Interplay of virtual and physical channels in propagating green behaviour: A study integrating motivation-opportunity-ability and theory of planned behaviour

Traditional communication channels and new “human-computer interaction” spread channels are intertwined, facilitating the promote of the concept of “green for all”. This paper integrates the influence of virtual channel and physical channel attributes into the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability theory (MOA) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explore the spread process of public green behaviors. The results show that: (1) In the composite effect, environmental responsibility (ER) and external objective factors (EOF) have no significant impact on the propagation of green behavior among the public. Both virtual channel attributes (VCA) and physical channel attributes (PCA) can accelerate the spread process of public green behavior, with PCA having the greatest impact on the propagation of public green behavior. (2) ER, VCA, PCA, EOF, and external subjective factors (ESF) can all promote the spread of public green behavior through the intermediary chain of spread motivation and spread intention. Among them, channel attributes more directly influence the spread of green behavior, and the chain mediating effect of ER through the chain was the most significant. At the same time, ESF plays a significant moderating role between the intention to spread and propagation behavior (PB), effectively bridging the gap between behavior and intention. (3) Further heterogeneity analysis shows that, compared with males, PCA has a greater promoting effect on the green behavior propagation of females, while VCA has a more significant positive effect on the green behavior propagation of the more educated public. Finally, this article examines the presence of intermediary and regulatory mechanisms among various income groups. Research has found that promoting the creation of conducive conditions for comprehensive green behavior propagation and developing targeted and mass-oriented green behavior propagation strategies by all societal stakeholders are crucial for enhancing public engagement in green practices.