The Effectiveness of Sustainability Badges in Hospitality: Examining Credibility and Its Impact on Booking Intentions

This study explores how the perceived credibility of sustainability badges defined by attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness influences consumer decision-making in online hotel bookings. Drawing on Source Credibility Theory and the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, credibility is modeled as a second-order construct that shapes psychological responses: green attitude, green image, and inspiration. These responses are then linked to booking intentions. A simulated booking experiment with 400 US travelers via Amazon Mechanical Turk tested the proposed relationships using structural equation modeling. Results reveal that badge credibility significantly enhances green image and inspiration, both of which strongly predict booking intentions. However, green attitude does not directly influence behavior, underscoring the attitude–behavior gap in sustainability research. The study contributes by conceptualizing multidimensional credibility in digital hospitality and extending the S-O-R framework to explain ecolabel effects. Practically, hotels should align credible third-party certifications with sustainability messaging to foster trust and inspire bookings.