Tourists’ Pro-environmental Behaviors: Moral Obligation or Disengagement?

Abstract

We study the formation of pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) by integrating both the promoting (moral obligation) and inhibiting (moral disengagement) PEB mechanisms. Results of a sample of 285 tourists at a National Nature Reserve in China affirm that moral obligation positively affects PEB intention, while moral disengagement has significant negative impact. There is little difference in the relative importance of moral obligation and moral disengagement in affecting PEB intention. Social influence plays an important role in regulating the impacts of moral variables on PEB intentions. This study also broadens knowledge of the structure of PEB, by unveiling low-effort PEB intention as a precursor to high-effort PEB intention, and a mediator between moral obligation / moral disengagement and high-effort PEB intention. This study provides insights and implications for tourism practitioners and policy makers, and opens up future research exploration of the paradox of the promoting and inhibiting PEB mechanisms.

Perceived social impacts of tourism and quality-of-life: a new conceptual model

“…Pro-environmental behaviour is defined as the adoption of behaviours by individuals or groups to manage environmental resources and promote environmental sustainability (Ramkissoon et al, 2013a). The concept is deeply rooted in environmental psychology literature (Scannell & Gifford, 2010, 2017 and since has been adapted to a range of disciplines including urban planning and architecture, geography, health, sociology, geography and tourism (Daryanto & Song, 2021;Ramkissoon et al, 2013b;Wu et al, 2020). Ramkissoon et al (2013c) categorised pro-environmental behaviour as low-effort and high-effort PEB.…”

“…Examples can include peri-urban parks, local cafes and restaurants, shopping malls in the neighbourhood, aquatic facilities, museums and heritage trails among others. Recognising detrimental environmental consequences of tourism at tourist attractions, most tourism researchers have explored the association between place attachment and pro-environmental behaviour from the tourist's perspective (Qu et al, 2019;Wu et al, 2020). No study have explored in a single integrative model how residents' place attachment may lead to engagement in pro-social and pro-environmental place protective behaviours and support for tourism development, and how the latter contributes to their quality of life.…”

Application of machine learning to predict visitors’ green behavior in marine protected areas: evidence from Cyprus

“…Additionally, travellers' environmentally friendly behaviours in tourism destinations have always been an important discussion for managers, researchers and policymakers . This is evidenced by numerous studies on predictors of visitors' PEB across settings including highly valued ecological areas (Landon et al, 2018;Lee et al, 2019;Li & Wu, 2019;Wu et al, 2020). Nevertheless, the complexities of tourism and individuals' environmental behaviours have been relatively neglected in the literature and need further elaboration Lezak & Thibodeau, 2016;Olya & Akhshik, 2019;Ramkissoon et al, 2012).…”

A passionate travel to mind green turtles—Unpacking the complexity of visitors' green behaviour

“…PEB as a tool to enhance environmental sustainability both in natural and urban settings (e.g., Miller, Merrilees, & Coghlan, 2015;Ramkissoon, Mavondo, & Uysal, 2018;Rezapouraghdam, Alipour, & Darvishmotevali, 2018) has attracted significant interest in academia (Wu, Font, & Liu, 2020). Although the quest to unravel the antecedents of PEB is complex and still controversial (Miller et al, 2015) and the extant literature mainly falls in three categories: (a) Roles of the external factors such as surrounding environments and interpreters as means of promoting PEB through intervening in the context; (b) study of the antecedents of individuals' internal characteristics to influence their behaviour; and (c) research studies that focus on PEB as an outcome variable, for instance, the study of divided PEB into a two-dimensional construct that comprised of low-effort PEB and high-effort PEB.…”

“…The majority of the studies, so far, in predicting PEB area are limited to linear asymmetrical relationships between the predictors and outcome variables; conversely, this study suggests multiple recipes from the confluence of the different variables in shaping visitors' PEBs (Table 6; F: M1-M7). The study further investigates the negations of PEB to deepen our knowledge of the mechanisms of PEBs (Wu et al, 2020). Theoretical contributions of the study lie in the hearth of a paradigm shift from reductionism to holism in interpreting the literature, modelling, and data analysis.…”