Do Situations Influence the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of National Park Visitors? Survey from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China

Abstract

Natural ecological protection in protected areas involves the restriction of land use patterns and their intensity. Typically, the goal of land use is to balance environmental protection with community development. Nature education and ecological experiences in protected areas encourage visitor environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) which supports the sustainable use of land in national parks and reduces the degradation of natural environments. The existing research literature has a focus on ways of facilitating ERB through rational and external influences. However, individual behaviors are contextual and specific situations affect behavior. This research used environmental knowledge as a rational factor and situations were viewed as a moderator in stimulating ERB based on situational cognition theory. A knowledge-situation-behavior latent variable moderator model was constructed and tested with visitor survey data from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China. The findings showed that situations had a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental knowledge and ERB. Books, articles, authors and familiar people had a significant positive moderating effect on ERB, as did environmental interpretation and staff guidance. Precise measures to promote the ERB of national park visitors were proposed.

Visitor’s Willingness to Pay for National Park Entrance Fees in China: Evidence from a Contingent Valuation Method

“…Their average age was approximately 35, and the average education level was nearly some college education. The visitors' characteristics of being young and highly educated were consistent with previous studies conducted in other protected areas [35,36]. Most (81.6%) visitors resided in Shaanxi Province because the confirmed cases of COVID-19 discouraged visitors' from travelling to other provinces.…”

“…Our sample of the visitors was representative since the socio-economic characteristics are consistent with analogous surveys conducted in Shaanxi province [37], as well as in other tourist attractions of China's pilot national parks [35,36].…”

Perceptions of ethical cosmetics: Health behaviors during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…However, a gap between intention and behavior has been observed in the literature, as the intention to buy does not necessarily translate into purchasing behavior. Several researchers have analyzed potential motivations or barriers on topics related to responsible behavior, such as the influence of (1) social commerce on ecological consumer behavior (Gao et al, 2021), (2) emotions in ethical consumer decision‐making (Escadas et al, 2020), (3) responsible consumer behavior in reducing the ecological footprint on the internet (Elgaaied‐Gambier et al, 2020), (4) the mediation effect of green consumer values on green product purchasing behavior (Mutum et al, 2021), (5) green consumers personality profiles (Valor & Martinez de Ibarreta, 2021) and (6) the pandemic on organic products purchasing behavior (Sohn et al, 2022).…”

Environmentally responsible behaviour among the teachers: role of gratitude and perceived social responsibility

“…ERB is considered as an altruistic activity (Gao et al , 2021), the willingness to extend help and sacrifice something or the other for the preservation of natural resources is what defines ERB (Kaplan, 2000). Literature reiterates that altruism can be both an antecedent and consequence of positive emotion (Lay and Hoppmann, 2015; Aknin et al , 2018).…”