Digital Sustainable Marketing and Green Consumer Choices: The Mediating Roles of Green Perceived Value and Green Skepticism in Saudi Arabia

Digital sustainable marketing is used by firms to communicate environmental efforts through social media and e-commerce platforms, yet its effectiveness in shaping green choices remains unclear in emerging markets like Saudi Arabia. This study investigates how digital sustainable marketing influences green consumer choices directly and indirectly through green perceived value and green skepticism. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 400 Saudi consumers who use digital channels and purchase offerings promoted as green or sustainable. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results show that digital sustainable marketing has a significant positive effect on green consumer choices and on green perceived value, while it reduces green skepticism. Green perceived value increases, and green skepticism decreases, green consumer choices. Both mediators partially transmit the impact of digital sustainable marketing on green consumer choices, revealing a value-enhancing path and a skepticism-reducing path operating in parallel. The study contributes by integrating positive and negative psychological mechanisms into a single dual-path model of digital sustainable marketing and by providing evidence from the Saudi market. The findings offer guidance for designing digital sustainability campaigns that enhance perceived value while limiting skepticism to accelerate green consumption.