Antecedents of environmental engagement and environmental learning behaviour

Abstract

PurposeRecent studies have classified ecotourism behaviour into specific components like site-specific ecological, pro-environmental and environmental learning behaviour. However, the role of materialism in generating these types of behaviour is not clearly understood. Materialism might also affect tourists' environmental engagement. Hence, this study embarks on exploring these research gaps.Design/methodology/approachAll the constructs were operationalized as first-order factors based on extant scales of measurement. After suitable pretesting, the study was able to collect 122 valid responses. The responses were analysed using partial least squares (PLS).FindingsResults suggest that environmental engagement and environmental learning behaviour have prominent roles as enablers. Furthermore, the importance of materialism is not statistically significant and requires further investigation.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the study showed that environmental engagement is a crucial precursor for the development of different types of ecotourism behaviour, it also has limitations. First, the study tested the validity of the proposed associations based on the perceptual responses of 122 tourists who are interested in participating in ecotourism. However, this may lack generalizability. Future research can take a common set of tourists or a specific destination and execute a longitudinal analysis to better understand the way ecotourism behaviour has evolved over time at a destination. This would in turn help the local people and tour planners to develop tourism packages and events.Practical implicationsAs tourists are interested in environmental learning, they are eventually expected to take care of the destination environment in terms of protecting it in every form. This may include reporting of any environment damaging activity, for example, activities that can enhance environmental pollution, etc.Social implicationsMaterialism hinders the environmental conservation spree of tourists, when they indulge more in shopping and leisure trips. Hence, for destination planners it is very important to hold complementary events in addition to the main event to highlight the dire need of involving in ecotourism activities.Originality/valueThe study is of significant contribution for researchers and practitioners as it develops the antecedents and consequences of environmental learning behaviour. Furthermore, this study has implications for managers working for sustainability of tourism destinations.

Happy Sustainability: A Future Quest for More Sustainable Universities

“…Other studies, however, find support in the other direction, namely that happiness or the motivation to be happy may drive people to accumulate and consume in unsustainable ways. For example, as individuals obtain material goods, they gain the status of success attached to those materials goods (Manoj et al 2020). Consequently, they often link their happiness and life satisfaction to those goods and the attainment of more goods (Calìope Sobreira et al 2020).…”

Ecotourism design and plant protection based on sensor network

“…At the same time, due to the insufficient understanding of the role of plant protection in tourism, the surrounding environment has deteriorated and the risk of large-scale outbreaks of pests and diseases has increased. From the academic point of view, ecotourism mainly focuses on planning, economy and ecology, but there are few theoretical studies on the role of plant protection on ecotourism (Awasthi and Bollas, 2020;Manoj et al, 2020). The construction of 10.3389/fpls.2022.993838 ecological agriculture has laid a good material foundation and pollution-free security for the development of tourism.…”

Individual-level characteristics of environmental sustainability among students in a higher education institution: the role of happiness and academic performance

“…In particular, it is not well known why, how or if students come to embody a sustainable lifestyle. A small subset of research within the broader population and student populations suggests that sustainability behaviors are distinctly psychological and motivational matters (Cloutier et al , 2014; Mandliya et al , 2020; Manoj et al , 2020). Hence, in this paper, we aim to better understand the relationship between one aspect of psychological-happiness and motivational life-academic achievement on sustainability behaviors among students in a Mexican higher education institution, one of the world’s top sustainable universities.…”

“…Somewhat in line with these ideas, a recent analysis of the 2013 China General Social Survey found that community-level pollution and environmental degradation via socioeconomic development was positively associated with the self-reported happiness (SRHP) of high-income groups (Gu et al , 2017). Thus, materialism, consumption and attaching happiness to extrinsic sources appear to be a constraint to environmental engagement as well as to environmental learning behavior (Manoj et al , 2020).…”