Sustainability of Leisure Tourism Events from a Destination Social Responsibility Perspective: Do Attribution Theory Dimensions Matter?

Abstract

Although Destination Sustainable Responsibility (DSR) has become a critical factor in upholding tourists’ satisfaction and positive behavioral outcomes, research on how tourists perceive different attributional dimensions (e.g., controllability, stability) about the existing information adequacy on tourists’ behavior is limited. Additionally, no study has investigated how DSR influences leisure tourists’ satisfaction across various characteristics. Therefore, the current research has the novelty of examining the effects of Destination Sustainable Responsibility (DSR) on leisure tourists’ satisfaction. The study reveals two attribution theory dimensions, controllability, and stability, as mediators and information adequacy as a moderated mediation. Additionally, the study investigates how tourists’ personalities (extroverted, conscientious, neurotic, open, and agreeable) affect their perceptions of attribution dimensions. A quantitative analysis of 464 tourists who experienced leisure activities in sustainability resorts in the Red Sea was conducted to explore these relationships. The results provide a better understanding of how DSR affects leisure tourists’ satisfaction and how different personalities influence their perceptions. Our research findings demonstrate that tourists’ perceptions of destination sustainability initiatives (DSR) are contingent upon the controllability and stability of events and that extraverted and conscientious tourists reach different attributions on DSR than those with neuroticism and openness levels and agreeableness. Additionally, it appears that information adequacy concerning the controllability of events is privileged over the event’s stability about informant amount with DSR. We explore the implications of our conclusions from both theoretical and management perspectives.