Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 16, No. 1, 2024 199 Predictors of Consumer Purchase Intention Toward Green Hotels in China: The Moderating Role of Generation Y&Z Weina Ma 1, 2, a, *, Yongsee Chen 2, b 1 Graduate School of Hospitality Management, Hospitality Institute of Sanya, Haitang 572000, Sanya, China 2 Graduate School of Business, SEGI University, Petaling Jaya 47810, Selangor, Malaysia a SUKD2001475@segi4u.my, b yongseechen@segi.edu.my Abstract: This study aims to explore consumer purchase intention toward green hotels in China amidst increasing environmental concerns in the hospitality sector, with a specific focus on the moderating influence of Generation Y and Generation Z. Grounded in Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior, it examines how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived value, and trust influence consumer behavior in sustainable tourism. Utilizing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) on data collected from 357 respondents in Sanya City, Hainan Province, findings reveal significant impacts of attitudes, trust, and perceived value on green hotel preferences. Generation Z demonstrates stronger moderating effects compared to Generation Y. The study contributes theoretical insights into consumer behavior across generational cohorts, suggesting tailored green marketing strategies to engage diverse consumer segments effectively. Limitations include regional specificity and opportunities for future research on broader demographic influences. Keywords: Purchase intention, Generation, Attitude, Perceived value, Trust. 1. Introduction In recent decades, there has been a gradual increase in worries about the environment (Kalafatis, Pollard, East, & Tsogas,1999; Laroche, Bergeron, & Barbaro-Forleo, 2001). The environmental impact of hotel operations is substantial, especially in the post-Covid-19 pandemic future, where consumers’ desire to travel increases and demand for tourist accommodation picks up, the environmental impact of the hotel industry will become considerable (Binggeli et al., 2020). As such, in the growing environmentally aware market, hoteliers are becoming more aware of the environmental effects of their business operations. Marketers and managers in different kinds of accommodation businesses become increasingly proactive in adopting green practices and implementing environmental programs and initiatives (Brown, 1996; Chan & Wong, 2006).Consumers are also starting to recognize that their buying behavior is intimately tied to environmental concerns and are beginning to seek out hotels that follow eco-friendly practices (Laroche et al., 2001; APAT, 2002; Manaktola and Jauhari, 2007).According to market data, 71% of global tourists choose eco-friendly accommodations (TripAdvisor, 2015). Although, in the accommodation industry, several studies have been conducted to understand the green hotel patronage intentions, willingness to pay for green hotels, but little research has focused on hotel consumers’ purchase intention when selecting a green hotel. However, previous research samples mostly targeted the general citizens and did not target specific groups. Given this, in this study, the moderating variable of generation will be introduced to compare whether Generation Y and Generation Z have different purchase intentions for green hotels, while considering attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived value and trust factors, will provide further insight into consumer purchase intention towards green hotels, thereby helping hotel managers better understand their behaviors, which is essential for the development of green marketing and service strategies. Overall, this study uses Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the theoretical framework. While trying to understand the relationship between the attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived value, trust and consumer purchase intention towords green hotels in China and the moderating role of generation Y&Z. Although many Chinese hotels have taken some actions to protect the environment, these protective actions are largely enforced by the government or driven by companies out of social responsibility (Zientara and Zamojska, 2018). No study has attempted to support environmentally friendly behaviors in Chinese hotels by demonstrating whether domestic consumers are willing to choose green hotels. Based on this research gap, this study aims to fill this information gap by investigating the predictors of Chinese consumers' purchase intention for green hotels and the moderating role of Generation Y and Z. It enriches the effectiveness of the theory of planned behavior to explain Chinese consumers' green purchase intention towards green hotel selection, especially providing some new insights into consumers' green purchase intention towards green hotel selection from an Asian perspective. At the same time, it also provides a reference for hotel managers to formulate hotel green marketing strategies. 2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development Since the framework of this study is an expansion of the theory of planned behavior, it is essential to review the literature on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). This study aims to discover Gen Y & Gen Z as moderators to understand the difference in purchase intention of the two generations to green hotels. Therefore, reviewed the relevant literature on 200 Gen Y & Gen Z two generations. People of different generations have always been an important tool to explain behavioral differences. Then, based on the TPB theory, a literature review was conducted on the critical variables proposed in this study that affect green hotel purchase intention. 2.1. Theory of Planed Behavior TPB has gained widespread acceptance in research for predicting individuals' intentions and particular behaviors. TPB was established by Ajzen (1991) by adding a new element of perceived behavioral control to the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). According to the TPB, consumer purchase intention can be predicted by the consumers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Sheeran et al., 2003). Despite its prominence in studying human behavior, it has recently been criticized for being impractical in longitudinal research (Sniehotta et al., 2014). Moreover, this theory failed to account for several crucial elements that have since been identified as influential determinants of human behavior (Yazdanpanah & Forouzani, 2015), such as perceived value and trust. Consequently, this research expands the TPB theory by including perceived value and trust elements. 2.2. Purchase Intention The concept of purchase intention was first introduced by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), who defined it as an individual's resolve to engage in certain conduct (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Purchase intention is a widely used notion in the field of marketing. The significance stems from the fact that intentions are regarded as the primary determinant of actual behavior (Montano & Kasprzyk, 2015), so studying them is crucial for the success of any organization. In this study, consumer purchase intention refers to an individual's knowledge and recognition of environmental sustainability and their strong inclination toward choosing green companies, products, or services (Mas'od & Chin, 2014). 2.3. Attitude In the theory of TPB, attitude is the first variable of purchase intention. Attitude is crucial in determining purchase intention since it dramatically influences consumers' psychological assessment of a product. Han and Yoon (2015) discovered a favorable correlation between individuals' attitudes toward sustainable consumption and their hotel booking propensity. Shehawy et al. (2024) conducted a study and found that consumers' attitude strongly influences their intention to book green hotels favorably. Furthermore, Mohamad et al. (2014) have substantiated the correlation between attitude and intention to visit green hotel. Previous studies have shown that consumers are generating purchase intentions towards green hotels through positive attitudes (Wang et al., 2019; Chairunnisa & Perdhana, 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Hence, the following hypothesis is proposed: Ha1: Attitude has s significant influence on consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. 2.4. Subjective Norm The subjective norm is the TPB model's second determinant variable of purchase intention. Subjective norms are individual's perceptions about social acceptance of a contemplated action, both in the reference group and wider society (Ajzen, 1991). Because subjective norms are consumers’ feelings and moral obligations. Therefore, it can be a powerful motivator for pro-environmental behavior (Chen & Chai, 2010). Prior studies revealed that subjective norm significantly drive consumer purchase intentions towards green hotels (Wang et al., 2019). Therefore, this study hypothesizes that: Ha2: Subjective norm has s significant influence on consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. 2.5. Perceived Behavior Control Perceived behavioral control refers to an individual's subjective assessment of the level of ease or difficulty associated with engaging in a certain behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Perceived behavioral control consists of two components, one is Self-efficacy, which is an individual's subjective perception of their confidence and level of comfort in doing a certain behavior. Another component is controllability, which refers to an individual's impression of the extent to which their behavior is completely under their control. In this connection, this study hypothesized that: Ha3: Perceived behavior control has s significant influence on consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. 2.6. Perceived Value Perceived value refers to a consumer's comprehensive assessment of the net advantages of a product or service, based on their evaluation (Bolton & Drew, 1991; Patterson and Spreng, 1997). Since environmental awareness is more common today, combined with the research background of this study, perceived value is defined as consumers' overall evaluation of the net advantage of a product or service, taking into account the consumer's environmental preferences, sustainable expectations, and green requirements. Several previous literature found a positive relationship between perceived value and purchase intention (Kim et al., 2008; Shukla et al., 2022). Researchers indicated that green perceived value can have a significant positive impact on consumers' green purchase intention (Chen & Chang, 2012; Dhewi et al., 2018; Antonius, 2019; Chen et al., 2021). Therefore, from the previous literature, the following hypotheses are proposed: Ha4: Perceived value has s significant influence on consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. 2.7. Trust Trust is a crucial factor that influences consumer purchases of green hotels. Trust is defined as the inclination of a person to engage with others in transactions based on their belief in the reliability and integrity of the other parties involved. However, the objective of this study is to investigate the willingness of consumers to accept the risks associated with trusting green hotels, despite the potential uncertainties related to security, privacy, and the absence of in-person encounters with green hotels. The previous studies indicated that consumers are creating intentions to purchase through trust (Kamtarin, 2012; Wang et al., 2018; Nikbin, Aramo & Iranmanesh; 2022). Octarina et al. (2019) and Chairunnisa and Perdhana (2020) also found that green trust is positively related to consumer purchase intention to green hotels. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that: Ha5: Trust has s significant influence on consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. 201 2.8. Generation Y&Z Prior research has used Gen Y and Gen Z as moderators to elucidate the disparities in the viewpoints of these two generations. Generation Y, sometimes called "millennials," includes those born from 1965 to 1980 (Jean, 2018). Gen Z, often known as Generation Z, encompasses those born between 1981 and 1996 (Jonathan, 2019). The main objective of selecting Gen Y & Z as moderators is to comprehend the substantial disparity in their inclination toward purchasing environmentally friendly hotels (Windasari et al., 2022; Yasri et al., 2020). The purchase of green hotels may be influenced by behavioral alterations in the consumer's generation gap, which may affect the attributes that favor such purchases (Migliore et al., 2021; Vladimirova et al., 2022). Hence, this study hypothesizes that: Ha6a: Generation Y&Z will moderate the relationship between attitude and consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. Ha6b: Generation Y&Z will moderate the relationship between subjective norm and consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. Ha6c: Generation Y&Z will moderate the relationship between perceived behavior control and consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. Ha6d: Generation Y&Z will moderate the relationship between perceived value and consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. Ha6e: Generation Y&Z will moderate the relationship between trust and consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. 2.9. Research Model Based on the literature review, the research framework is developed as shown in Figure 1. The framework shows that the adoption factors, such as consumers’ attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived value and trust, have a significant influence on consumer purchase intention towards green hotels. Additionally, the framework incorporates moderating variables related to Generation Y&Z. Figure 1. Research Framework. 3. Methodology 3.1. Sampling and Procedure This study adopted a non-probability sampling method. Obtaining an accurate sampling frame from organizations and corporations and identifying suitable respondents to answer the study question is often challenging for social science researchers (Saunders et al., 2011). For these reasons, Non- probability sampling is a technique researchers use to pick samples based on their subjective assessment. In addition, the purposive sampling technique was used to gather samples because it enables the researcher to exercise judgment in picking the most suitable instances and enables respondents to answer the researchers' inquiries (Hair et al., 2010). A survey questionnaire was developed to test the hypotheses in this study. Prior to the formal questionnaire, a pre-test was conducted with a diverse sample of 30 consumers from various sociolect-demographic backgrounds associated with Chinese green hotels. Additionally, two university professors specializing in tourism marketing, reviewed the questionnaire. To ensure linguistic consistency, a language instructor translated the survey into both Chinese and English versions. The sample has been collected from 39 green hotel consumers in Sanya City, Hainan Province, as it is a tourist city which has been named the first zore waste cities in China (Ma et al.). In the survey, more than 400 respondents were administered with the questionnaire. The data received was valid with 357 responses. Table 1 summarizes the demographic profile of the respondents. Among the respondents, there were 163 males and 169 females. Furthermore, 148 participants belonged to generation Y, while 184 participants were from generation Z. 3.2. Measurement Scale The survey's self-administered questionnaire is partitioned into 8 sections that starts with Section A (Respondents Demographic Profile), Section B (Attitude), Section C (Subjective Norm), Section D (Perceived Behavior Control), Section E (Perceived Value), Section F (Trust) and Section G (Customer Purchase Intention). The Likert 5-point scale (ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree) was used to survey all questions in this study. The 27 items in this study all used mature measurement scales previously validated in the literature, to suit the context of study. The measures for attitude, perceived behavioral control and purchase intention toward green hotels were obtained from 202 Han et al. (2010). For subjective norms items were adopted based on Kassem, (2003). The measures used to assess perceived value were developed from the research conducted by Dodds et. al. (1991). The trust measurement scale obtained from Elena et. al. (2000). The scale used to assess the intention to acquire green hotels is adapted from the research conducted by Dodds et. al. (1991). Table 1 displays the adapted measurement scales and their respective sources. Table 1. Measurement scales. Constructs Measurement Items and Description Sources Attitude (AT) AT1 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is good. Han et al. (2010) AT2 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is desirable. AT3 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is pleasant. AT4 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is wise. AT5 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is favorable. AT6 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is enjoyable. AT7 For me staying at a green hotel when traveling is positive. Subjective Norm (SN) SN1 Most people who are important to me think I should book a green hotel while traveling. Kassem, (2003) SN2 Most people who are important to me would want me to book a green hotel while traveling. SN3 People whose opinions I value would prefer that I a green hotel when traveling. Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) PBC1 Whether or not I stay at a green hotel when traveling is completely up to me. Han et al. (2010) PBC2 I am confident that if I want, I can stay at a green hotel when traveling. PBC3 I have resources, time, and opportunities to stay at a green hotel when traveling. Perceived Value (PV) PV1 Green hotels are very good value for the money Dodds et. al. (1991) PV2 At the price shown the green hotels are very economical. PV3 Green hotels are considered to be a good buy. PV4 The price shown for the green hotels are very acceptable. PV5 Green hotels appear to be a bargain. Trust (TR) TR1 Green hotels will offer me a constant quality level Elena et. al. (2000) TR2 Green hotels will help me to solve any problem I could have with the products. TR3 Green hotels will offer me new products I may need. TR4 Green hotels will be interested in my satisfaction. TR5 Green hotels will value me as a consumer of its product. TR6 Green hotels will offer me recommendations and advices on how to make the most of its product. Purchase Intention (PI) PI1 I am willing to stay at a green hotel when traveling Han et al. (2010) PI2 I plan to stay at a green hotel when traveling PI3 I will make an effort to stay at a green hotel when traveling 4. Data Analysis and Result This study using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess the anticipated relationship between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived value, trust, and customer purchase intention with Smart PLS 4.0 statistical software [79]. 4.1. Respondents’ Demographic Profile The demographic characteristics of the respondents are shown in Table 2. A total of 357 respondents took to participate in this study, and after removing problematic responses, 332 valid questionnaires were collected. 49.1% of the respondents were male and 50.9% were female. Additionally, 44.58% of the participants were from generation Y and 55.42% were from generation Z. 66.2% of the respondents said that they had a diploma education background, while 39.76% reported a monthly income between 6,001-9,000 RMB. Table 2. Respondents’ demographic profile. Demographic characteristics Segments Frequ ency Percenta ge% Gender Male 163 49.1% Female 169 50.9% Generation Generation Y 148 44.58% Generation Z 184 55.42% Education Background High School and below 37 11.15% Diploma 165 49.7% Bachelor 85 25.6% Master and above 45 13.55% Monthly income level Below 3,000 RMB 21 6.33% Between 3,001-6,000 RMB 93 28.01% Between 6,001-9,000 RMB 132 39.76% Between 9,001- 12,000 RMB 57 17.17% Above 12,000 RMB 29 8.73% 203 4.2. Assessment of the measurement mode Table 3. Result of composite reliability and convergent validity. Construct Items Outer loading VIF Cronbach’s Alpha rho_A rho_C AVE Attitude AT1 0.807 2.227 0.91 0.911 0.928 0.649 AT2 0.823 2.255 AT3 0.799 2.084 AT4 0.802 2.134 AT5 0.803 2.141 AT6 0.795 2.088 AT7 0.811 2.170 Subjective Norm SN1 0.845 1.856 0.829 0.833 0.897 0.744 SN2 0.878 2.034 SN3 0.865 1.826 Perceived Behavioral Control PBC1 0.839 1.794 0.817 0.822 0.891 0.732 PBC2 0.857 1.79 PBC3 0.871 1.859 Perceived Value PV1 0.84 2.208 0.879 0.881 0.912 0.674 PV2 0.826 2.019 PV3 0.811 1.978 PV4 0.775 1.768 PV5 0.851 2.333 Trust TR1 0.770 1.785 0.880 0.882 0.909 0.625 TR2 0.787 1.936 TR3 0.832 2.175 TR4 0.808 2.009 TR5 0.760 1.733 TR6 0.785 1.915 Purchase Intention PI1 0.866 1.93 0.828 0.829 0.897 0.745 PI2 0.861 1.855 PI3 0.861 1.887 Table 4. Discriminant validity - Fornell-Larcker criterion. AT PBC PI PV SN TR AT 0.806 PBC 0.637 0.856 PI 0.646 0.624 0.863 PV 0.609 0.620 0.638 0.821 SN 0.654 0.642 0.642 0.673 0.863 TR 0.662 0.645 0.640 0.658 0.667 0.791 Note: AT=Attitude; PBC=Perceived Behavioral Control; PI=Purchase Intention; PV=Perceived value; SN=Subjective Norm; TR=Trust Table 5. Heterotrait-monotrait rotio (HTMT). AT PBC PI PV SN TR AT PBC 0.738 PI 0.743 0.756 PV 0.681 0.731 0.746 SN 0.754 0.777 0.773 0.789 TR 0.738 0.759 0.748 0.747 0.782 Note: AT=Attitude; PBC=Perceived Behavioral Control; PI=Purchase Intention; PV=Perceived value; SN=Subjective Norm; TR=Trust 4.3. Assessment of Structural Model Table 6. Construct hypotheses. Hypotheses Relationship Standard Beta Standard Error T-Value P- Value Decision Ha1 AT ---> PI 0.214 0.070 3.057 0.002 Supported Ha2 SN ---> PI 0.161 0.065 2.491 0.013 Supported Ha3 PBC ---> PI 0.193 0.070 2.772 0.006 Supported Ha4 PV ---> PI 0.163 0.069 2.377 0.017 Supported Ha5 RT ---> PI 0.159 0.069 2.311 0.021 Supported 204 4.4. Moderation Analysis It was hypothesized in this study that generation would moderate the relationship between the attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived value and trust constructs and purchase intention. A moderator is a third variable that influences the connection between independent and dependent variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Several methods can be used to examine the moderating effect in structural models. In this study, multi group analysis was applied for assessing the moderating effect. After evaluating both the measurement model and structural model, two distinct non-parametric methods were employed to conduct comparative analysis on the sample: Henseler’s MGA and the permutation test (Cheah et al., 2020). These methods represent the most conservative approaches in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling for assessing differences in path coefficients across two groups. Prior to conducting the multi-group analysis, measurement invariance was examined using MICOM, a novel method tailored for PLS. Subsequently, path coefficients were estimated for each subgroup, and significant moderating effects were identified as differences between these coefficients (Cheah et al., 2020). To examine the moderating effect of generation, we initially categorized the generation variable in our data-set as either generation Y or generation Z (Cheah et al., 2020). The results from step 2 indicate that the original correlation of composite scores for one measurement model equals 1.000 (subjective norm), surpassing the 5th percentile of the distribution of composite score correlations (attitude, perceived behavioral control, perceived value, trust, purchase intention), with permutation p-values exceeding 0.05, signifying insignificance. This establishes compositional invariance and partial measurement invariance, allowing for path coefficient comparisons between Generation Y and Generation Z using multi-group analysis. Step 3 further confirms measurement invariance for mean (step 3a) and variance (step 3b), with mean and variance values falling within the 2.5% to 97.5% confidence intervals. Permutation p-values for attitude, perceived behavioral control, purchase intention, perceived value, subjective norm, and trust remain insignificant (p > 0.05), indicating full measurement invariance. This enables the analysis of generation as a moderator through multi-group analysis. In the context of generation serving as a moderator between perceived value and purchase intention, Generation Z exhibits moderating effects (p-value = 0.033 < 0.05), whereas Generation Y does not (p-value = 0.052 > 0.05). Similarly, regarding the moderation of generation between trust and purchase intention, Generation Z demonstrates moderating effects (p-value = 0.004 < 0.05), whereas Generation Y does not (p-value = 0.786 > 0.05). However, both Generation Y and Generation Z show moderating effects between attitude and purchase intention, yielding results of (p-value = 0.029 < 0.05) and (p-value = 0.014 < 0.05), respectively. Unfortunately, neither Generation Y nor Generation Z exhibit moderating effects between perceived behavioral control and purchase intention, with results of (p-value = 0.200 > 0.05) and (p- value = 0.071 > 0.05), respectively. The same conclusion applies to the absence of moderating effects between subjective norm and purchase intention for Generation Y and Generation Z, with results of (p-value = 0.052 > 0.05) and (p- value = 0.207 > 0.05), respectively, as illustrated in Table 8. Table 7. Results of Permutation for Moderating Effect of Generation Constr ucts Configura tional Invariance (Step 1) Compositional Invariance (Step 2) Partial Measurem ent Invariance Equal Mean Assessment (Step 3a) Equal Variance Assessment (Step 3b) Full Measurem ent Invariance Original Correlati on 5.00 % Original Differences Confidence Interval Original Differen ces Confidence Interval AT Yes 0.999 0.999 Yes 0.132 {-0.221; 0.218} -0.151 {-0.313; 0.280} Yes/Yes PBC Yes 0.999 0.998 Yes 0.010 {-0.227; 0.223} -0.130 {-0.306; 0.290} Yes/Yes PI Yes 0.999 0.999 Yes 0.095 {-0.213; 0.224} -0.059 {-0.300; 0.265} Yes/Yes PV Yes 0.999 0.998 Yes -0.018 {-0.212; 0.229} -0.056 {-0.310; 0.286} Yes/Yes SN Yes 1.000 0.998 Yes 0.095 {-0.229; 0.235} -0.147 {-0.286; 0.263} Yes/Yes TR Yes 0.999 0.998 Yes 0.139 {-0.239; 0.229} -0.008 {-0.319; 0.293} Yes/Yes Table 8. Path coefficients of Permutation for Moderating Effect of Generation Original (Generation Y) Original (Generation Z) STDEV (Generation Y) STDEV (Generatio n Z) t value (Generation Y) t value (Generation Z) p value (Generation Y) p value (Generation Z) AT -> PI 0.273 0.207 0.125 0.084 2.186 2.455 0.029 0.014 PBC -> PI 0.14 0.148 0.109 0.082 1.283 1.805 0.2 0.071 PV -> PI 0.215 0.192 0.11 0.09 1.947 2.133 0.052 0.033 SN -> PI 0.206 0.113 0.106 0.089 1.947 1.263 0.052 0.207 TR -> PI 0.029 0.251 0.108 0.088 0.272 2.863 0.786 0.004 5. Conclusions and Discussion 5.1. Conclusions In recent years, heightened environmental concerns have significantly influenced consumer behavior within the hospitality industry, particularly concerning green hotels. This study investigates the factors influencing Chinese consumers' purchase intentions towards green hotels, with a specific focus on the moderating role of Generation Y and Generation Z. Using Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior as a framework, the research identifies significant impacts of 205 attitude, trust, and perceived value on consumer intentions. Moreover, it reveals nuanced differences in these relationships between Generation Y and Generation Z, highlighting varying levels of influence across different generational cohorts. 5.2. Theoretical Implications The findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of consumer behavior towards green hotels within the context of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior. By demonstrating the moderating effects of generational differences, the study enriches our understanding of how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived value, and trust interact differently across generational cohorts. This provides valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of consumer decision-making in sustainable tourism contexts. 5.3. Managerial Implications For hotel managers and marketers, the study underscores the importance of tailored green marketing strategies that resonate with different generational segments. Understanding that Generation Z, for instance, exhibits stronger responses to perceived value and trust in relation to green hotel choices compared to Generation Y, allows for more targeted communication and service offerings. This segmentation approach can enhance customer engagement and loyalty, ultimately driving business performance in the growing market for eco-friendly accommodations. 5.4. Limitations and Future Research Directions While this study advances our understanding, it has several limitations. The research was confined to a specific geographical location (Sanya City, Hainan Province) and may not fully capture regional diversity within China. Future studies could broaden the scope to include a more diverse sample across different regions and demographic profiles. 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