Green social media marketing and responsible travel across generations: How content source, trust, and greenwashing shape environmental responsibility

Social media platforms increasingly shape tourist decision-making, yet their role in fostering responsible travel through green communication remains underexplored. This study investigates how green social media marketing influences responsible travel intentions through three scenario-based experiments. Findings reveal that green messaging significantly affects behavioural intentions, with user-generated content exerting greater influence than firm-generated content across generational cohorts. This relationship is mediated by destination green trust and negatively moderated by perceived greenwashing. By examining the interplay among content type, message source, destination trust, and greenwashing perceptions, this research contributes to the growing literature on green communication in tourism by applying established theories within the broader persuasion literature, particularly the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Source Credibility Theory, to the context of pro-environmental digital communication and behavioural intentions. Practically, the results indicate that embedding sustainability cues in digital campaigns can help encourage environmentally responsible travel. Encouraging traveller testimonials and amplifying user-generated eco-stories may further enhance the credibility and effectiveness of social media campaigns aimed at fostering responsible travel behaviour.