Perception of Climate Change and Pro-Environmental Behavioral Intentions of Forest Recreation Area Users—A Case of Taiwan

Abstract

This study aims to extend the theory of planned behavior to explore climate change perception, adaptation intention, and behavioral patterns of PEB of tourists in the Xitou Nature Education Area (XNEA) in Taiwan. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation among various variables using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were collected from the close-ended question questionnaires; sample size (n = 626). SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0 for Windows were used as tools for analysis. The results are as follows: the perception of tourists on climate change exerts a significant positive effect on attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, which, in turn, exerts significant positive effects on climate change adaptation intentions. Furthermore, climate change adaptation intentions exert a significant positive influence on the behavioral patterns of PEB. Finally, political trust exerts a moderating effect on the relationship between subjective norms and climate change adaptation intentions and between perceived behavioral control and climate change adaptation intentions. Our findings indicate that it is necessary to encourage awareness of climate change, and that it is also very important to increase the value of political trust when making environmental policies.

Influences of Social–Psychological Constructs in Predicting Taiwanese Pro-Environmental Behaviors

“…PEB were moderately influenced by behavioral intention with 30% of the variances explained by this model. Chang et al [9] applied the theory of planned behavior to understand the PEB of tourists visiting a nature education area in Nantou, Taiwan. 84% of the variances of PEB were explained by the model with attitude having the strongest influence, followed by subjective norms and perceived behavioral control.…”

“…From the various works regarding the PEB of Taiwanese, the theory of planned behaviors was widely used. The surveyed respondents were mostly specified targeted group of people by geographical location [4,10] or specified roles [7][8][9], with a wide range of accounted variances regarding PEB. In addition, subjective norms, the perceived social pressure to engage in a particular behavior, were noted by several researchers to significantly influenced PEB intentions [6,10].…”

“…Among the various research studies conducted to understand the PEB of Taiwanese, the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior were widely used and their coefficients of determination for PEB ranged widely, from healthcare personnel in Tsai and Tan [7], undergraduates in Tsai and Tan [8], tourists visiting Nantou in Chang et al [9] to residents from Taichung in Situmorang et al [10], giving values of 19%, 30%, 84% and 48%, respectively. Given the complexity and variety of pro-environmental behaviors, the VBN theory and the theory of planned behavior had both seen substantial application and development within the literature.…”

Pro-Environment Behaviors, Efficacy Beliefs, Perceived Individual and Social Norms: A Questionnaire Survey in a Sample of Young Adults From Pakistan

“…PEB has been described by Rezapouraghdam et al (2018) as engaging in activities that promote sustainable practices by reducing or eliminating negative environmental impacts (see also Javeed et al, 2022). Thus, as Mackay and Schmitt (2019) and Chang et al (2022) point out, it is important to understand what influences people's attitudes toward climate change and their PEB.…”

“…For example, Spence et al (2011) found that experiencing disasters caused by climate change leads to increased concern and willingness to reduce energy consumption (see also Davidson & Kecinski, 2022). As described by Tierney (2019) and Chang et al (2022), previous disaster experiences, as well as the perception of being part of a collective, lead to the use of a larger repertoire of adaptation strategies, which includes PEB.…”