Determinants of Tourists’ Site-Specific Environmentally Responsible Behavior: An Eco-Sensitive Zone Perspective

Abstract

This study examines the role of individual values, attitudes, and situational reasons for determining site-specific environmentally responsible behavior (s-ERB) at eco-sensitive zones. It deploys a mixed-methods approach that includes in-depth interviews with 25 visitors to elicit reasons for/against s-ERB, and a survey of 540 visitors to empirically validate the proposed model using structural equation modeling. The qualitative interviews evoked four reasons for s-ERB (felt responsibility, environmental knowledge, environmental sensitivity, personal norm) and three reasons against s-ERB (structural constraints, conflicting goals, tokenism). The model validation confirms that the reasons serve as an important linkage between the tourists’ biospheric values and their pro-environmental attitude and s-ERB, with no direct relation between values/attitudes and behavior. This work affirms the simultaneity of reasons for and against evoking s-ERB, and it conveys the importance of eco-sensitive zone managers activating the reasons for and suppressing the reasons against promoting s-ERB to tourists.