Modeling tourists' visiting intentions toward ecofriendly destinations: Implications for sustainable tourism operators

Abstract

The previous literature has overlooked the examination of tourists' visiting intentions for ecofriendly destinations. Hence, anchored in Schwartz (1992) personal values and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the present study aims to develop a research model for application in Chinese settings. Survey findings from 467 tourists reveal significant positive relationships between tourists' values of resultant self‐transcendence and conservation and TPB factors (i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control), with the exception of the relationship between conservation and perceived behavioral control. Moreover, TPB factors and perceived green image were found to have positive effects on tourists' intentions to visit ecofriendly destinations. In addition, environmental consciousness positively moderates the relationships between the two Schwartz values and attitude. Theoretical implications are provided, and the study's findings have strategic practical implications for business managers. We acknowledge the study's limitations and offer research directions for future ecofriendly tourism scholars.

Sustainable Travel Decision-Making of Europeans: Insights from a Household Survey

“…TRA posits that behavioral intent is the most relevant predictor of person's behavior, while attitudes towards outcome and subjective social norm act as antecedents of behavioral intention [59]. TPB is an extended approach of TRA and tries to explain behavioral intentions through three groups of antecedents: attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioral control over behavior [60,61]. There are also models which attempt to explain tourist behavior through satisfaction which consists of image, attitude and motivation [31].…”

“…Theory of planned behavior is not only relevant for determining general attitudes, but is of increasing importance also for pro-environmental behavior and is therefore being used as a basis for further theorizing and development of new models, e.g., by combining it with value-belief-norm theory [61,91,92]. Additional modelling approaches include the elements such as perceived value, satisfaction, awareness of climate change, moral responsibility for climate change and environmentally responsible behavior; the impact of perceived sustainability (consisting of economic, cultural and environmental sustainability) on perceived value and satisfaction; the impact of image, attitude and motivation on satisfaction, which then influences future tourist behavior [31,93,94].…”

Modeling the role of perceived green value and consumer innovativeness in green products’ consumption intention within the theory of planned behavior

“…Various scholars have regarded TPB as a robust tool in evaluating consumers' decision making process (Southey, 2011). Most researchers agree that in proenvironmental behaviors, personal values involving TPB factors account to the primary factors in decision making by consumers (Ashraf et al, 2018). Literature on green consumption examining the knowledge of environmental issues by Chinese consumers and how it influences their green consumption behavior is scarce (Yuan, 2016).…”

Measuring the impact of sustainability policy and practices in tourism and hospitality industry

“…In light of the growing ecological deterioration, sustainable development has emerged as noteworthy priority and a veritable challenge of our time (Alameeri, Ajmal, Hussain, & Helo, ; Ashraf et al, ; Melissen et al, ; Yarimoglu & Binboga, ). Consequently, in the hotel domain, environmental responsiveness is now steadily becoming a corporate issue (Chen, Ngniatedema, & Li, ; Chen, ; Kularatne et al, ).…”

“…Globally, sustainability in tourism and hospitality industry has warranted particular attention not merely as an industry extremely intense in terms of use of energy, water, and nondurable products but also for the potential release of toxic emissions into the air, soil, and water from day‐to‐day running functions (Aboelmaged, ; Ashraf, Hou, Kim, Ahmad, & Ashraf, ; Choi, Kim, Kim, & Agmapisarn, ; Han, Lee, & Kim, ; Horng, Liu, Chou, Tsai, & Chung, ).…”