Frontstage Green Performances: How Impression Management Drives Pro-Environmental Travel User-Generated Content (UGC) Engagement and Behavioral Intention in China

Although pro-environmental engagement in tourism is typically explained by altruistic or moral motives, it remains unclear whether such engagement on social media is also driven by strategic self-presentation and whether it translates into offline pro-environmental intentions. Drawing on dramaturgical theory, it conceptualizes pro-environmental travel user-generated content (UGC) engagement as a frontstage moral performance and investigates how impression management motivation shapes such engagement and, in turn, pro-environmental behavioral intention in China. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 584 Chinese tourists using purposive sampling, and the data were analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that impression management motivation positively predicts pro-environmental travel UGC engagement and pro-environmental behavioral intention. Pro-environmental travel UGC engagement also positively predicts behavioral intention and partially mediates the effect of impression management motivation on intention. By reframing pro-environmental travel UGC engagement as a dramaturgical performance, this study advances sustainable tourism research by clarifying how online moral self-presentation can translate into offline pro-environmental intentions. The findings further suggest practical implications for destinations and platforms to leverage social visibility and validation cues to encourage sustainable travel intentions.