Sustainable tourism is essential for tourism sector development. Environmentally responsible behaviors and behavioral intentions are important prerequisites for sustainable tourism. This research explores the behavioral intentions of university tourism students and significant factors affecting these behavioral intentions. The questionnaire survey method was applied to university students from the tourism departments of nine universities in Taiwan. A total of 390 valid questionnaires were collected. The pro-environmental behavioral intentions of the students ranged from moderate to high. Environmental knowledge positively affected behavioral intentions and positively influenced environmental sensitivity and environmental responsibility. Furthermore, environmental sensitivity and environmental responsibility exerted a full effect in mediating the relationship between environmental knowledge and behavioral intentions. Hence, increasing students' environmental knowledge will enhance their behavioral intentions. However, by improving students' sensitivity and responsibility, their intentions to protect the environment can be more effectively elevated. Development implications and recommendations for sustainable tourism and higher education are provided.

No abstract

The purpose of this research was to establish a conceptual model of volunteer interpreters’ satisfaction in Taiwan. The objectives were: (1) to understand Taiwanese volunteer interpreters’ activity involvement, place attachment, and personal satisfaction and (2) to propose a hypothetical structural model representing the association between activity involvement, place attachment, and interpreters’ satisfaction. A total of 378 surveys were collected from volunteer interpreters at six Taiwan national parks and the Taipei Zoo. Based on the findings, research targets’ activity involvement was high and place attachment was moderate. Their satisfaction, however, was high. Furthermore, the results showed that the volunteer interpreters’ activity involvement and place attachment positively and significantly influenced satisfaction; their activity involvement also positively influenced place attachment. Based on the results, researchers proposed suggestions for agency managers who use volunteers, among them promoting interpreters’ activity involvement and place attachment in order to enhance volunteer satisfaction.

No abstract

The Society of Wilderness (SOW) is a non-governmental organization in Taiwan that relies on volunteers to protect nature through environmental education. Since volunteers play such an important role in natural resource preservation, more information is needed to understand their participation in SOW. The purpose of this study was to develop an interpretation specialization continuum of environmental volunteerism in Taiwan. A mail-back survey was administered to interpreters volunteering at Er-ge Mountain during the winter of 2005. Forty-five of 48 questionnaires were returned, yielding a 93.8% response rate. The resource knowledge and place attachment scores of volunteer interpreters were combined into a 2 x 2 matrix, thus providing one explanation for their level of activity involvement in SOW. Although volunteer interpreters were distributed throughout the continuum, results showed that highly specialized interpreters had greater activity involvement scores than those who were less specialized. Length of membership in SOW had no effect on their activity involvement scores. This specialization continuum addressed key managerial issues, such as recruitment and retention of volunteer interpreters.