The Effect of Brand Experience on Eco-Friendly Behavior: An Application of the Stimulus–Organism–Response Framework

Although many studies have examined the effect of informational signage for green practices on eco-friendly behavior, limited research has explored the psychological mechanism of customers’ green decisions resulting from their hotel brand experience. It is important to know the effect of brand experience on customers’ green decisions within the green hotel context to understand customers’ subjective and behavior responses induced by brand-related stimuli. Thus, this study discusses how green hotel experiences lead customer eco-friendly behavior based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework. Study 1 aims to examine the potential predictors of customers’ eco-friendly behavior based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework. PLS-SEM was used to tests the hypotheses using a sample of 217 green hotel customers. The results reveal that brand experience and customer inspiration significantly affect eco-friendly behavior. Further, the results show customer inspiration significantly mediates the relationship between green hotel brand experience and eco-friendly behavior. This study clearly shows the relationship among green hotel brand experience, customer inspiration, and eco-friendly behavior. Thus, this article contributes to exiting hospitality studies by identifying gaps and proposing a holistic view to understand customers’ eco-friendly behavior in the green hotel industry. Study 2 examines the mediating role of customer inspiration and moderating role of Openness to experience in the relationship between brand experience and eco-friendly behavior based on Stimulus-Organism-Response framework. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. PLS-SEM tests the hypotheses using a sample of 223 green hotel customers. The results reveal that brand experience has a significant effect on eco-friendly behavior through inspiration. Further, the results show that Openness to experience does not moderate the relationship between green hotel brand experience and eco-friendly behavior. This study clearly shows the relationship among green hotel brand experience, customer inspiration, and eco-friendly behavior. These findings can help marketers and researchers improve their understanding of the decision-making processes of green hotel customers. The findings of this study indicate that green hotel’s brand experience considerably influences environment-friendly behavior through the mediating role of hotel guests’ inspiration. Green hotel managers need to find the sources that evoke customer inspiration by utilizing diverse experiential factors, such as sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual. For example, practitioners can provide attractive sensory cues to increase customer inspiration. Additionally, hotel managers may imply technology devices to provide unique behavioral or intellectual experience to hotel customers while staying at hotel and increasing inspiration status. The findings of this study also suggest practitioners that personality does not have a significant relationship with customer inspiration and eco-friendly behavior. Thus, instead of focusing on customers’ personality trait, hotel marketers may want to provide innovative external stimuli, such as virtual reality experiences, to increase customers’ inspiration because the effect of customer experience on inspiration and green-related behavior is significant regardless of the type of an individual’s personality.