Explanatory or Dispositional Optimism: Which Trait Predicts Eco-Friendly Tourist Behavior?

Abstract

Recently, researchers have been drawn to the literature surrounding positive psychology. The role of explanatory and dispositional optimism in eco-friendly tourism has been largely ignored by researchers, even though positive psychology, or optimism, has been studied in the sustainability domain. The purpose of this study is to determine which trait predicts eco-friendly tourist behavior. In the study, the data were collected online using Amazon Mechanical Turk from 400 respondents, and the model was assessed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that in terms of predicting eco-friendly tourism behavior, dispositional optimism outperformed explanatory optimism. Furthermore, this study found that environmental concern positively moderates the association between optimism (dispositional and explanatory) and eco-friendly tourism behavior. This study has wide-ranging implications for tourism managers, practitioners, and academics.