Effects of sustainability on WoM intention and revisit intention, with environmental awareness as a moderator

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of sustainability on word-of-mouth (WoM) intention and revisit intention, with environmental awareness as a moderator. This study was carried out in one of the tourist destinations in Indonesia, namely, Bali. Design/methodology/approach The population in this study was foreign tourists visiting Bali. This study uses non-probability sampling with a purposive sampling technique and uses inferential statistics. Inferential statistics was used to test the sample data on the effect of sustainability on WoM intention and revisit intention. The statistical tool used is warp-partial least square. Findings Effect of sustainability on WoM intention is that the higher perception of foreign tourists in the sustainability assessment will increase the WoM intention of foreign tourists. Contrarily, lower perception of foreign tourists on sustainability assessment will lower the WoM intention of foreign tourists. Effects of sustainability on revisit intention is that the higher perception of foreign tourists in the sustainability assessment will increase the revisit intention of foreign tourists. Contrarily, the lower perception of foreign tourists in sustainability assessment will lower the revisit intention of foreign tourists. Environmental awareness moderating the effects of sustainability on revisit intention is that the higher the environmental awareness of foreign tourists visiting Bali, the stronger the influence of sustainability on revisit intention. Contrarily, the lower environmental awareness of foreign tourists visiting Bali will lower the effect of sustainability on revisit intention. Originality/value Destination sustainability research from the perspective of tourists has not been conducted up to the behavior intention, and research is still limited to tourist satisfaction. Research that connects destination sustainability with trust, WoM intention and revisit intention has not been found yet. WoM intention and revisit intention provide a clearer picture than behavioral intention; therefore, this study focuses on WoM intention and revisit intention variables. Destination sustainability research has not been combined with destination quality as an exogenous variable that is able to predict more precisely tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention. Research has not been found on environmental awareness in relation to the sustainability variable and behavior intention. The studies that have been carried out only focus on the effect of environmental awareness on the behavior intention (Gao et al., 2016), and the research has not yet linked it to sustainability.

Mediating effect of behavioural intention on podcast acceptance

“…However, behaviour is a noun that refers to potential users' conduct towards technology acceptance (Haryono 2020). Intention is a noun word that refers to potential plan towards technology acceptance (Kusumawati et al 2020).…”

The role of coastal biodiversity conservation on sustainability and environmental awareness in mangrove ecosystem of southern Malang, Indonesia

“…The concept of EA has been formerly researched by Kusumawati et al (2019) as a moderating variable in examining the relationship between sustainability and revisit intention. Meanwhile, according to Gao et al (2016), the concept of EA serves as an input of behavioral intentions.…”

“…The findings of this study are consistent with the existence of stakeholder theory by providing empirical evidence through a model of increasing EA of ecotourists and local communities in CMC Tiga Warna ecotourism. According to the stakeholder theory, tourists as part of the tourism industry stakeholders are not only expected to have a concern for the consumption activity of traveling experiences, but also to have a concern about current and future environmental conditions in preserving the environment for social, economic and cultural benefits, as well as for the potential for future visits (Colombo and Delmastro in Kusumawati et al 2019).…”

“…Further, SUS was analyzed by 18 items from some previous studies (Ashok et al 2017;Iniesta-Bonillo et al 2016;Mathew and Sreejesh 2017;Ocampo et al 2018). Four items were adapted from Kusumawati et al (2019) to measure EA. Measurement research items of each variable was recorded by five-point Likert scales, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).…”

“…Currently, empirical evidence of the effect of coastal biodiversity CON in shaping EA and maintaining the SUS of ecotourism destinations has been inadequate. Previous studies have merely highlighted the impact of EA on behavioral intentions (Gao et al 2016) and the role of EA in strengthening the relationship of revisit intention and Word of Mouth (WOM) intention (Kusumawati et al 2019). Therefore, this research is significant to provide empirical evidence of CON's role in enhancing EA and maintaining SUS, with SUS as an effective mediator to examine the relationship between CON and EA.…”