Factors influencing the intention to adopt a pro- environmental behavior by tourist operators of a Mexican national marine park

Abstract

Los operadores turísticos pueden contribuir a la conservación del ambiente en áreas marinas protegidas por medio de mensa­jes relacionados con el comportamiento esperado por parte del visitante, así mismo, mencionando los posibles impactos de sus acciones en el ambiente marino, pero, sobre todo, presentando un comportamiento eco­lógico. A pesar de la importancia que tiene el comportamiento proambiental en la pro­tección del ambiente, existen pocos estudios que expliquen la formación de este compor­tamiento en los operadores turísticos. El presente estudio investiga los factores que influyen en la intención de los operadores turísticos del parque nacional “Arrecife de Puerto Morelos” de comportarse de una manera más proambiental. Se aplicó la teoría del comportamiento planeado para evaluar si las actitudes, las normas subjetivas y el control de compor­tamiento percibido predecían la intención de comportamiento proambiental de los operadores turísticos. Se recolectaron datos cuantitativos de una muestra de 165 infor­mantes; los datos se analizaron mediante el modelado de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM). Los resultados revelaron que la variable más importante es el control de comportamiento percibido, seguida de las normas subjetivas. Contrario a lo esperado, las actitudes no se asociaron de manera significativa con la intención de comportamiento proambiental de los operadores turísticos. Finalmente, con base en los resultados, se presentan estrategias para contribuir a una mejora en el comportamiento proambiental de los operadores turísticos.

The Expanded Theory of Planned Behavior in the Context of Environmental Protection Behaviors for Undergraduates: Roles of Moral Norms and University Class Standings

“…The standard estimates showed perceived behavioral control as the strongest predictor, which was similar to García Mejías et al [ 31 ] and Lin [ 74 ] but different from Nie et al [ 33 ], Yuriev et al [ 36 ] and Swaim et al [ 62 ]. Discussions with undergraduates from revealed that implementation of environmental education since elementary schools equipped students with a strong and positive attitude of environmental protection (mean of 4.47 according to Table 4 ), which did not translate into either environmental protection intention or environmental protection behaviors, a phenomenon known as the debunked “knowledge-attitude-behavior theory,” which were widely observed [ 80 ].…”

“…García Mejías et al [ 31 ] examined factors influencing the intention to take up environmental protection behaviors by tourist operators. Results listed perceived behavioral control as the most significant predictor, followed by subjective norms.…”

“…The attitude construct was comprised of three items, modified from contemporary researches [ 31 , 40 , 44 ] where the first item “I believe that environmental protection is very important” and the second item “I will protect our Earth’s environment,” tested the strength of respondents’ behavioral beliefs. Respondents from the pre-test reflected that “very important” was a better choice of wordings, compared to “valuable” or “beneficial,” as it was more straightforward.…”

“…From the Theory of Reasoned Action [ 28 ] and the Theory of Planned Behavior [ 29 ], behavioral theories predicted that a person’s behavior was determined by their behavioral intention, which in turn was predicted by their attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Since the development of the above theories, they had been applied to predict and explain various behaviors, including environmental related behaviors [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. In recent years, together with the inclusion of other variables like environmental concerns [ 37 , 38 , 39 ], ethical values [ 40 , 41 ], habits [ 42 , 43 ], collectivism [ 44 ], innovation [ 45 ], altruism [ 46 ], responsibility [ 47 ] and motivation [ 48 ], various versions of the expanded Theory of Planned Behavior were actively applied in the field of environmental protection.…”

Analysis of Undergraduates’ Environmentally Friendly Behavior: Case Study of Tzu Chi University Environmental Education Program

“…Each construct, as shown in Table 3, was rated based on five-point Likert scale questions, whereby 1 indicated "strongly disagree" or "never" and 5 indicated "strongly agree" or "always", producing well-defined and measured results. The measures of norms and efficacy were modified from previous studies [41][42][43][44][45], while the measures of environmental awareness, attitudes and behavior were created based on previous studies [43][44][45][46][47] and discussions with university personnel involved with environment protection policies. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics were carried out using the software tool SPSS 25.0 [48].…”