Do circular economy practices moderate the wine tourism–green performance relationship? A structural analysis applied to the Spanish wine industry

The research focuses on analysing the effect of wine tourism (WT) on the green performance (GP) of Spanish wineries, as well as the mediating role of green intellectual capital (GIC) and the moderating effect of circular economy practices (CEPs) developed by wineries in this main relationship. In addition, age, size and protected designation of origin (PDO) membership are introduced as control variables to increase the precision of the cause–effect relationships analysed.

A conceptual model is proposed through the literature review carried out and then verified through structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) based on data obtained from a survey of 202 Spanish wineries between September 2021 and January 2022.

The results of the study show that WT activity has a positive and significant effect on the GP of wineries, also demonstrating the mediating effect of GIC and the moderating role of CEPs in this relationship.

The study contributes to the academic literature in several ways. First, to the best of our knowledge, no previous study has addressed the impact of WT on the set of wineries' ecological intangibles. Second, to the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has analysed the mediating effect of GIC on the WT-GP relationship. Third, there is no previous attempt to deal with the moderating role of CEPs in the main relationship under analysis. Fourth, the proposed theoretical model has not been previously addressed in the academic literature.