Exploring the impact of ecotourism experiences and social media engagement on value co-creation

As a critical vehicle for sustainable development integrating environmental conservation and community well-being, ecotourism forms the context for this study, which establishes a novel behavioral chain linking multidimensional ecotourism experiences (sensory, situational, perceptual), tourist social media engagement, and value co-creation behaviors, thereby addressing the underexplored role of digital interaction in sustainable tourism. Analyzing data from a rigorously designed online survey (N = 603) via SmartPLS 4.0 reveals that: (1) these experiences significantly drive active social media engagement; (2) such engagement directly facilitates four key value co-creation dimensions—environmental citizenship, dialogue and communication, knowledge sharing, and cooperation; and (3) social media engagement mediates the experience–value co-creation relationship. Theoretically, this research contributes by developing and validating scales for ecotourism experiences and context-specific value co-creation, overcoming measurement gaps; uncovering social media’s critical mediating mechanism that transforms experiences into cooperative sustainability actions; and extending Service-Dominant Logic through embedding digital engagement within value co-creation frameworks. Practically, the findings equip policymakers and practitioners with evidence-based strategies to design experience-centric itineraries that trigger digital sharing, leverage social media to channel participation into environmental citizenship and knowledge co-creation, and amplify sustainability outcomes through behaviorally targeted engagement.