Persuasive sustainability messaging and environmental stewardship: an elaboration likelihood perspective on floating market destinations

This study examines how persuasive sustainability messaging translates into environmental stewardship within floating market destinations by integrating the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM). Using survey data from visitors to Thai floating markets, we applied PLS-SEM to test probabilistic sufficiency, Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), and a combined importance–performance map analysis (cIPMA). Central-route cues, such as argument quality and information relevance, and selected peripheral cues, including, visual appeal, emotional appeal, and social proof significantly shaped awareness of consequences. Environmental stewardship behaviour was driven by argument quality, information relevance, source credibility, and social proof. The NAM sequence was strongly supported. Personal norms further emerged as a necessary condition for stewardship. NCA revealed necessity for awareness of consequences in argument quality, cognitive engagement, information relevance, visual appeal, emotional appeal, and social proof. For environmental stewardship behaviour, necessity held for argument quality, information relevance, need for cognition, visual and emotional appeal, social proof, and personal norms. cIPMA identified the largest necessity shortfalls in information relevance, visual appeal, and argument quality. Findings refine persuasion theory by positioning visual and emotional design as threshold enablers and reaffirm NAM’s sequential logic, offering practical and marketing guidance for destination managers.