Empirical Study of Green Practices Fostering Customers’ Willingness to Consume via Customer Behaviors: The Case of Green Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the population to change their consumption behavior and habits to a green living style to protect the environment. The aim of this study was to explore the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model to identify the effect of green practices on willingness to consume through customers’ emotional attachment, attitudes, and satisfaction towards eco-friendly restaurants. We used a quantitative method with a self-administrated questionnaire and convenience sampling at eco-friendly restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Using a partial least square (PLS) structural equation model (SEM), we analyzed 1095 samples. The results of this study reveal that green practices significantly and positively affect customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes, but eco-friendliness did not have an effect on customers’ emotional attachment. Moreover, the customers’ satisfaction, attitudes, and emotional attachment were shown to significantly and positively affect their willingness to consume, as well as to pay 5 percent more for green products. Additionally, a mediating effect of emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes was proven. The government needs to prioritize policies and programs to support these restaurants in order to apply sustainable business models and to build a green marketing strategy involving restaurants to protect environmental sustainability.

1. Introduction

Recently, we have observed renewed interest in the Food and Beverage (F and B) industry; the growth rate is expected to increase from 5 percent to 6 percent for the 2020–2025 period [1]. In 2019, Vietnam was honored with receiving the “Asia’s Leading Culinary Destination” award. With a large market of nearly 100 million people, this market is attractive to domestic and international investors. However, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the F and B industry has faced many challenges, as 90 percent to 95 percent of the F and B industry was required to suspend their operations [2]. The COVID-19 pandemic has also caused the population to change their consumption behavior and habits to a green living style in order to protect the environment, as well as to look for environmentally friendly products to consume and even to demand that organizations adopt green systems or green innovations. In other words, the F and B industry must consider the importance of “environment, eco-friendly, and green” strategies and develop green innovation practices as a foundation for the industry’s operational ability to respond to both the market’s needs and environmental challenges simultaneously. Adopting the green strategy has become a critical competitive advantage and has improved the performance of the F and B industry. Vietnamese enterprises in diverse industries have invested heavily in new technology and equipment according to global standards, as well as in green and clean strategies to meet production requirements [3]. The need to build sustainable F and B models is necessary; this change will make an important contribution to raising the awareness of the small- and medium-sized enterprises of the F and B industry regarding social responsibility. It will also allow these enterprises to be proactive and conduct business in a friendly environment. However, in the implementation process of the green practices that are intended to drive enterprises, they have also encountered many difficulties and obstacles due to lack of capital, lack of information, and a lack of research projects to meet the growing demand for the eco-friendly market and customers’ behavior toward green restaurants.

Much of the previous research on green practices has consisted of exploratory evaluations of consumer perceptions of green practices, aiming to develop new theories and indicators of factors that may affect behavioral intention (willingness to consume) by Schubert et al. [4] and DiPietro et al. [5], who did not conduct an empirical study. The other weak point of this study is that it was unsuccessful in applying TPB to predict the behavioral intentions of customers regarding green restaurants [4,5]. The contributions in the study by DiPietro et al. [5] have provided important information on the development of the theoretical framework used by Ajzen [6], which was the foundation of developing TPB of a consumer behavior model, including attitude toward the behavior, social norms, and perceived behavioral control. This model was used to predict the behavioral intention of the consumer and was then found to predict actual behavior. What we know about behavioral intention is largely based upon empirical studies that have investigated how green practices affect customers’ behavioral intentions through the mediating role of the image of green restaurants conducted by Jeong and Jang [7], which supported the hypothesis. The results explained the customers’ behavioral intentions, confirming, through measurement scales, that the customers were willing to purchase green products such as “recyclable take-out containers, recycling waste, and energy efficient lighting”, which were the most significant. In the hospitality industry, much of the research conducted by Manaktola and Jauhari [8] has focused on identifying and evaluating the relationship between customers’ attitudes and customers’ behaviors towards eco-friendly hotels, as well as the customers’ willingness to pay [8,9]. In the same vein, Yu et al. [10] investigated the relationship between green experience and customer satisfaction in eco-friendly hotels. Jang et al. [11] found that green practices directly and indirectly affect customers’ loyalty to green stores and green products through emotional attachment. They proved that emotional attachment plays a role as the mediating variable in exploring the relationship between green practices and customer loyalty. As Schubert et al. [4] pointed out, research that explores the relationship between green practices and consumer attitudes is lacking. However, the previous studies that focused on green practices in the hospitality industry explored the demographics of the consumers and their perspectives on green practices [12,13]. In a study of green hotels by Trang et al. [14], it was explored how green attributes affect pro-environmental customer behavior.

Although many studies have investigated the impacts of green practices and their direct effects on customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward eco-friendly restaurants, there is a lack of research evaluating customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes, which are mediating variables in the interaction between green practices and customer behavioral intentions (customer’s willingness to consume the green products). Specifically, the aim of this study is to answer these research questions (RQ) as below:

RQ1.

To what extent do factors of green practices affect customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes toward green products in restaurants?

RQ2.

To what extent do customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes affect customer’s willingness to consume the green products in restaurants?

RQ3.

To what extent do customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes mediate the relationship between green practices and customer’s willingness to consume the green products in restaurants?

Based on the previous studies discussed above,. We adopted a theoretical framework by DiPietro et al. [5], which is the base model in our study to build a more comprehensive conceptual framework, including customer satisfaction, attitudes from the extended model of the theory of planned behavior by Han and Kim [15], and emotion attachment adopted from Yong Kim et al. [16]. This current study aims to examine the relationship between the variables of green practices and willingness to consume eco-friendly products through mediating variables of customer satisfaction, attitudes, and emotional attachment in order to facilitate an understanding of consumers’ behavior, acceptance to pay more, and engagement in eco-friendly restaurants. This study offers some important contributions into the Food and Beverage industry’s academic literature in various ways. First, this study confirmed and applied the TPB theory by carrying out an empirical study in restaurants in HCM City, Vietnam. Another contribution is that, to fill the gap in the Food and Beverage industry’s academic literature, this research investigates the usefulness of the direct impacts of customers’ attitudes, satisfaction, and emotion attachment on customer behavior (customers’ willingness to consume green products). Finally, the contribution of this study provides new insights into the direct and indirect impacts of green practices on willingness to consume eco-friendly products through the mediating role of three variables (attitudes, satisfaction, and emotion attachment) in order to facilitate analysis of key guidance for further studies in the tourism industry.

The rest of this paper presents the theoretical grounding of green practices and the customer’s patronage intention model. The next part presents the hypotheses and conceptual framework. Then, we elaborate on our research methodology and research design, presenting data analysis and findings. Finally, we present our contribution, implications, and limitations for further research.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Behavioral Intention

In this study, we considered selecting a green restaurant as a planned behavior that the theoretical framework provided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) [6], which is perhaps the most influential theory to determine a person’s behavior, and found it related to our research. Previous research from DiPietro et al. [5]; Han and Kim [15]; and Yong Kim et al. [16] extended the TPB model and defined TPB as “the degree of a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation or appraisal of the behavior in question” [6]. An analysis of customer behavior towards green practices in quick restaurant in US by DiPietro et al. [5] applied the TPB to Ajzen’s theory [6] to explore the perspectives of consumers toward eco-friendly products, customer behavioral intentions, and consumer attitudes toward green practices. The results established the measurement scales that determine the relationships between a person’s attitude toward a behavior (behavioral beliefs, such as their beliefs about the likely consequences of the behavior); normative beliefs that perceived social pressure and social acceptance toward the behavior (subjective norms); and their beliefs in their control over the behavior (perceived behavioral control). These factors (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) are reflected in TPB and were integrated to form a behavioral intention of a person towards a positive action [15,16]. In the study of DiPietro et al. [5], the behavioral intention of a customer is visiting a green restaurant more often and being willing to pay more for the organic products in an eco-friendly quick-service restaurant. Their study contributed to building a theoretical framework and measurement scales of a customer’s behavior of “willingness to pay more” for green practices. It also suggested that restaurants must implement green practices because it brings many competitive advantages and protects the environment, reduces costs, and is cost-effective way of conducting business in a restaurant. We used TPB as a lens to reflect on a customer’s satisfaction, attitudes, and emotional attachment to explore customer behavioral intentions (customer’s willingness to consume green products) to provide in-depth the observed phenomena into TPB. This current study adopted customer satisfaction and attitudes from the extended TPB model of Han and Kim [15]. The results showed that customer satisfaction and attitudes are the key mediating variables that lead to customer behavioral intention (customer’s willingness to consume green products), while the original TPB model includes attitude defined as “the general feeling of favorableness or un-favorableness for that behavior”, subjective norm referred to as “the perceived opinion of other people in relation to the behavior in question”, and perceived behavioral control as “the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior”. In the same vein, Yong Kim et al. [16] proposed and added an emotion factor to build a theoretical framework that expands the TPB model to predict behavioral intentions. Their study examined the relationship between these variables and explained consumers’ acceptance of selecting eco-friendly restaurants and engaging in ecological behavior. Pulido-Fernández and López-Sánchez [17] examined a study, “Are tourists really willing to pay more for sustainable destinations?” in Western Costa del Sol, Spain, where the results yielded significantly high levels of “sustainable intelligence”, i.e., the customers are willing to pay more to visit a more sustainable tourism destination. However, the results accounted for 26.6 percent of participants who expressed little willingness to pay for the tourism products if the destination increased price, indicating that “they are willing to pay more, but they would not pay more than 10 percent above the cost of travel products”.

2.2. Guest’s Emotional Attachment towards “Green Practices” in Restaurants

According to attachment theory, found by Bowlby [18], individual emotional attachment is viewed as the more an individual is attached to other subjects, the more one is committed to these subjects, which leads to sacrifice for these subjects. Likewise, according to self-expansion theory, a person can have an inbuilt incentive to absorb the values of the subject into their self-concept to obtain a deeper emotional connection with the subjects through their feelings; the more these subjects represent the individual self, the more they are significant to individual’s life goals and personal concerns. In a business context, customer emotional attachment is defined as the more customers are inclined to commit to a company, the more likely they are to make financial “sacrifices” [19]. In the same vein, the researcher has measured that customer emotional attachment to a business depends on when the customer choose the sustainable businesses, which relies almost entirely on their beliefs and feelings connected with the organizational business, and ultimately grows into further emotional attachment and trust in these businesses [11]. The findings of Jang et al. [11] pointed out that “highly green-conscious consumers responded more positively to stores’ green cues, showing stronger store attachments and exhibiting greater loyalty to green stores and green products” [11]. The study of Yuksel et al. [20] successfully proved a positive relationship between attachment factors and tourist satisfaction in holiday experiences, which were explained by the combination of emotional attachment and destination loyalty of tourists. The findings pointed out that the measurement scales to determine the consumers’ emotional attachment can develop from their emotional attachment to a place meeting their specific goals, activities, and symbolic meaning of a sustainable destination. Similarly, Hu and Sung [21] defined emotional attachment as the important symbol of a given place that affects a specific individual. In addition, Chien [22] defined attachment theory as the fundamental human needs that refer to people having an emotional connection to a place or sustainable environmental destination. Peng and Chen [23] determined the effects of attachment leading up to the consumers feeling cognitive conflicts when they reserved a table during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which they felt concerned and exhibited mixed emotions. Therefore, emotional attachment is an important antecedent factor in measuring consumer satisfaction and loyalty. This factor was explained by a combination of dimensions, such as place attachment, i.e., a part of a place that evokes strong emotions and loyalty to the sustainable destination [20]. Researchers also found that customers’ emotional attachment can affect what they see, think, and feel; e.g., their attachment increases their knowledge of a place [24] and improves favorable personal evaluations and loyalty towards that place [20,25]. Past studies viewed the emotional attachment factor as an outcome variable to predict the cognitive process of consumers’ decision making of activity involved and characteristics of place that attached the tourists [26], as well as an antecedent variable to predict the influence of consumer loyalty and customer satisfaction [20]. Zhang and Choi [27] defined emotional attachment factor as a psychological term which reflects a strong emotional link formed between a person and a particular person in their ecological behavior, sustainable destination, or "eco-friendly products"; they found that people can mature from being emotionally attached to brands and places [27]. Likewise, the organizations focus on building strategies to understand the nature of the emotional attachment to meet the individual’s needs [27]. Therefore, it is reasonable to propose that restaurants’ green practices could foster consumer’s emotional attachment towards the green products in eco-friendly restaurants, and its role as the mediating variable could predict the influence of consumers’ willingness to pay more for green products in eco-friendly restaurants. To fill the void, this study sets the following hypotheses to determine the role of each particular green practice on guests’ emotional attachment to a green restaurant, as seen in Figure 1.

2.3. Customer Attitudes towards “Green Practices” in Restaurants

According to Ajzen and Fishbein [28], attitudes are an individual’s internal and enduring assessment of an object, which is explained as the dimension of favor or disfavor, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, and desirable or undesirable [29]. Hu and Sung [21] pointed out ambivalent attitudes consisted of cognitive conflicts and conflicting thoughts. As Wang et al. [30] explored the “Impact of ambivalent attitudes on green purchase intentions: The role of negative moods”, the results yielded significant positive effects of ambivalent attitudes on customers’ behavioral intention to consume green products. In the hospitality industry, Goodman [31] explored a significant positive correlation between consumer attitudes and the hotels that engage in green practices. The findings contributed to building and improving the hotels’ goals, such as reducing investment costs, saving resources, keeping customer retention, and improving the loyalty and morale of staff. In the US restaurant industry, Choi and Parsa [13] identified the manager’s attitudes torward green practices, not focusing on consumers’ attitudes. Therefore, it still lacks research on consumers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward eco-friendly restaurants and the relationship between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume eco-friendly products [4,17,32]. Similarly, Schubert [33] investigated a study to explore the consumer attitudes towards purchased green products in Malaysia restaurants; this study just used univariate analysis to explore separately the consumer’s attitudes and willingness to pay more for green products in the restaurant, not dealing with causes or relationships between these factors. This view is supported by Dutta et al. [34], who had conducted a comparative study about Indian and US consumers to evaluate their attitudes, involvement, and behavioral intentions that affect willingness to pay for green products based on health, environmental, and social concerns. The results yielded a positive relationship between consumers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions and involvement to increase the consumers’ willingness to pay up to 10 percent by the American consumers to be environmentally and socially responsible for performing green practices. However, Indian consumers were only willing to pay more than 10 percent based on health for applying green practices in a restaurant. In Switzerland’s restaurant industry, Vieregge et al. [35] explored the perceptions of consumer behavior toward eco-friendly products to understand consumers’ attitudes and establish five measurement scales such as prefer local products, consider local products to be of higher quality, would visit more often, be aware of local food product use, and pay higher prices for local products [4]. Preliminary work on customer attitudes towards green practices in restaurants was undertaken by Schubert et al. [4]; the findings showed that a positive correlation was found between customers’ beliefs and attitudes toward green practices based on three dimensions: “dining at green restaurants that will help to protect the environment, dining at green restaurants will be more expensive, dining at green restaurants will be healthier for me”. Schubert et al. [4] conducted an interview to ask interviewees about the importance of green practice aspects, and the respondents said that the most important factors are “the restaurants should reduce energy usage and waste materials, use biodegradable or recycled products, use organic products, serve locally grown food, donate to environmental projects, pay fees to reduce their ecological footprint” [4]. Therefore, this study continues to implement empirical research to explore the relationship among these factors (we proposed the hypotheses in Figure 1).

2.4. Customer Satisfaction towards “Green Practices” in Restaurants

According to Oliver [36], customer satisfaction is the total pleasure or happiness when the customers meet their specific expectations, wants, and needs, which are fulfilled as a result of a product or service’s perceived performance [36,37]. Customer satisfaction is defined as a major antecedent of loyalty [20]. Arshad Khan and Alhumoudi [38] found that the service industry should undertake both increasing quality products and maintaining customer satisfaction because the industry has a high requirement for the organizations’ capability to keep the customers satisfied in deciding to choose this green restaurant to dine in. Detailed examination of customer satisfaction factor by Husnain and Akhtar [39] showed that “Customer satisfaction is contingent upon buyers paying for goods or services and utilizing such goods or services” [38,39]. The study of Do Valle et al. [40] pointed out that when a tourist attains a high level of satisfaction, the drive to return and willingness to recommend the destination to other people increases [20]. As discussed above, many recent studies [10,38,39,41,42] have viewed the consumer satisfaction factor as an antecedent variable. However, these scholars have not highlighted factors that are associated with green practices and customer satisfaction in the eco-friendly restaurant industry [38]. Many studies have not explored the association between guests’ satisfaction and green practices, merely exploring the customers’ perspectives to understand their attitudes and preferences to successfully establish the measurement scales of these factors in the hospitality industry [10,41,42]. Manaktola and Jauhari [8] have found factors of green practices only have a minor role in increasing customers’ satisfaction based on three dimensions: emotional advantages, green consumption, and providing guests with a feeling of moral pleasure by contributing to the wellbeing of society [43]. Other studies have used the aspect of green products to reflect the consumers’ value of sustainability from their experience as it represents their personal value [9,44,45]. A number of studies have postulated a convergence between customer satisfaction and emotional attachment especially play as the antecedent variable and outcome variable in the recreation and residency literature [20,25]. In ski resorts and restaurants segments, the organizations are motivated to apply green practices that commit to environmental sustainability, which leads to being successful in maintaining customer satisfaction because of its environmental friendliness to push these organizations to apply green practices to achieve competitive advantages [46]. The results found that there was a conflicting demand for green products and services in these service firms because customers desired these service firms to become more environmentally friendly and apply green practices that did not affect the quality of the services as well as quality products and their overall experiences [5,20]. To reach customer satisfaction as well as the corporate performance of quality services by committing to implement green practices, such as saving water, saving energy, using eco-friendly products, and reducing solid waste, would be successful for these organizations in planning and marketing for the F and B industry. Besides that, the service organizations apply green practices that also save money to help the organizations continue to develop their business and protect the sustainable environment [8,9]. Arshad Khan and Alhumoudi [38] stated that the ability of service organizations to grow and succeed depends on the level of customers’ satisfaction [38,47]. According to Yuksel et al. [20]; Jang et al. [11]; and Yusof et al. [42], fundamental measurement scales of customer satisfaction are based on “choose this green restaurant because of its local resources, organic ingredients in the menu, its recycling management, its energy and water efficiency, its eco-friendly facilities, environmentally sustainable practices, eco-friendly products”. If these criteria are unfulfilled, these restaurants will face growing competition, and the customer will not seem willing to consume green products or services. Restaurants must evaluate customer satisfaction toward green practices that leads to customers’ willingness to consume the green products that may affect directly and indirectly by increasing green practices, attitudes, and emotional attachment, as seen in the hypotheses in Figure 1.

2.5. Green Practices in Restaurants

The Green Restaurant Association (GRA) defined green practices as activities consisting of “the sustainable foods, green materials, reuse and recycle programs, energy and water efficiency, and green building and space design” [11,48]. The listed researchers mostly review green practices proposed by the GRA [11,17,46,49,50], which help revolutionize the restaurant industry by establishing seven criteria for sustainable environmental categories, and the organizations supported the implementation of green practices nationwide by the government. It is clear that the results of a study by Abdou et al. [9] match the predictions of the green practice criteria, such as “green design, green purchase, manufacture, process, green production, marketing, and recycle and material source”. This green practice criteria agrees with that observed in an eco-friendly hotel by Manaktola and Jauhari [8]. The findings defined the activities as less damaged effects of a sustainable environment that has made a commitment to various ecologically sound practices, including “saving water, saving energy, and reducing solid waste” [9]. Similarly, Wang [50] investigated the importance and effective effects of green practices in a restaurant. This study identified that green practices could apply in the restaurant industry. Wang [50] found four factors of green practices consist of recycling and composting, energy and water-efficient equipment, eco-friendly cleaning supplies and packaging [9], and menu sustainability [4,11,42,50]. The results were consistent with those reported previously for the restaurants’ green supply chain practices in Taiwan by Chiu and Hsieh [51]. The results pointed out that green practices indeed have a significant and positive direct and indirect influence on restaurants’ performance via green capability, as well as outline a critical role for implementing green practices that lead to environmental and economic performance, and green practices are a key antecedent leads to green capability and creates competitive advantages. Therefore, it is a priority in all restaurants.

Regarding recycling and composting, the F and B industry is always encouraged to manufacture products in connection with zero discharge, and it also limits zero waste and optimizes waste production by recycling and composting what is left, which is one method to improve a sustainable environment and reduce waste. Restaurants must recycle all recyclable materials and conduct food waste composting programs that will contribute to the improvement of soil quality and help to reduce the amount of food waste [50]. Alternatively, Wang [50] recommended that restaurants should provide various kitchen containers that help to simplify waste segregation and the sorting process. Furthermore, the restaurants must provide the recycling bins in different areas of the restaurants and purchase products and materials that made from recycled or rapidly renewable materials [4,11,42,50]. As a result, recycling and composting activities can be considered an important factor in creating value for the restaurant, as it also contributes to Vietnam’s waste management strategy, which includes reducing, reusing, and recycling garbage via composting and anaerobic digestion [47]. Similarly, Chiu and Hsieh [51] defined product recycling as recycling all resources, including glass bottles, plastic, aluminum cans, paper, cardboard boxes, and cooking oil; product recycling also includes not using a product that harms the environment by using the recyclable mugs and containers instead. It can predict and describe the influence of customer’s behavior. Therefore, we proposed the hypothesis (see Figure 1).

Concerning energy- and water-efficient equipment, the F and B industry consumed large amounts of energy for heating, cooling, and lighting systems daily, and the construction of restaurant facilities is the main source of carbon dioxide emissions into the environment. Abdou et al. [9] explored environmentally sustainable practices that are composed of energy conservation by installing energy-efficient light bulbs to replace incandescent light bulbs with longer-lasting CFL light bulbs or LED in a bar, restaurant, kitchen, dining areas, and restrooms. In addition, restaurants use motion detectors for lights in restrooms and appliances and automated motion sensors in low-traffic places. They also utilize renewable energy systems, such as solar energy and wind energy, as well as installing triple-glazed windows or reflective glass and using digital thermostats in dining places. Restaurants should use a system which monitors and controls temperatures efficiently with the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and lighting systems and install energy-monitoring systems to keep track of total energy consumed [52]. Regarding water conservation, restaurants must focus on installing high-efficiency devices such as low-flow toilets, flow restrictors on faucets, and showerheads, using infrared-activated faucets, fixing leaks in bathrooms and toilets, and recycling grey water with aiming to achieve optimum operations and reduce their carbon footprint can use energy conservation facilities [4,9,11,46,50]. Restaurants should keep track of water consumption in each department and waste management to reuse resources, water, and materials. Lo et al. [53] suggested that restaurants should utilize micro-bubble or traditional thawing equipment to conserve water. Previous studies pointed out the most significant criterion in water-focused practices is optimizing water-saving facilities, which can consist of installing flow regulators, low-flow toilets, and waterless urinals in bathrooms [46,54,55]. As a result, energy- and water-efficient equipment can be considered an important factor in predicting and describing the influence of customer behavior. Therefore, we proposed the hypothesis (see Figure 1).

Regarding eco-friendly cleaning supplies and packaging, “non-toxic cleaning supplies and packaging are safe for the environment and people” [50]. Eco-friendly cleaning supplies and packaging are composed of using environmentally friendly cleaners for dishes, linen, tables, and floors and using take-out containers that are biodegradable (paper) or recyclable instead of using Styrofoam [50]. Eco-friendly cleaning supplies and packaging comprise both tangible and intangible sustainable practices [11]. The GRA encourages the restaurants under its qualification to minimize waste materials by opting to produce goods and services from bio-based materials or recycled materials [48] in lieu of plastic utensils and single-use eating wares. However, these replacements have incurred costly expenditures and remained a hurdle for some restaurateurs [51]. As a result, eco-friendly cleaning supplies and packaging can be considered an important factor to predict and describe the influence of customer’s behavior. Therefore, we proposed the hypothesis (see Figure 1).

Concerning menu sustainability, “the organic foods are raised by non-toxic pesticides and fertilizers and made without genetic engineering” [50]. Restaurants should purchase locally grown foods to reduce the amount of air pollution during transportation that uses fossil fuels [50]. Other practices for the back of the house were excluded, which should use energy-efficient lighting at dining, storage, and kitchens [50]. Food sustainability presents foods and products that benefit the environment’s sustainable development, which is often associated with organically and locally grown produce [37,56]. They need less transportation and emit fewer carbon emissions than imported or foreign commodities, effectively decreasing carbon footprints and combating global warming [57]. Moreover, restaurants offer local ingredients, organic food, and products on the menu, offer fish and seafood harvested sustainably and free of harmful pollutants, and avoid genetically modified foods [4,11,42,50]. As a result, menu sustainability can be considered an important factor to predict and describe the influence of customer’s behavior. Therefore, we proposed the hypothesis (see Figure 1).

When restaurants adopt green practices, they can gain a competitive advantage, achieve green capability, and improve their image [51]. It also attracts new green customers, expands the segment market of eco-friendly products to green consumers, and increases customer satisfaction. Besides that, restaurants can save financial investment by implementing efficient water and energy consumption, waste recycling and composting methods, eco-friendly cleaning supplies and packaging, menu sustainability/eco-friendly products, and organic food [4,5,11,25,41,46,50,58]. Based on the discussed literature above and according to the TPB, the key determinant of customer behavioral intention (customer’s willingness to consume green products) include green practices, customer attitudes, emotional attachment, and customer satisfaction. We, therefore, propose the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis H1.1.

Factors of Green Practices: Recycling and Composting (H1.1a), Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment (H1.1b), Eco-friendly Supply (H1.1c), Menu Sustainability (H1.1d) positively affect customers’ emotional attachment.

Hypothesis H1.2.

Factors of Green Practices: Recycling and Composting (H1.2a), Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment (H1.2b), Eco-friendly Supply (H1.2c), Menu Sustainability (H1.2d) positively affect customers’ satisfaction.

Hypothesis H1.3.

Factors of Green Practices: Recycling and Composting (H1.3a), Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment (H1.3b), Eco-friendly Supply (H1.3c), Menu Sustainability (H1.3d) positively affect customers’ attitudes.

Hypothesis H2.

Customers’ emotional attachment positively affect customers’ satisfaction.

Hypothesis H3.

Customers’ attitudes positively affect customers’ satisfaction.

Hypothesis H4.

Customers’ emotional attachment (H4.1), attitudes (H4.2), satisfaction (H4.3) positively affect customer’s willingness to consume the green products.

Hypothesis H5-1; H5-2.

Factors of Green Practices: Recycling and Composting (H5-1.1; H5-2.1), Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment (H5-1.2; H5-2.2), Eco-friendly Supply (H5-1.3; H5-2.3), and Menu Sustainability (H5-1.4; H5-2.4) have a positive indirect effect on customers’ satisfaction via customers’ emotional attachment and customers’ attitudes.

Hypothesis H6-1; H6-2; H6-3; H6-4; H6-5.

Factors of Green Practices: Recycling and Composting (H6-1.1; H6-2.1; H6-3.1, H6-4.1, H6-5.1), Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment (H6-1.2; H6-2.2; H6-3.2, H6-4.2, H6-5.2), Eco-friendly Supply (H6-1.3; H6-2.3; H6-3.3; H6-4.3; H6-5.3), Menu Sustainability (H6-1.4; H6-2.4; H6-3.4, H6-4.4, H6-5.4) have a positive indirect effect on customer’s willingness to consume the green products via customers’ emotional attachment, attitudes, satisfaction.

Hypothesis H7.

Customers’ emotional attachment (H7.1), attitudes (H7.2) positively affect customer’s willingness to consume the green products via customers’ satisfaction.

Based on previous studies and literature reviews related to this topic, the authors have built a research model to determine the direct and indirect relationships between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume green products via mediating customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward eco-friendly products. The research model in this study is illustrated in Figure 1.

3. Methodology

3.1. Sample and Data Collection

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of green practices on guests’ willingness to consume green products in a sample of the fine dining restaurants, the casual dining restaurants, and the restaurants in HCM City that meet the standard of the Lotus RIS of Vietnam. Moreover, this research was designed to determine the hidden mediating roles of customers’ emotional attachment, attitudes, satisfaction in correlation with green practices, and willingness to consume green products. A self-administrated questionnaire was the primary design for collecting data [59].

We performed a data collection procedure to evaluate the validity of the questionnaire content. First, we conducted a pilot test with three experts of operator restaurants and two academic lecturers in the food and beverage field to review and evaluate the measurement items, and we received the experts’ feedback to revise the terminology and ambiguous expressions of phrases and ensure clarity of instructions in the questionnaire so that further issues with the measurement items could be detected and modified to be suitable with the context of this study. Second, after a draft questionnaire was modified, we conducted a pretest with 9 guests having lunch in 3 restaurants to re-evaluate the importance of all the measurement scales of the studied factors. Finally, a finalized questionnaire was designed in Vietnamese and English, and then the questionnaires were distributed to the participants. Due to time limitations, we used convenience sampling and snowball sampling techniques [9,27,60,61] in this study, along with a face-to-face survey for the sample collection lasting for 7 months. Our research team conducted the data collection, and we were supported by the operators of 12 eco-friendly restaurants in Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City, who helped us conduct the survey by delivering the questionnaire forms to their guests.

The target population of this study were the customers of the eco-friendly restaurants in HCM City invited to join in this survey. The consumers aged 18 to 70 were selected to answer the questionnaire. To obtain a heterogeneous sample, the survey focused on respondents based on these criteria to accomplish different consumer perceptions of different restaurants to gain overall knowledge with experience purchasing friendly products and services in these restaurants. We followed three criteria for selecting the subjects. First, we selected the respondents who were having dinner in eco-friendly restaurants while they were waiting to be served. Secondly, we selected 3 eco-friendly restaurants (SG Restaurant in Pasteur St, RB restaurant in Hai Ba Trung St, NR Dining district 1) that reached the standard of The Lotus Restaurant Inspections and Ratings (The Lotus RIS) [56], selected 5 eco-friendly casual dining restaurants at P Saigon restaurant in Pasteur St, N Restaurant Saigon in Thi Sach St, TA Indian Restaurant in Ngo Duc Ke St district 1, HY restaurant, and MH restaurant in districts 3 and 4. We tested the customers’ willingness to consume green products and asked them how much more they would be willing to pay in these selected restaurants. We also selected 4 eco-friendly fine dining restaurants in 4 and 5 stars hotel in districts 1, 2 and 4. The final criteria we followed was to ensure that all participants voluntarily joined this study with experience using sustainable products in order to improve external validity. Ultimately, these criteria were eligible to select the sample for this study. The data collection conducted in HCM City occurred from February to August 2022 on Wednesday to Sunday in the daytime and evening hours and took approximately eight minutes to complete all questionnaire items. We distributed 1500 questionnaire forms, 51 forms skipped some items, and only 1095 valid questionnaires were returned for statistical analysis.

Regarding sample sizes in this study, some scholars suggested that a minimum subjects-to-item ratio be at least 5:1 in EFA [57]; therefore, 49 items for 8 constructs were finally selected, so the minimum number of respondents for this study was at least 392 cases (49 × 8). However, we collected more samples [57] because of the large sample. A representative of the target population is needed to test the research hypotheses adequately and reduce the risk of sampling error.

After filtering data, the remaining 1095 valid questionnaires were analyzed.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the sample.

Demographic		Number	Percentage
Gender	Male	472	43.1
	Female	623	56.9
Age Group	<18	34	3.1
	18–25	408	37.3
	26–30	247	22.6
	31–40	247	22.6
	41–60	130	11.9
	>60	29	2.5
Education level	Below high-school degree	47	4.3
	High-school degree	70	6.4
	Vocational school	109	10.0
	College degree	303	27.7
	Bachelor’s degree	507	46.3
	Post-university	59	5.3
Dining out frequentlyper month	1–2	589	53.8
	3–4	263	24.0
	4–10	150	13.7
	>10	93	8.5
Times choose Green Restaurant per month	1–2	679	62.0
	3–4	229	20.9
	4–10	112	10.3
	>10	75	6.8
Monthly Income (VND)	<5 million	182	16.6
	5–10 million	359	32.8
	11–20 million	341	31.1
	>20 million	213	19.5
Occupation	Student	180	16.5
	College student	319	29.1
	Staff office	247	22.6
	Managerial level	191	17.4
	Freelancer	79	7.2
	Housewife	68	6.2
	Others	11	1.0

provides the sample demographics: just over half the participants were female (56.9%, N = 623), and 472 males accounted for 43.1%. In terms of age group, the largest group of participants were aged 18–25 (37.3%, N = 408), then 26–30 (22.6%, N = 247). Regarding participants’ education levels, 507 participants with bachelor’s degrees accounted for 46.3%, while 303 participants had college degrees (27.7%). In terms of frequency for dining out, the majority of participants had dined out 1 to 2 times (N = 589, 53.8%) or 3 to 4 times (N = 263, 24.0%), with dining out at green restaurants per month 1 to 2 times accounting for 62.0% (N = 679) or 3 to 4 times accounting for 20.9% (N = 229). Regarding participants’ monthly income, with an average salary ranging from 5 to 10 million VND (N = 359, 32.8%), 11 to 20 million VND (N = 341, 31.1%) represent the group most willing to consume green products. In terms of participants’ occupation, there were 319 college students (29.1%), 247 office staff (22.6%), 191 participants were managerial level (17.4%), 180 students (16.5%), 79 freelancers (7.2%), and 68 housewives (6.2%). The results reflect that most participants evaluated in this study were young, female, had high education backgrounds, and placed a high premium on green practices (see Table 1).

3.2. Measures and Instrument Development

To reach the research objectives, we proposed a conceptual framework (see Figure 1) based on the results of previous studies and modified measurement scales to suit the green restaurants in Vietnam. The scales of green practices consist of recycling and composting, energy- and water-efficient equipment, eco-friendly supplies, and menu sustainability, which were adopted from [4,11,41,46,50]. The scales of guest emotional attachment were adopted from Yuksel et al. [20] and Jang et al. [11]. The scales of guest satisfaction were adopted from Yuksel et al. [20]; Jang et al. [11]; and Yusof et al. [41]. Furthermore, the scales of guest attitudes were adopted from [4,5]. Finally, the scales of customer’s behavioral willingness to consume green products were developed by DiPietro et al. [5]; Jang et al. [11]; and Shapoval et al. [58].

Table 2. Properties of the constructs.

Constructs and Indicators	Factor Loading
Willingness to consume green products: WiCo (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.762, CR = 0.848, AVE = 0.584)	-
WiCo1: I prefer to purchase the environmentally safe products even if it is somewhat lower in quality.	0.768
WiCo2: I prefer to patronize businesses that are environmentally friendly.	0.703
WiCo3: I believe that restaurant companies should use organic products for their menu whenever possible.	0.820
WiCo4: I am willing to pay up to 5 percent more for environmentally safe products	0.760
Emotional Attachment: EA (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.897, CR = 0.917, AVE = 0.582)	-
EA1: I feel this green restaurants is a part of me.	0.698
EA2: I identify strongly with this green restaurant.	0.750
EA3: Visiting this green restaurant says a lot about who I am.	0.763
EA4: I am very attached to this green restaurant.	0.823
EA5: I feel a strong sense of belonging to this green restaurant.	0.816
EA6: This green restaurant means a lot to me.	0.818
EA8: At times that I eat out at other restaurants and feel uncomfortable because of their unfriendliness with the environment, these green practice restaurants come to mind.	0.708
EA9: If someone praised these eco-friendly restaurants, I would feel pleased.	0.714
Guest satisfaction: GS (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.901, CR = 0.919, AVE = 0.559)	-
GS2: I am happy about the decision to choose this green restaurant because of its local/organic ingredients in the menu	0.735
GS3: I am happy about the decision to choose this green restaurant because of its recycling management	0.721
GS4: I am happy about the decision to choose this green restaurant because of its energy and water efficiency (LED lights, light sensors, hand-free automatic sensor faucet, natural lights during day time…)	0.741
GS5: I believe this is a right thing to purchase products in this green restaurant because of its eco-friendly facilities	0.773
GS6: I believe this is a right thing to purchase products in this green restaurant because of its local/organic ingredients	0.777
GS7: I believe this is a right thing to purchase products in this green restaurant because of its recycling management	0.733
GS8: I believe this is a right thing to purchase products in this green restaurant because of its energy and water efficiency	0.752
GS9: Overall, I am glad to dine in this green restaurant because of its environmental friendliness	0.747
GS10: Overall, I am satisfied with this green restaurant because of its environmental concerns	0.751
Guest Attitudes: AGP (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.768, CR = 0.863, AVE = 0.678)	-
AGP3: If the products seriously damage the environment, I will refuse to purchase them.	0.724
AGP4: When choosing restaurants to dine in, I always select the ones that perform green practices in their business, even though they are more expensive.	0.887
AGP5: I dine at green restaurants will help to protect the environment.	0.850
Recycling and Composting: RC (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.712, CR = 0.811, AVE = 0.522)	-
RC1: Recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and aluminium at the back of the house	0.703
RC2: Provide recycling bins in store (Offer recycling bins for plastic cups, paper cups, and cup sleeves in the restaurant)	0.779
RC3: Conduct food waste composing programs	0.755
RC4: Purchase products made from recycled or rapidly renewable materials	0.736
Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment: EW (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.811, CR = 0.869, AVE = 0.571)	-
EW1: Use flow restrictors on faucets, low-flow toilets, and water-less urinals	0.703
EW3: Replace incandescent light bulbs with longer lasting CFL light bulbs or LED	0.759
EW4: Replace exist lights with LED’s (Use of energy-efficient lighting in seating areas).	0.804
EW5: Use motion detectors for lights in the restrooms.	0.742
EW6: Use of a system which monitors and controls comfortable temperatures efficiently with the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) system	0.766
Eco-friendly Supplies: ES (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.805, CR = 0.885, AVE = 0.720)	-
ES1: Use of environmentally friendly cleaners for dishes, and linen.	0.863
ES2: Use of environmentally friendly cleaners for tables and floors.	0.869
ES3: Use of take-out containers that are biodegradable (paper) or recyclable instead of using Styrofoam.	0.813
Menu Sustainability: MS (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.748, CR = 0.840, AVE = 0.567)	-
MS1: Offer local ingredients on the menu.	0.700
MS2: Offer organic food on the menu.	0.797
MS3: Offer fish and seafood harvested sustainably and free of harmful pollutants.	0.832
MS4: Avoid genetically modified foods.	0.779

Notes: CR: composite reliability; AVE: average variance extracted.

shows the measurement items.

The structure of the questionnaire was developed in three parts. In the first part, we asked participants who were responding to the questions to check the measurement scales of green practices, including recycling and composting, energy- and water-efficient equipment, eco-friendly supplies, and menu sustainability in restaurants. The second part included questions related to the measurement scales of customer behavior intention, including emotional attachment, attitudes, satisfaction, and willingness to consume green products. Participants were asked to respond using a 5 point-Likert scale ranging from “1-Strongly disagree” to “5-Strongly agree” in all measurement items. The third part includes a question related to the sample demographics.

3.3. Data Analysis

This study was designed as exploratory and confirmatory research to identify the influence of green practices on consumer behavioral willingness to consume green products through customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward eco-friendly restaurants. Multiple statistical techniques were employed in order to obtain more accurate results and better conclusions. For instance, the collected responses were coded and screened for errors before any analytical techniques were applied. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software (version 20.0) and Smart-PLS software with version 3.0 to evaluate the research model [62] for variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) using the partial least squares (PLS) path modeling to run the data. SPSS was first used to screen the data and detect the missing values and outliers, analyze descriptively, as well as test the distribution of the sample demographics. PLS-SEM was then used to assess the correlations between latent variables in the conceptual model. PLS-SEM was selected because it is suitable for the study of complex constructs and both exploratory and confirmatory research. It demonstrated maximizing the variance of endogenous variables interpreted by the exogenous variables in reverse to reflect the experimental covariance matrix [62], and this research model was developed using many extant theories. As such, the prediction among latent variables in the model required PLS-SEM [62]. The non-parametric bootstrapping was measured with 2000 replications [62].

The data obtained after running PLS-SEM was assessed in two steps to analysis the data [62]. In the first step, a total of 1095 valid samples was tested for the reliability and validity of measurement scales of the outer model by using composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), and Cronbach’s alpha. In the second step, we focused on identifying the potential relationship amongst these constructs. For example, we examined the relationship between factors of green practices and customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes. Then, we investigated the relationship between customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes, and customers’ behavioral willingness to consume green products. Finally, we conducted a mediation analysis. We used the structural model assessed with the appropriate results of the measurements in this research model, as well as the significance and effects of path coefficients. Hair et al. [63] stated that “PLS is used for prediction-oriented research that aims to maximize the explained variance of dependent variables and can be used if less rigid theoretical backgrounds are available”. Regarding the inner model, it explains the relationship between the exogenous variables of green practices (recycling and composting, energy- and water-efficient equipment, eco-friendly supplies, and menu sustainability) and endogenous variables (customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes, and customers’ behavioral willingness to consume green products). The outer model explains the relationship among the latent variables and their observed indicators, and it was used to test the research hypotheses by evaluating the inner model (β) path coefficient sizes and significance by using the non-parametric bootstrapping method [62].

4. Results

4.1. Measurement Model Results

In the first stage, we assessed the convergent validity and consistency reliability for each indicator. Internal consistency was measured using (CR) composite reliability [63], and average variance extracted (AVE) was measured to assess convergent validity [60]. The minimum value for CR was at least 0.7, and for AVE started from 0.5 [60,63]. Table 2 provides the results of the CR of all constructs. Table 2 presents CR ranging from 0.832 to 0.919, in line with Hair et al. [62], who suggested that CR around 0.6 should be accepted. The AVEs ranged from 0.553 to 0.720 for each factor, in line with Hair et al. [63], who pointed out that the AVEs should be 0.5 or higher is acceptable. Thus, this result indicated that all constructs reflect the model of high levels of internal consistency, reliability, and convergent validity. The primary method used to assess internal consistency and reliability was Cronbach’s Alpha. The Cronbach’s Alpha values were greater than 0.7 to be considered appropriate reliability of the measured constructs [63]; in this study, Cronbach’s Alpha ranged from 0.730 to 0.901. Hair et al. [62] pointed out that the factor loading did not exceed 0.60, which is the value that should be excluded. In our study, some indicators were excluded, such as AGP1, AGP2, AGP6, AGP7, EA7, EW2, EW7, GS1, and RC5, because these indicators have factor loadings less than 0.60 (see Table 2).

After the indicator’s reliability and convergent validity were confirmed, the discriminant validity was assessed to mainly test for the difference of each factor under external composition. In this study, we employed the ratio by Fornell and Larcker [64] to find the square root of AVEs: each latent variable should be greater than the correlations among the construct and can be used to establish discriminant validity in case the square root of AVE values are bigger than other correlation values among the latent variables [63]. Other latent variables well established the discriminant validity. As Hair et al. [62] pointed out, “an indicator’s loadings should be higher than all of its cross loadings”.

Table 3. Discriminant validity coefficients.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
(1) Eco-friendly Supplies	0.849
(2) Emotional Attachment	0.294	0.763
(3) Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment	0.676	0.400	0.755
(4) Guest Attitudes	0.367	0.402	0.389	0.823
(5) Guest Satisfaction	0.548	0.534	0.577	0.403	0.748
(6) Willingness to Consume	0.400	0.593	0.483	0.427	0.521	0.764
(7) Menu Sustainability	0.672	0.345	0.637	0.388	0.584	0.452	0.779
(8) Recycling and Composting	0.540	0.344	0.582	0.338	0.502	0.372	0.552	0.744

Notes: Bold values represent the square root of AVEs.

presents that the results of discriminant validity supported all constructs, ranging from 0.744 to 0.849. As a result, the results indicated good discriminant validity in each factor, which also indicated that the identified components fit the Fornell-Larcker criteria [63,64].

4.2. Structural Model Results

4.2.1. Testing Multi-Collinearity

Before assessing the structural model, we evaluated multi-collinearity among the variables to prevent misleading regression of results. When there were inter-correlations across predictor variables in a model, the value of the endogenous variables could not predict independently, so the variance inflation factor (VIF) was used in order to check the multi-collinearity problems. All VIF’s results were below the cut-off value of 5, indicating that there were no collinearity issues across predictor constructs [65]. Hair et al. [62] proposed the acceptable criteria for VIFs to be smaller than 4; otherwise, if VIF’s values are bigger than 5, it indicated that the multi-collinearity would create problems predicting the variables, i.e., the data had collinearity problems [66]. From the collinearity statistics in this study, VIF’s values ranged from 1.291 to 2.072. The results indicated that the multi-collinearity was not a problem in this data. The measure outcomes of the conceptual framework have been agreeable. After that, the explanation of the target endogenous variables (Emotional Attachment, Guest Satisfaction, Guest Attitudes, Willingness to Consume) variance was exploited to investigate the adequacy of the predictive model.

4.2.2. Testing Predictive Power of Structural Model

Next, the model fit was evaluated by examining the predictive power of the structural model. The model fit also estimated the R² weight of endogenous constructs. The R² value is between 0 and 1, with greater values exhibiting a higher explanatory power. Hair et al. [62] suggested that the thresholds of R² values at 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25 can be assessed as substantial, moderate, and weak predictive accuracy, respectively [62]. Following this, the results in this study found that the coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.187 for emotional attachment, indicating that 18.7% of the variation in emotional attachment had weak predictive accuracy in eco-friendly supplies, energy- and water-efficient equipment, menu sustainability, and recycling and composting. Then, the R² weight of guest attitudes was 0.196, indicating that 19.6% of the variation in guest attitudes had weak predictive accuracy in eco-friendly supplies, energy- and water-efficient equipment, menu sustainability, and recycling and composting. Next, the R² weight of guest satisfaction was 0.521, indicating that 52.1% of the variation in guest satisfaction had moderately predicted accuracy in emotional attachment, guest attitudes, eco-friendly supplies, energy- and water-efficient equipment, menu sustainability, and recycling and composting. The R² weight of guests’ willingness to consume green products were 0.433, indicating that 43.3% of the variation in guests’ willingness to consume green products had moderately predicted accuracy in emotional attachment, guest attitudes, and guest satisfaction. In this study, the results of R² are substantial and moderate, respectively, accounting for suggestions from previous scholars [62].

4.2.3. Testing Predictive Relevance

We used blindfolding to measure predictive relevance and as the instrument to evaluate the inner model. The value of Q² is bigger than zero [62], so the exogenous constructs had predictive relevance for the endogenous variables to be an acceptable model fit. In this study, the average cross-validated redundancy was 0.103 for Emotional Attachment, 0.123 for Guest Attitudes, 0.287 for Guest Satisfaction, and 0.249 for Willingness to Consume. Therefore, the results supported the model’s predictive relevance for Emotional Attachment, Guest Attitudes, Guest Satisfaction, and Willingness to Consume in exhibiting an adequate model fit [62] through blindfolding procedures.

4.2.4. Hypotheses Testing-Direct Effects

After running the PLS-SEM to test proposed hypotheses H1.1 (H1.1a, H1.1b, H1.1c, H1.1d); H1.2 (H1.2a, H1.2b, H1.2c, H1.2d); H1.3 (H1.3 a, H1.3 b, H1.3 c, H1.3 d), H2, H3, and H4 (H4.1; H4.2; H4.3) of this research model, non-parametric bootstrapping [67] was performed to examine the significance of the path coefficients in the inner model.

Table 4. Summary Results of Path Coefficients and Hypothesis Testing.

Hypotheses	Direct Effects	β	T-Value	p Value	Decision
H1.1	Emotional Attachment
H1.1a	Recycling and Composting → Emotional Attachment	0.146	3.643	0.000	Supported
H1.1b	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Emotional Attachment	0.269	6.770	0.000	Supported
H1.1c	Eco-friendly Supply → Emotional Attachment	−0.056	1.198	0.231	Rejected
H1.1d	Menu Sustainability → Emotional Attachment	0.129	2.761	0.006	Supported
H1.2	Guest satisfaction
H1.2a	Recycling and Composting → Guest Satisfaction	0.100	3.011	0.003	Supported
H1.2b	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Guest Satisfaction	0.142	4.101	0.000	Supported
H1.2c	Eco-friendly Supply → Guest Satisfaction	0.143	4.024	0.000	Supported
H1.2d	Menu Sustainability → Guest Satisfaction	0.217	6.615	0.000	Supported
H1.3	Guest Attitudes
H1.3a	Recycling and Composting → Guest Attitudes	0.103	2.846	0.004	Supported
H1.3b	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Guest Attitudes	0.161	3.910	0.000	Supported
H1.3c	Eco-friendly Supply → Guest Attitudes	0.088	2.105	0.035	Supported
H1.3d	Menu Sustainability → Guest Attitudes	0.169	3.750	0.000	Supported
H2	Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction	0.301	9.378	0.000	Supported
H3	Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction	0.056	2.123	0.034	Supported
H4	Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H4.1	Emotional Attachment → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.399	11.359	0.000	Supported
H4.2	Guest Attitudes → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.170	5.324	0.000	Supported
H4.3	Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.239	6.246	0.000	Supported

shows the results of the path coefficient of the inner model, illustrating that all hypotheses were significant because the confidence levels were higher than 95% (p-value < 0.05). Moreover, the path coefficient directly showed the relationship between green practices and customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes, and willingness to consume. Hypotheses H1 (H1.1; H1.2; H1.3), H2, H3, and H4 (H4.1; H4.2; H4.3) met the statistically significant standard and were completely supported. However, eco-friendly supplies of green practices and customer emotional attachment have not met the statistically significant standard (p-value = 0.231 > 0.05; t-value = 1.198 < 1.96; β-value = −0.056) and rejected H1.1c. The results indicated that the extended TPB model by DiPietro et al. [5] adopted from Ajzen’s TPB [5,6,8,28,34] included the significance of green practices; customer satisfaction, emotional attachment, and attitudes were predicated upon the willingness to consume green products. The findings were consistent with the proposed hypothesized and indicated a sufficient explanation of customer behavior toward green practices in this study. It also revealed that the higher the green practices of Recycling and Composting; Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment; Eco-friendly Supply; and Menu Sustainability, the greater the customer satisfaction and attitudes toward green restaurants. Moreover, the findings revealed that the higher the green practices of Recycling and Composting; Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment; and Menu Sustainability, the greater the customer’s emotional attachment toward green restaurants. Lastly, we could conclude from the findings that the higher the customer’s emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes, the greater the customer’s willingness to consume eco-friendly products in restaurants, and vice versa. Figure 2 shows the structural model resulting from the PLS analysis.

4.2.5. Mediation Analysis

To validate the role of mediating variables in this study, we used bootstrapping with 2000 replications [9,62] to analyze the indirect relationship between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume green products via customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes. Moreover, to identify the potential roles of mediating variables on customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes, we examined the cause–effect relationships in this study. We also considered the mediating role of customer emotional attachment, attitudes, and satisfaction towards green restaurants. The path analysis results lead to three factors of green practices: recycling and composting, energy- and water-efficient equipment, and menu sustainability. These factors had indirect positive effects on guest satisfaction via emotional attachment, and thus H5-1 was partially supported. However, eco-friendly supply did not have a positive indirect effect on guest satisfaction via customer emotional attachment, so H5-1.3 was rejected. Additionally, green practices did not show positive indirect effects on guest satisfaction via guest attitudes, so guest attitudes did not have mediated role in this model; thus, H5-2 was completely rejected.

We examined the mediating role of customer emotional attachment, attitudes, and satisfaction between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume at green restaurants. The path analysis results lead to three factors of green practices: recycling and composting, energy- and water-efficient equipment, and menu sustainability. These factors had indirect positive effects on guests’ willingness to consume green products, which raised the behavioral intentions via emotional attachment–guest attitudes. However, eco-friendly supply did not have a positive indirect effect on guests’ willingness to consume green products, which increased the behavioral intentions via emotional attachment–guest attitudes. Consequently, H6-1, H6-2, H6-4, and H7 were partially supported. The indirect effects of green practices on guests’ willingness to consume green products via customer behavioral intentions through consumer satisfaction were completely supported, so H6-3 was confirmed. Additionally, the indirect effects of green practices on guests’ willingness to consume behaviors through both constructs of guest attitudes and guest satisfaction did not show a statistically significant standard, so guest attitudes and guest satisfaction were not the key mediating variables in this path link. Therefore, H6-5 was rejected. The results indicated that guest emotional attachment–guest satisfaction were the main key mediating variables of guests’ willingness to consume green products (see

Table 5. Summary Results of Indirect Effects.

Hypotheses	Indirect Effects	β	Result
H5-1	Emotional Attachment and Guest Satisfaction
H5-1.1	Recycling and Composting → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction	0.044 **	Supported
H5-1.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction	0.081 ***	Supported
H5-1.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction	−0.017	Rejected
H5-1.4	Menu Sustainability → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction	0.039 *	Supported
H5-2	Guest Attitudes and Guest Satisfaction
H5-2.1	Recycling and Composting → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction	0.006	Rejected
H5-2.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction	0.009	Rejected
H5-2.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction	0.005	Rejected
H5-2.4	Menu Sustainability → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction	0.009	Rejected
H6-1	Emotional Attachment and Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H6-1.1	Recycling and Composting → Emotional Attachment → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.058 **	Supported
H6-1.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Emotional Attachment → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.107 ***	Supported
H6-1.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Emotional Attachment → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	−0.023	Rejected
H6-1.4	Menu Sustainability → Emotional Attachment → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.051 **	Supported
H6-2	Guest Attitudes and Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H6-2.1	Recycling and Composting → Guest Attitudes → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.018 **	Supported
H6-2.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Guest Attitudes → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.027 **	Supported
H6-2.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Guest Attitudes → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.015	Rejected
H6-2.4	Menu Sustainability → Guest Attitudes → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.029 **	Supported
H6-3	Guest Satisfaction and Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H6-3.1	Recycling and Composting → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.024 **	Supported
H6-3.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.034 **	Supported
H6-3.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.034 **	Supported
H6-3.4	Menu Sustainability → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.052 ***	Supported
H6-4	Emotional Attachment—Guest Satisfaction and Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H6-4.1	Recycling and Composting → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.010 **	Supported
H6-4.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.019 ***	Supported
H6-4.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	−0.004	Rejected
H6-4.4	Menu Sustainability → Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.009 **	Supported
H6-5	Guest Attitudes—Guest Satisfaction and Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H6-5.1	Recycling and Composting → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.001	Rejected
H6-5.2	Energy- and Water-Efficient Equipment → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.002	Rejected
H6-5.3	Eco-friendly Supply → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.001	Rejected
H6-5.4	Menu Sustainability → Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.002	Rejected
H7	Guest Satisfaction and Guest’s Willingness to Consume
H7.1	Emotional Attachment → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.072 ***	Supported
H7.2	Guest Attitudes → Guest Satisfaction → Guest’s Willingness to Consume	0.013	Rejected

Notes: p > 0.05, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.000 (two tailed).

).

Figure 2 presents the results of the test hypotheses. We utilized research based on “non-parametric bootstrapping” with 2000 replications to test the structural model at the level of the confidence interval of 95% [62,63,66]. As shown in Figure 2, a PLS-SEM analysis yielded the results of this study. Each path reached a statistically significant at the level of the confidence interval of 95%; thus, a “significance level of 5% and above” when the T statistics exceeded the prescribed regression weight limit of 1.96 was reached, the path coefficients were significant, and the pathway effect causation based on the conceptual framework was yielded [38,62,63,66]. The results of PLS-SEM model are shown in Table 4 and Table 5.

5. Discussion and Managerial Implications

5.1. Discussion

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of green practices on the customer’s behavioral willingness to consume green products via the customer’s emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward eco-friendly restaurants in HCM City, Vietnam. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the causal effects of green practices on the customer’s emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes, and indirect effects on the customer’s behavioral willingness to consume green products. The results of this research will be discussed and provide both a theoretical and practical contribution to the literature.

The answers to research question 1, “To what extent do factors of green practices affect customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes toward green products in restaurants?” indicated that the investigated 1095 participants (623 female and 472 male) highly evaluated the relationship between green practices and customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward eco-friendly restaurants and the relationships among them. These results supported H1(H1.1a,b,c,d; H1.2a,b,c,d; H1.3a,b,c,d), H2, and H3. Firstly, the consumer’s emotional attachment to applying green practices has a significant positive association with these restaurants that committed and patronized to implement green practices based on these aspects: energy conservation and water-efficient equipment, eco-friendly supplies, menu sustainability, use of recycling and composting systems, and waste management and reduction, so the results are in line with previous studies [4,5,9,11,20,41,46,50]. Secondly, the customer’s emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes are part of a personal introverted experience in evaluating their behavioral intention toward green practices in restaurants. When the customers perceived that green practices bring favorable results in protecting the environment and their health, their attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes became even more positive and encouraged a willingness to consume green products. To maintain customer satisfaction, attitudes, and attachment, it can be concluded that eco-friendly restaurants grew more committed to using green technologies, e.g., saving water systems, reducing waste foods, saving energy, installing high-efficiency devices, using low-flow toilets and flow restrictors on faucets, using digital thermostats in dining places, establishing reuse of linen, table clothes, and napkins, establishing water conservation programs, using recycled or rapidly renewable materials [4,11,46,50], as well as adopting waste separating practices for waste management and reduction [9]. As eco-friendly supply did not have a notable relationship with guest emotional attachment, this study did not support H1.1c. In other words, eco-friendly supply did not significantly affect the customer’s emotional attachment. As for consumers in this study, they thought eco-friendly supply was not an important factor; therefore, it did not cause a notable effect on their emotional attachment to using green products, and the effect it did have was not significant. Since the consumers explained that this is the restaurants’ duty, the use of or attachment to green products is a personal behavior based on personal opinion (e.g., cleaning dishes, linen, tables, and floors or using biodegradable, paper containers, or recyclable materials).

The answers to research question 2, “To what extent do customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes affect customer’s willingness to consume green products in restaurants?” indicated that customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward eco-friendly restaurants were positively and significantly associated with customers’ behavioral willingness to consume green products, so these findings supported H4 (H4.1; H4.2; H4.3) and aligned with previous studies adopted from Ajzen’s TPB [5,6,11,15,16,20,22,68,69]. This study showed and confirmed that guests are satisfied with the eco-friendly restaurant, leading to customers’ willingness to consume more green products in the context of the pre-dining experience. Unlike previous ones focused on satisfaction as a predictor of post-purchase behaviors, these findings have proposed that customer satisfaction plays a vital role as an independent variable, dependence variable, and key mediating variable to predict and describe customer’s behavioral intention in the repurchase phase [11,20,44,46]. Additionally, the study supported the result by Tan et al. [52]; their study claimed the positive impact of guest attitudes towards green practices on customer’s willingness to purchase green products in green restaurants in Taiwan. This current study filled in the gaps of the study by Schubert et al. [4]; their study only confirmed the univariate results of green practices on guest attitudes towards green practices and customer’s willingness to pay more for green products, but their findings missed the bivariate relationship between these factors. Furthermore, our findings also supported the results from previous studies [4,5], which identified and confirmed the effects of customers’ attitudes on willingness to consume green products or services because these firms are environmentally friendly, even though they are more expensive. As a consequence, customer’s attitudes is an important antecedent, mediating, and outcome variable to predict and describe customer’s behavior intention, which is in line with Ajzen’s TPB.

The answers to research question 3, “To what extent do customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, attitudes mediate the relationship between green practices and customer’s willingness to consume green products in restaurants?” proved the cause-and-effect roles of mediating variables of customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume green products in eco-friendly restaurants. This study partially supported H5, H6, and H7. Firstly, the findings of this current study showed that customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes play key mediation roles in the causal relationship of green practices and willingness to consume more green products. However, only eco-friendly supply was not significant. Secondly, the results proved that customer emotional attachment plays a key mediation role in the causal relationship between green practices and customer satisfaction, but this study was not successful in determining whether customer attitudes are a key mediating variable. Therefore, in the future, researchers should continue to determine this causal relationship in different fields. The impacts of customer emotional attachment on customers’ willingness to consume more green products showed the strongest effect. Supporting this result is the assertion that emotional attachment to an object is based strong attachment to and identification with a green restaurant, particularly that the restaurant means a lot to the consumers and says a lot about who they are [11,20]. Guests are more inclined to dine at a green restaurant if they have a tight emotional bond to that place and it is a part of their lives. Concerning the mediation role of customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes in the relationship between green practices and customer’s willingness to consume green products, the findings of this current study showed that customers‘ attitudes did not have a significant effect, so it plays a partial mediation role in the causal relationship between green practices and customer satisfaction. In providing deeper insights and knowledge about causal relationships, we lacked studies to help examine the mediating roles of three factors (customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes) in the relationship between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume green products. Therefore, the findings of this study are considered new evidence and contribute to the literature in proving the importance of customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes in the indirect relationship between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume.

5.2. Theoretical Contributions

To determine which factors of green practices have the most important influence on the restaurant’s visitors that motivated the restaurants to implement the incorporated sustainable business green practices to improve their products and services, we assessed the extension of the TPB model, its influence on guests’ psychological behaviors, and its applications in predicting customers’ willingness to consume the green products, including customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward green practices. The findings can be drawn from several theoretical contributions. Firstly, the results from this study yielded that all factors of green practices had a positive significant and direct effect on guest attitudes, as confirmed by previous studies [4,5]. In addition, the findings demonstrate that guest satisfaction was built upon the restaurant’s application of green practices, and it is the main cause of increasing business in the F and B industry. It expands the research area for this relationship because it has hitherto been limited to tourism or accommodation services [42]. The findings of this investigation complement those of earlier studies in which guest satisfaction directly affects the prediction of behavioral intention, as confirmed by previous studies [11,20,42]. Moreover, guests’ emotional attachment proved the influence on behavioral intention to explain customers’ willingness to consume green products, as confirmed by previous studies [8,11,20,46], and eco-friendly supply did not have a relationship with guest emotional attachment.

Secondly, this study is the only empirical investigation into the impact of green practices on willingness to consume green products through three mediating variables. It contributes to our understanding of the direct and indirect relationships between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume green products via mediating variables of customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes. The results expand the literature on environmental sustainability in the restaurant industry. This is the first research project that has examined whether the customer satisfaction factor works as an independent variable, mediating variable, and dependent variable, as well as customers’ emotional attachment and attitudes as antecedent and mediating variables to explore the causal relationship between green practices and customers’ willingness to consume green products to predict customers’ behavioral intention in the eco-friendly restaurants. Ultimately, our results extended Ajzen’s TPB model [5,6,8,11,16,20,22,46] and was thus well supported.

Thirdly, this study proved the cause-and-effect roles of mediating variables of customer emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes towards green practices on customers’ willingness to consume green products in eco-friendly restaurants, with customers willing to consume green products in these restaurants and pay 5 percent more to purchase organic products or services in the restaurants of Vietnam. The findings were explained by a combination of these factors. The most impact a factor had was customers’ emotional attachment on customers’ willingness to consume more green products, which showed the strongest effect. This result supported the assertion to measure the customer’s emotional attachment to an object based on strong attachment to and identification with a green restaurant and how much the restaurant means to the consumer and says about who they are [11,20]. Guests are more inclined to dine at a green restaurant if their emotional bond is attached to the restaurant, and it is a part of their life; they are also influenced by the restaurants applying green practices, such as recycling “recyclable materials” and composting, energy- and water-efficient equipment, and menu sustainability [11,20]. Guests feel more satisfaction in choosing a green restaurant because of its recycling management, organic ingredients in the menu, energy and water efficiency, eco-friendly facilities, local ingredients, environmental friendliness, and express environmental concerns are in line with the results of related research [11,20,42].

5.3. Practical Implications

As the level of green consciousness increases among customers in HCM City and around the world, managers of restaurants should focus more on green operation strategies in order to have a competitive advantage. This study provides several practical implications as follows. Firstly, the results showed that green practices explain the relatively good correlation between customers’ emotional attachment and willingness to consume green products. From this, managers of restaurants must commit to using green practices that focus on factors: recycling and composting and energy- and water-efficient equipment. Furthermore, restaurants should incorporate eco-friendly supplies to establish customers’ emotional attachment to their services. Of the green practices affected by customer satisfaction and attitudes, this investigation showed that menu sustainability has the highest correlation with significant emphasis on local products and organic meals on the menu. Therefore, restaurants should provide local ingredients and ensure that fish and other seafood are harvested sustainably and free of harmful pollutants. Aside from adhering to green-eating habits, restaurants should also avoid using genetically modified foods.

Regarding casual restaurants, they are encouraged to prioritize and implement recycling and composting practices and energy-and-saving efficient methods. If financially viable, they can later invest in food sustainability practices to foster customers’ emotional attachment, satisfaction, and attitudes toward green products and services. Therefore, restaurants are reconstructing a new vision of the environment to pursue a higher goal of increasing the intention of customers’ willingness to choose to dine in these restaurants.

Secondly, based on demographic analyses, a large number of consumers willing to consume green products in this research investigation were female (56.9%) and aged between 18 to 25 (37.3%). The results indicated that a large number of customers already had been aware of restaurants’ efforts in protecting the environment and returned because of their environmental functions. Moreover, when they chose to dine in a green restaurant and purchased green products, they developed emotional attachments to green practices and felt that their choices spoke to their identities (i.e., who they are). Therefore, restaurants must optimize their ability to fulfilling greening strategies, such as energy efficiency and conservation, water conservation and efficiency, recycling and compositing, and purchasing sustainable, local ingredients and organic foods. The findings showed that green practices have positive significant indirect effects on the customers’ behavioral intention through attitudes, satisfaction, and emotional attachment, indicating that more and more customers became aware of protecting the environment and thus willing to pay up to five percent more to sustainable products and environmentally safe services. Therefore, the manager of restaurants and marketers should focus on this segment of young female customers to address the demand for green products when restaurants advertise eco-friendly services, ecological menus from natural ingredients, and green products made from recycled or rapidly renewable materials.

Thirdly, the result proved that there is a positive correlation between green practices and customer satisfaction and has an indirect effect on customers’ willingness to consume green products, which is consistent with the results of previous studies. Therefore, managers of restaurants should focus on all four factors of green practices to increase customer satisfaction and predict the influence of guests’ willingness to consume more green products because the customers have increased awareness of their health as the COVID-19 pandemic changed their consumption behavior and beliefs in choosing a green restaurant (use organic products, sustainable environment, local sources, and organic foods). The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down and brought immense concerns for the consumers, who are changing their consumption patterns. The restaurant industry is one of the sectors most affected by this crisis. Therefore, restaurants should design various sustainable menus because the need for safety and organic foods are increasing, and more and more consumers are willing to purchase green products and services. As a result, managers of restaurants should prioritize safety and healthy foods by cooperating closely in obtaining supply resources from the suppliers. Moreover, restaurants should apply new hygiene standards and processes to protect customers from the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent this crisis. Therefore, managers of restaurants are required to pay more attention to cleanliness (the hall, dining rooms, elevators, kitchen, rest rooms, common areas), which must be sanitized and safe at all times in the restaurants. In addition, restaurants should avoid using tablecloths, napkins, or other absorbent materials that are hard to decompose and instead use disposable materials and reuse them. Besides that, managers of restaurants should financially invest in green technology, electronic devices, and digital and automation technologies that allow customers to make online reservations. Finally, restaurants should implement green practices to gain competitive advantages and encourage customers’ willingness to consume green products. These should be the core values of a successful restaurant. Implementing green practices and following these core values will help restaurants save operating costs (electricity, water, detergent, etc.) that impact the sustainable development of restaurants in the future.

Of the green practices affected by customer satisfaction, attitudes, emotional attachment, and willingness to consume eco-friendly products, this investigation also showed that energy- and water-efficient equipment has a high positive significant correlation in illustrating the impact of energy and water usage on the restaurant industry. Therefore, managers of restaurants should financially invest in remodeling spaces, such as designing open-air spaces, outdoor spaces, using the equipment to build outdoor seating to take advantage of bright sunlit dining areas, to impress environmentally conscious customers. The results of this study also showed that restaurants should build a marketing strategy that highlights green practices to connect to the customers’ hearts and pique their interest in willingness to consume. Besides that, the government and officials should subsidize finances and reduce taxes on green restaurants to encourage them to produce green products in order to reach the goal of energy conservation, carbon reduction, and pollutants reduction to protect the environment. The variables of eco-friendly supplies that were not supported in this study are not less significant; they simply were not a high priority among customers in HCM City. Because ecological and health concerns vary between people and regions, this study provides insight into concerns that are, at the moment, most pertinent to customers in HCM City. Applying green practices in restaurants enable the tourism sector to achieve competitive advantages, build brand image, improve ecological performance, protect the environment, and reduce operational costs. Therefore, managers of restaurants should focus on power management, waste management, and food safety as they are huge problems that the country is facing and are widely discussed in tourism conferences.

6. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

The results of this study reached our research objectives. However, there were some limitations that need to be modified in future studies because this study just provided opportunities for further research. Firstly, the variables and perspectives were adapted from previous studies in Western countries, most of which were developed countries and verified by customers with high environmental consciousness; thus, they may be weak in Vietnam. Secondly, since this study provided a novel conceptual framework, it needs to add more factors such as the image and brand of a restaurant to verify its veracity by using mixed methods in further research. Thirdly, only four factors of green practices were defined in this study. Other green attributes, such as green messages and green qualifications, may also have an impact on guests’ psychology, and their inclusion could help researchers better understand how one makes patronizing decisions. Moreover, customer characteristics such as green consciousness, familiarity, and motivational factors should be regarded as modifiers to enhance customer behavior intention. Further research should apply other methodologies to explore the concepts of green practices, such as qualitative methods or mixed methods.