This study develops an integrated theoretical framework combining terror management theory (TMT) and the attitude-behavior-context (ABC) model to examine the factors driving pro-environmental behavior (PEB) among tourists in Vietnam. By integrating psychological factors emphasizing cultural worldview and value systems (TMT) with contextual action mechanisms (ABC), the study clarifies how Awareness, death anxiety, and self-esteem shape attitudes towards the environment and social norms. Data were collected from 287 domestic and international tourists at key green destinations, including Hanoi, Hue, and Da Nang. The collected data were cleaned, and SmartPLS software was used to assess the fit, reliability, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships of the research model. The results show that all TMT constructs significantly enhance attitudes toward the environment, subjective norms, and cognitive context, thereby promoting PEB. More importantly, the study identifies the variable Trust as a key moderator, reinforcing the relationship between attitudes, norms, and context and actual PEB. These findings extend the ABC theory by highlighting Trust as a psychological aspect that bridges the gap between TMT elements and contextual constraints in ABC, ensuring that attitudes toward the environment are translated into PEB. In fact, this study encourages stakeholders in the tourism industry to move beyond generic solutions towards building transparent green branding and trust-based communication to strengthen Trust and design messages that appeal to tourists’ self-esteem to promote environmentally protective behavior.
Trang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.