| The purpose of this research is to develop a theory for explaining the choice of green hotels in Thailand among the country’s two main tourist groups:Thai domestic tourists and inbound Chinese tourists.The study takes place in the context of growing interest in and provision for environmentally sustainable tourism in Thailand.A big part of this is ’green’accommodation services such as green hotels,which meet consumer demand for sustainability through their facilities,services and processes.Although interest in green hotels,along with other sustainable tourism services,is rising in Asia,especially in Thailand,there is limited evidence on what factors influence individual tourist choice of a green hotel.Chapter 1 further explains the background and rationale for the research.The objectives of the research were formulated following the literature review(Chapter 2),which identified these clusters of factors as relevant to the formation of visit intention and their likely effects.The objectives of the study included:(Ⅰ)examining Chinese and Thai consumer visit intentions for green hotels;examining the effect of(Ⅱ)psychological values,(Ⅲ)hotel attributes and(Ⅳ)culture on attitudes to green hotels and intention to visit;and(v)evaluating moral reflectiveness within the relationships of psychological values,hotel attributes and culture,attitude toward green hotels and intention to visit green hotels.The theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the study(presented in Chapter 3)were developed based on previous research into consumer choice and decision processes.Theories that were drawn on to develop the conceptual framework include the theory of planned behaviour(TPB)(Ajzen,1991),the customer value hierarchy(Woodruff,1997),the cultural dimensions model(Hofstede,Hofstede and Minkov,2010).These theoretical models were then expanded on by inclusion of empirical evidence from previous studies on green consumption,particularly green hotel choice,to develop the conceptual framework.The conceptual framework is based mainly on the attitude-intention causal structure of the TPB(as well as other attitude-intention and attitude-behaviour models).It proposes as Hypothesis 1 that psychological values(environmental concern,environmental knowledge,environmental awareness and environmental belief)had an influence on formation of attitudes toward green hotels.Hypothesis 2 states that hotel attributes(staff knowledge of green practices,service quality,green equipment and facilities,and hotel innovativeness)influence attitudes toward green hotels.Hypothesis 3 argues that culture(openness to change,conservation,self-transcendence and self-enhancement)influence attitudes toward green hotels.Hypothesis 4 argues that attitude toward green hotels influences future visit intention for green hotels.The conceptual framework expands the TPB in Hypotheses 5 through 8,which argue that moral reflectiveness plays a mediating role in the relationships tested above.The methodology of the study,explained in Chapter 4,used a mono-method crosssectional descriptive research design.It deployed a questionnaire-based survey to collect data from samples of Chinese inbound tourists(n=329)and Thai domestic tourists(n=306).The questionnaire collected demographic and behavioural data as well as data about attitudes,intentions and moral reflectiveness.Data was analysed in the SPSS AMOS extension pack.Analysis included descriptive statistics for trend and segmentation analysis,followed by a structural equation modelling(SEM)analysis in order to test the hypotheses.Findings of the demographic segmentation analysis showed that the Chinese target market for green hotels was aged 20 to 39,predominantly female,highly educated(Bachelor’s level and above)and high-income.However,there was no significant difference in future visit intention for green hotels between first-time and experienced green hotel guests.In the Thai subsample,the target market was aged 30 to 59,highly educated and high income,but there was no significant difference by gender.Unlike the Chinese subsample,experienced green hotel guests did have a significantly higher future visit intention than firsttime guests.Hypothesis testing deployed SEM techniques including confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)and path analysis.The analysis showed that in both groups,psychological values,hotel attributes and culture had a significant effect on attitudes toward green hotels.Psychological values had the weakest effect in both samples,while culture had the strongest effect in both samples.Attitude toward green hotels had a significant but only moderately strong effect on visit intention for green hotels in both cases.Therefore,Hypotheses 1 through 4 were accepted for both Chinese and Thai groups.The effect of moral reflectiveness on visit intention for green hotels was stronger than that of attitude toward green hotels.Furthermore,moral reflectiveness was shown to mediate the effect of psychological values,hotel attributes,culture and attitudes toward green hotels on the visit intention for green hotels.The effect sizes were similar for both groups.Therefore,Hypotheses 5 through 8 were also accepted.The conclusion of this research is two-fold.First,the attitude-behavioural model of consumer decision making held in both the Chinese and Thai consumer group for the choice of a green hotel in Thailand.There are several theoretical and practical implications associated with this conclusion.Many of the practical implications are for hotel managers and policymakers,who can use these findings in their marketing campaigns.A theoretical implication is that the cultural values model can be used to investigate differences in environmental attitude and consumption practice.Second,moral reflectiveness does act as an intervening variable within this decision.The implication of this conclusion is that moral reflectiveness could be part of the explanation for the attitude-behaviour gap that is frequently observed in green consumer contexts.To date,there is no satisfactory explanation for this gap,despite more than a decade of research and its prevalence in green consumer research.Therefore,this finding is one of the main novel findings of the study,along with the effects of culture on attitudes and visit intention.The study does have some limitations,including methodological limitations and cultural specificity of the findings.However,the findings do lead to opportunities for further research,especially surrounding moral reflectiveness and its value for understanding the attitude-behaviour gap of green consumption. |
PDF Full Text Request