Eco-initiatives and emotional bonds: The impact of environmental sustainability on brand advocacy through brand love and happiness

Abstract

This study uses the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework and appraisal theory to examine how environmental sustainability initiatives (ESIs) function as external stimuli that trigger emotional reactions (brand happiness and brand love) as organism states. These emotional responses, in turn, lead to brand evangelism as the response. It also explores how time orientation (future, present, and past) moderates the emotional impact of ESIs. Survey data from 501 hotel customers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results show that ESIs significantly enhance both brand happiness and love, with brand love more strongly driving brand evangelism due to its deeper, more enduring passion and commitment compared to the momentary nature of happiness. Further, moderation analysis revealed that future orientation strengthened the effects of ESIs on both happiness and love, suggesting that forward-focused consumers more readily appraise ESIs as personally meaningful. In contrast, present orientation had a significant negative impact on these effects, indicating active resistance of future-oriented brand actions. Past orientation had no significant effect, reflecting appraisal detachment (i.e. neither reject nor embrace ESIs) rather than value conflict. The findings suggest that hotels should adopt a dual-pathway ESI strategy that engages both immediate experiential pleasure and deeper emotional connections and tailor messaging to customers’ time orientations to maximize emotional impact and advocacy.