Exploring the influence of cultural values on green purchasing and its consequence

The principal aim of this research is to elucidate the causal dynamics among cultural values (namely collectivism, long-term orientation, and power distance), ethical attitudes (with a focus on teleological evaluation), and the propensity of consumers to opt for green hotels, all conceptualized within the Value-Attitude-Behavior (VAB) theoretical framework. This study further investigates the moderating role of status consumption on the relationship between power distance and ethical attitudes, as well as the impact of green purchasing behaviors on consumers’ subjective well-being. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze data from 380 Korean respondents. The results confirmed the significance of all six hypothesized relationships: the three cultural values significantly impact teleological evaluations, status consumption has a significant moderating effect between power distance and teleological evaluation, and teleological evaluations significantly influence green purchase behavior, which in turn enhances consumers’ subjective well-being. These findings advance theoretical discussions and provide practical insights for the tourism and hospitality industry.