Who chooses green in tourism? The role of power distance belief in shaping sustainable travel behavior

As environmental concerns intensify worldwide, the sustainable development of green tourism increasingly depends on tourist participation, yet tourism marketing often overlooks individual differences in cultural beliefs. Across three studies using observational and experimental designs, we investigate the role of power distance belief (PDB) in tourists’ responses to green tourism initiatives. The findings reveal that tourists with low PDB exhibit stronger preferences for green tourism. Moreover, tourists with low PDB tend to be process-focused and respond more favorably to warmth-based appeals, whereas those with high PDB tend to be outcome-focused and respond more favorably to competence-based appeals. Message concreteness conditions these effects: abstract messages enhance the effectiveness of warmth-based appeals for tourists with low PDB, whereas concrete messages strengthen the effectiveness of competence-based appeals for tourists with high PDB. These findings demonstrate how PDB shapes green tourism preferences and provide practical guidance for tailoring sustainable tourism communications to tourists’ psychological orientations.