IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i16p12199-d1213875.html

Green and Environmental Marketing Strategies and Ethical Consumption: Evidence from the Tourism Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Abdelmohsen A. Nassani

    (Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, P.O. Box 71115, Riyadh 11587, Saudi Arabia)

  • Zahid Yousaf

    (Higher Education Department, Government College of Management Sciences, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan)

  • Adriana Grigorescu

    (Department of Public Management, Faculty of Public Administration, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Expozitiei Boulevard, 30A, 012104 Bucharest, Romania
    Academy of Romanian Scientists, Ilfov Street, 3, 050094 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Alexandra Popa

    (Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economic Science, Ovidius University of Constanța, Mamaia Boulevard, 124, 900527 Constanta, Romania)

Abstract

Sustainable business in the hospitality sector should be designed and restructured to offer services meant to satisfy the customers aware of the ethical behavior toward environment. Green environmental marketing strategies (GES) are based on the desire of the customers to access hospitality services with zero or a less negative impact with the adaptation of greening activities. Therefore, this research aims to explore the direct effects of green environmental strategies on ethical consumption and the indirect influence of green marketing and its mediating effect between green environmental strategies and ethical consumption links. Additionally, this research also reveals that psychological aspects play the moderating role in the relationship between GES and ethical consumption. The data were collected from a sample of 545 respondents with the support of Saudi tourism companies, and a structural equation model was used to process them. The findings confirm the positive relationship between green environmental strategy and ethical consumption. The outcomes also corroborate that green marketing is interplaying between green environmental strategy and ethical consumption. In addition, this study validates that psychological aspects strengthen the link between GES and ethical consumption. This study adds to the knowledge in the literature through emphasizing the crucial role of psychological factors in improving green environmental strategies and developing ethical consumption habits among members to increase ethical consumption among tourism companies. The findings support companies from the hospitality sector implementing green sustainable services, to stimulate ethical consumption and to use their competitive advantage in green marketing strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdelmohsen A. Nassani & Zahid Yousaf & Adriana Grigorescu & Alexandra Popa, 2023. "Green and Environmental Marketing Strategies and Ethical Consumption: Evidence from the Tourism Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-13, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12199-:d:1213875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12199/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12199/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gergely Nyilasy & Harsha Gangadharbatla & Angela Paladino, 2014. "Perceived Greenwashing: The Interactive Effects of Green Advertising and Corporate Environmental Performance on Consumer Reactions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 693-707, December.
    2. Tan, Teck Ming & Makkonen, Hannu & Kaur, Puneet & Salo, Jari, 2022. "How do ethical consumers utilize sharing economy platforms as part of their sustainable resale behavior? The role of consumers’ green consumption values," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    3. Sapana Doshi, 2019. "Greening Displacements, Displacing Green: Environmental Subjectivity, Slum Clearance, and the Embodied Political Ecologies of Dispossession in Mumbai," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 112-132, January.
    4. Zhao-Hong Cheng & Chun-Tuan Chang & Yu-Kang Lee, 2020. "Linking hedonic and utilitarian shopping values to consumer skepticism and green consumption: the roles of environmental involvement and locus of control," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 61-85, February.
    5. Jeffery Bray & Nick Johns & David Kilburn, 2011. "An Exploratory Study into the Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(4), pages 597-608, February.
    6. Anupam Kumar Das & Shetu Ranjan Biswas & Munshi Muhammad Abdul Kader Jilani & Md. Aftab Uddin, 2019. "Corporate Environmental Strategy and Voluntary Environmental Behavior—Mediating Effect of Psychological Green Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Yanyan Chen & Dirk C. Moosmayer, 2020. "When Guilt is Not Enough: Interdependent Self-Construal as Moderator of the Relationship Between Guilt and Ethical Consumption in a Confucian Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 551-572, January.
    8. Szerena Szabo & Jane Webster, 2021. "Perceived Greenwashing: The Effects of Green Marketing on Environmental and Product Perceptions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 719-739, July.
    9. Henri Kuokkanen & William Sun, 2020. "Companies, Meet Ethical Consumers: Strategic CSR Management to Impact Consumer Choice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 403-423, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xuejiao Ma & Xiaojun Ma & Wei Fei & Qichuan Jiang & Yiwei Zhang, 2026. "Stop Where it Should Stop: Board Faultlines, Stakeholder Supervision and Greenwashing Behaviors of Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 203(2), pages 313-340, January.
    2. Shiu-Li Huang & Yu-Ren Leau, 2024. "Understanding How Consumers’ Perceived Sustainability Influences Their Continuance Intention to Use Sharing Economy Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Yin, Lei & Yang, Yuanyuan, 2024. "How does digital finance influence corporate greenwashing behavior?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 359-373.
    4. Santa, Juana Castro & Drews, Stefan, 2023. "Heuristic processing of green advertising: Review and policy implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    5. Sajid, Muhammed & Zakkariya, K.A. & Suki, Norazah Mohd & Islam, Jamid Ul, 2024. "When going green goes wrong: The effects of greenwashing on brand avoidance and negative word-of-mouth," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Hu, Xinwen & Hua, Renhai & Liu, Qingfu & Wang, Chuanjie, 2023. "The green fog: Environmental rating disagreement and corporate greenwashing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Cheng, Zhonghua & Yan, Xueqin, 2025. "Environmental management system certification and corporate ESG greenwashing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    8. Jiacai Xiong & Linghong Chen & Yushu Zhu & Thomas Maak, 2026. "Social Trust and Corporate Greenwashing: Insights from China's Pilot Social Credit Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 204(4), pages 855-883, April.
    9. Ioannis Ioannou & George Kassinis & Giorgos Papagiannakis, 2023. "The Impact of Perceived Greenwashing on Customer Satisfaction and the Contingent Role of Capability Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 333-347, June.
    10. Xiang, Yilin & Chen, Lu & Zhang, Zhenya & Sun, Xinyu, 2024. "Does perceived greenwashing promote or inhibit ethical voice? Effects of moral disengagement and perceived competitive pressure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    11. Robyn McCormack & Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2024. "Moral disengagement and neutralization techniques as explanations of unethical behavior," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 630-662, June.
    12. Huang, Chongle & Hao, Simin & Ma, Limei, 2025. "The impact of ESG advantages on the economic development of neighboring regions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    13. Tran Thu Thao & Le Thi Phuong Linh & Nguyen Quoc Cuong, 2025. "The Relationship Between Green Advertising Receptivity, Green Brand Image, Perceived Brand Authenticity and Perceived Greenwashing on Green Purchase Intention," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, October.
    14. Xuanhao Hu & Ziyang Yu & Hong Fan & Junbin Wan, 2025. "How GDP Manipulation by Local Government Affects Corporate Greenwashing in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-23, April.
    15. Liao, Feimei & Sun, Yinghao & Xu, Shulin, 2023. "Financial report comment letters and greenwashing in environmental, social and governance disclosures: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    16. Srisathan, Wutthiya Aekthanate & Naruetharadhol, Phaninee, 2025. "Exploring moral hazard and adverse selection in the context of greenwashing and organic product consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Peng Hu & Xuming Li & Nian Li & Yiying Wang & Derek D. Wang, 2024. "Peeking into Corporate Greenwashing through the Readability of ESG Disclosures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-23, March.
    18. Felix Schläpfer & Adriana Garibay & Stefan Ryf, 2025. "‘They Only Get the Feed That Grows on Our Farm’: A Survey Experiment on Government-Subsidized Greenwashing of Swiss Meat and Agricultural Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-29, January.
    19. Athanasios Polyportis & Lise Magnier & Ruth Mugge, 2023. "Guidelines to Foster Consumer Acceptance of Products Made from Recycled Plastics," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 939-952, June.
    20. Carlos Ignacio Gallo Aguila & María del Pilar Castro Arellano & Marco Antonio Rodríguez Vega & Eliana Maritza Barturen Mondragón & María del Pilar Quezada Castro & Guillermo Alexander Quezada Cast, 2024. "Trends in Scientific Production on Greenwashing based on Scopus (1990-2023)," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(4), pages 464-471, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12199-:d:1213875. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.