unit have high biospheric values and a strong awareness of the consequences of their actions in the destruction of the environment. However, they show medium results in taking personal responsibility for the protection of the environment and the formulation of personal norms of moral obligation to contribute to its protection. Inductive analysis proved statistically significant correlations and regression equations between all pairs of variables in the theoretical model chain. The additional variables also seem to affect, to some extent, the intentions of staying in green hotels.