When hospitality brands go green: the role of authenticity and stereotypes in building customer-green brand relationships

Abstract

Drawing on the logic behind customer-brand relationships, this study presents a model outlining the role of brand authenticity in the context of green hospitality brands. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 352 Korean consumers who visited green hospitality premises. The results indicated that functional qualities and stakeholder involvement are essential to building perceived green brand authenticity. The study supported that an authentic green brand is instrumental in increasing customer beliefs about its warmth and competence. Surprisingly, the results showed that evaluating a green brand as warm is the key to building green brand trust, while found a non-significant influence of green brand competence on green brand trust. This study also provided evidence that when green brand trust is formed, its effect on both green brand love and green brand identification is noticeable, which then translates into green brand choice. Overall, this study enriches the significance of the perception of green brand authenticity in fostering a favorable relationship between customers and green brands. In green brand management, brand stereotypes play a dual role in the brand choice formation. Furthermore, contextually induced green stimuli, which include operations, employee behavior, and customer engagement, are required to influence customer perception of green brand authenticity.

Keywords:

• Green brand authenticity
• green brand stereotypes
• customer relationship management
• environmentally responsible brand

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bee-Lia Chua

Bee-Lia Chua is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Service and Management at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her research interests include hospitality and tourism marketing.

Seongseop (Sam) Kim

Seongseop (Sam) Kim is a Professor in the School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has research interests in tourism destination marketing, tourism impacts, and event/convention.

Nancy Grace Baah

Ms Nancy Grace Baah is a current PhD student, School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has research interests in development of sustainable consumption value model and sustainable consumer behavior.

Hyoungeun Moon

Hyoungeun Gemmy Moon is an Assistant Professor in the College of Business Administration, Keimyung University. Her research interests include destination development, traveler behaviors, and hospitality and tourism marketing.

Jongsik Yu

Jongsik Yu is an Assistant Professor in the College of Business Division of Tourism and Hotel Management, Cheongju University. His research interests include hotel management, hospitality operation management, consumer behavior, and hospitality marketing.

Heesup Han

Heesup Han is a Professor in the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Sejong University, Korea. His research interests include sustainable tourism, green hotel, cruise, airline, medical tourism, digital currency, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and hospitality and tourism marketing. Heesup Han is a 2019, 2020, and 2021 highly cited researcher (HCR) of the world in social science (identified by the Web of Science Group - Clarivate).