Transforming digital technology stimuli into willingness of green travel: the roles of environmental concerns and online green motivation

Based on stimulus-organism-response theory and goal-framing theory, this study aims to explore how and under what conditions digital technology stimuli (DTS) affects the willingness of green travel (WGT) of Ant Forest users. We examine the impact of DTS on the environmental concerns, the mediating role of environmental concerns in the DTS-WGT link, as well as the moderating effect of online green motivation on the impact of DTS on WGT. This study conducts hierarchical regression and Our results show that environmental concerns mediate the impacts of vividness, interactivity, and commonweal on WGT. In addition, hedonic, beneficial, and normative motivation strengthen the impact of vividness on environmental concerns. Beneficial motivation strengthens the impact of commonweal on environmental concerns, while hedonic and normative motivation weaken this relationship. This study verifies and enriches stimulus-organism-response theory by uncovering the “black box” of DTS turning to WGT, and expands goal-framing theory by examining its boundary conditions. Our research findings provide guidance for designing online environmental protection projects and formulating green tourism policies.