Tourist Environmentally Responsible Behavior and Satisfaction; Study on the World’s Longest Natural Sea Beach, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Abstract

This research was aimed at investigating the environmentally responsible behavior of tourists and their satisfaction with a tourist destination. Moreover, this study examined the effects of employee service quality, perceived value, environmental commitment and tourist satisfaction with a destination on loyalty and environmentally responsible behavior. We used data from tourists (n = 640) who had previously visited the world’s longest natural sea beach (Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh). A partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) method was used in this study to evaluate the proposed model and hypotheses. The results suggest that the perceived value of the destination has a significantly positive impact on both tourist satisfaction and environmental commitment. Similarly, employee service quality significantly impacts perceived value, tourist satisfaction and environmental commitment. Thus, both perceived value and employee service quality also substantially affect the environmentally responsible behavior at the Cox’s Bazar tourist destination. The main contribution of this research involved an investigation of the mediating effects of environmental commitment and tourist satisfaction with a destination on loyalty and environmentally responsible behavior using a single model based on relationship quality theory. Tourist satisfaction was found to completely mediate the relationship between the perceived value of a destination and environmentally responsible behavior, as well as loyalty. In addition, the theoretical and managerial implications for the destination were discussed.