ABSTRACT This study proposes to investigate the impact of Green Messages and tourists' eco‐emotions like eco‐guilt and eco‐shame on sustainable actions, including perceived environmental friendliness as a boundary condition from the theoretical lens of Affect Infusion Model (AIM). This study tests the proposed model by employing a mixed‐method framework using partial least square structured equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) to examine the quantitative data from frequent travelers ( N = 288) and the Gioia technique for analyzing the qualitative insights from experts ( n = 18). The findings of the quantitative analysis revealed that green messages significantly shape sustainable actions and evoke eco‐shame, which mediates the relationship between green messages and sustainable action. Further, perceived environmental friendliness moderates the association of green messages on sustainable action, eco‐guilt, and eco‐shame and sustainable action. The results of the qualitative analysis drive the emergence of four aggregate dimensions such as green consciousness, eco‐message congruity, eco‐identity regulation, and pro‐environmental transformation emphasizing how tourists internalize and act upon emotional environmental cues. Overall, the novelty of this research is grounded in extending the AIM into the green messaging domain and exploring the diverse roles of eco‐guilt and eco‐shame in developing emotionally resonant, credible sustainability campaigns to foster behavioral change in tourist pro‐environmental actions.
Kou et al. (2026) studied this question.