The New Environmental Paradigm and Nature-Based Tourism Motivation

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between environmental attitudes as measured by the new environmental paradigm (NEP) and nature-based tourism (NBT) motivations based on data gathered from a national forest park in China. The results indicate that tourists' environmental attitudes are heterogeneous across all four tourism motivations. Specifically, those who are more supportive of limits to growth and who are more concerned about ecocrisis tend to have a higher desire to be close to nature, to learn about nature, and to escape from routine and issues associated with cities. In addition, those whose motivations are oriented to develop skills and abilities or seek to experience new things, environments, and social contact tend to be more supportive of the notion of human over nature. Thus, it can be concluded that environmental attitudes and NBT motivations are closely and positively related. Research limits, theoretical and practical implications, and future research needs of the study are discussed.

Appealing to Goodwill or YOLO-Promoting Conservation Volunteering to Millennials

“…This could further be tested, for example, in terms of different groups of volunteers categorized according to expressed environmental attitudes or relationship between different attitudes and participation in conservation volunteering. This part of our research was guided by studies of the relationship between environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors which employed the NEP theory and our findings are in line with this past research (e.g., Eagles and Higgins 1998;Luo and Jinyang 2008;Sampaio et al 2012). Moreover, not only does it contribute to the explanation of what factors affect reception of pro-environmental promotional messages, but also it provokes further discussion of the relevance of environmental attitudes, and hedonic desires.…”

“…Past research has applied the NEP scale mainly to predict various proenvironmental behaviors (e.g., Eagles and Higgins 1998;Luo and Jinyang 2008;Voluntas (2017) 28:288-306 293 Sampaio et al 2012). For instance, Eagles and Higgins (1998) demonstrated positive association between pro-environmental attitudes and one's engagement in pro-environmental behaviors.…”

Environmental attitudes associated with large-scale cultural differences, not local environmental conflicts

“…Here, we used the new environmental paradigm (NEP), which is a conceptualized measure of people's environmental attitudes, beliefs and values, to measure people's environmental value orientation (Dunlap et al 2000;Ardahan 2012). Previous studies (Kaltenborn & Bjerke 2002;Rauwald & Moore 2002;Hunter & Rinner 2004;Berenguer et al 2005;Kaltenborn et al 2008;Luo & Deng 2008;Ardahan 2012) and conceptual and psychometric testing (Stern et al 1995;Pierce et al 1997) have shown that high NEP scores are correlated with pro-environmental values (Dunlap et al 2000). Low NEP scores are associated with anthropocentrism, where humans view nature solely as a source of food and water.…”

Responsible environmental behavior intention of travelers on ecotourism sites

“…Hedlund, Marell, andGarling (2012) explain further that travelers who care about the environment will concern more with perceived sustainability of the nature in choosing a travel destination, which is also influenced by gender, education, age and income. Meanwhile, the description of goals, motivations and attitudes can be used to predict future behavior intentions and different attitudes of travelers visiting ecotourism sites (Lee 2009;Luo and Deng 2008;Wurzinger and Johansson 2006).…”