Does the Past Affect the Future? An Analysis of Consumers’ Dining Intentions towards Green Restaurants in the UK

Due to the growing notion of environmental protection, many restaurants have started to apply operational practices to diminish their carbon footprint, leading to the emergence of “green” restaurants. Green restaurants are establishments committed to minimizing adverse environmental consequences throughout their operations. Nevertheless, further research is warranted to examine consumer behavior in this field. Taking the consumers’ perspective, this study uses an augmented theory of planned behavior (TPB) and a cross-section of 896 British diners to explain their dining intentions towards green restaurants. The extended model of the TPB was tested to justify the addition of past behavior and the impact of sociodemographic characteristics. Using structural equation analysis, the results identified past behavior, perceived behavioral control, subjective descriptive norms, and attitude as critical factors influencing behavioral intention. Furthermore, apart from gender, the relationships between sociodemographics and intentions to dine at green restaurants were insignificant. This research provides insightful implications in the green restaurant domain and suggestions for future research