Do Situations Influence the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of National Park Visitors? Survey from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
2.1. Environmentally Responsible Behavior
2.2. Altruism, Situations and ERB
2.3. Hypotheses and Theoretical Framework
3. Study Area
4. Materials and Methods
4.1. Research Instrument Design
4.2. Questionnaire Administration
5. Results and Discussions
5.1. Reliability and Validity
5.2. Respondent Demographic Characteristics
5.3. Model Fit
5.4. Moderating Effect of Situations
5.4.1. Moderating Effect of Situations on ERB
5.4.2. Differences in Situational Moderating Effects on ERB
5.4.3. Moderating Effects of Fellow Visitor Behavior and Verbal Persuasion
6. Conclusions and Implications
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Latent Variable | Items | References | |
---|---|---|---|
Situational factors (SF) | Instrumental situation (IS) | I have acquired environmental knowledge and skills from classroom study and extracurricular activities. (IS1) | Barr et al., 2012 [52] |
I used to have experience in the beautiful natural environment. (IS2) | Tanner, 1980 [56] | ||
I have received environmental knowledge from an influential article, book or environmentalist author. (IS3) | Barr et al., 2012 [52] | ||
I have learned the values and behaviors of protecting the environment from people around me. (IS4) | Cialdini et al., 1990 [57] Han et al., 2015 [58] | ||
I have learned to practice ERB from lectures or training on the environment. (IS5) | Zhu, 2013 [54] | ||
The information I got from TV, the Internet and other media has made me more willing to adopt environmental behavior. (IS6) | Xia et al., 2016 [53] | ||
National park situation (NPS) | Environmental protection activities in the Shennongjia National Park have promoted my ERB. (NPS1) | Wang, 2018 [59] Go et al., 2020 [7] | |
The setting of the environmental interpretation system in the Shennongjia National Park has promoted my ERB. (NPS2) | |||
The environmental protection in the Shennongjia National Park has promoted my ERB. (NPS3) | |||
The exhortation from the staff of Shennongjia National Park has helped me adopt environmental behavior. (NPS4) | |||
Socio-cultural situation (SCS) | Society strongly advocates environmental protection, making me more willing to adopt environmental protection behavior. (SCS1) | Han et al., 2010 [25] | |
Persuasion from fellow visitors helped me adopt environmental behavior. (SCS2) | Wang et al., 2014 [55] | ||
Other visitors’ behavior in protecting the environment affects my behavior. (SCS3) | |||
Environmental knowledge (EK) | I think the recreation activities in national parks are different from that in general scenic areas. | New environmental knowledge based on the national park context | |
The recreation and nature education in national parks should promote ERB among visitors. | |||
National park visitors should respect life and care for the natural environment. | |||
Ecological balance is conducive to sustainable development. | Haron et al., 2005 [60] | ||
Uncontrolled and consumptive utilization of natural resources will lead to ecological deterioration. | |||
Species diversity in national parks is conducive to ecosystem stability. | |||
Nature conservation supports intergenerational equity. | |||
Excessive recreational activities can damage the ecological environments of national parks. | |||
Exhaust emissions from motor vehicles contribute to a decline in air quality in national parks. | |||
Green travel is conducive to environmental protection. | |||
Environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) | I will not litter in Shennongjia National Park. | Smith-Sebasto et al., 1995 [23] | |
I will not pick flowers in Shennongjia National Park. | |||
I tried to solve environmental problems in Shennongjia National Park. | |||
I discussed environmental protection in Shennongjia National Park with others. | |||
I tried to persuade my companions to practice ERB for the natural environment in Shennongjia National Park. | |||
When I see others behaving badly in Shennongjia National Park, I discourage them. | |||
According to relevant laws and regulations, I will prevent any action that damages the environment of Shennongjia National Park. | |||
I will take the initiative to pick up garbage when I see it. | |||
If environmental protection activities are launched in Shennongjia National Park, I will take an active part. |
Latent Variables | Cronbach’s α | CR | AVE |
---|---|---|---|
SF | 0.965 | 0.966 | 0.686 |
EK | 0.965 | 0.966 | 0.739 |
ERB | 0.949 | 0.95 | 0.679 |
Overall scale | 0.901 | - | - |
Variables | EK | SF | ERB |
---|---|---|---|
EK | 0.86 | ||
SF | 0.74 | 0.828 | |
ERB | 0.66 | 0.351 | 0.824 |
Demographic Characteristics | N | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Gender | Male | 180 | 44.01 |
Female | 229 | 55.99 | |
Age (years) | ≤18 | 48 | 11.74 |
18–25 | 131 | 32.03 | |
26–35 | 84 | 20.54 | |
36–45 | 71 | 17.36 | |
46–55 | 75 | 18.34 | |
≥56 | 0 | 0 | |
Profession | Civil servants | 38 | 9.29 |
The staff of enterprises and public institutions | 34 | 8.31 | |
Professional cultural, educational, scientific and technological personnel | 39 | 9.54 | |
Self-employed | 44 | 10.76 | |
Service/sales staff | 33 | 8.07 | |
Freelancers | 50 | 12.22 | |
Retirees | 0 | 0 | |
Students | 171 | 41.81 | |
Education | Junior high school and below | 46 | 11.25 |
High school/technical secondary school | 55 | 13.45 | |
College | 137 | 33.50 | |
Undergraduates | 149 | 36.43 | |
Master’s degree or above | 22 | 5.38 | |
Income (per month, yuan) | ≤2000 | 164 | 41.10 |
2001–4000 | 8 | 1.96 | |
4001–6000 | 81 | 19.80 | |
Demographic Characteristics | N | % | |
6001–8000 | 87 | 21.27 | |
≥8000 | 69 | 16.87 | |
Annual number of trips | 1–2 | 140 | 34.23 |
3–4 | 147 | 35.94 | |
≥5 | 122 | 29.83 |
Statistics | Fit Results | Criteria | Judgement |
---|---|---|---|
NCI (X2/df) | 1.93 | <3 | Fit |
CFI | 0.965 | >0.9 | Fit |
TLI | 0.962 | >0.9 | Fit |
RMSEA | 0.048 | <0.05 | Fit |
SRMR | 0.032 | <0.1 | Fit |
Estimate | S.E. | Est./S.E. | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
ERB ← EK | 0.551 *** | 0.172 | 3.210 | 0.001 |
ERB ← SF | 0.338 * | 0.203 | 1.916 | 0.055 |
SF*EK | 0.247 *** | 0.092 | 2.683 | 0.007 |
SF | Code | Situations | Path | Estimate | S.E. | Est./S.E. | p-Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IS | IS3 | Articles, books or authors | ERB ← EK | 0.465 ** | 0.200 | 2.325 | 0.020 |
ERB ← IS3 | 0.025 | 0.116 | 0.219 | 0.827 | |||
ERB ← EK*IS3 | 0.104 ** | 0.129 | 1.974 | 0.028 | |||
IS4 | Familiar people around me | ERB ← EK | 0.617 *** | 0.137 | 4.512 | 0.000 | |
ERB ← IS4 | 0.050 | 0.092 | 0.539 | 0.590 | |||
ERB ← EK*IS4 | 0.217 *** | 0.074 | 3.799 | 0.002 | |||
IS5 | Lectures or training | ERB ← EK | 0.771 | 0.053 | 0.097 | 0.923 | |
ERB ← IS4 | 0.024 | 0.072 | 0.806 | 0.39 | |||
ERB ← EK*IS4 | 0.254 | 0.065 | 0.921 | 0.357 | |||
IS6 | TV, Internet and other media | ERB ← EK | 0.547 | 0.095 | 0.111 | 0.911 | |
ERB ← IS6 | 0.051 | 0.452 | 0.221 | 0.825 | |||
ERB ← EK*IS6 | 0.214 | 0.408 | 0.247 | 0.805 | |||
NPS | NPS | Environmental protection activities, environmental interpretation systems, environmental protection facilities, exhortation from staff | ERB ← EK | 0.584 *** | 0.179 | 3.259 | 0.001 |
ERB ←NPS | 0.242 | 0.213 | 1.136 | 0.256 | |||
ERB ← EK*NPS | 0.213 ** | 0.091 | 2.334 | 0.020 | |||
SCS | SCS1 | Social environmental protection atmosphere | ERB ← EK | 0.529 | 0.805 | 0.657 | 0.511 |
ERB ← SCS1 | 0.094 | 0.302 | 0.312 | 0.755 | |||
ERB ← EK*SCS1 | 0.135 ** | 0.194 | 1.966 | 0.049 | |||
SCS2 | Persuasion from fellow visitors | ERB ← EK | 0.583 *** | 0.202 | 2.880 | 0.004 | |
ERB ← SCS2 | 0.214 | 0.180 | 1.194 | 0.232 | |||
ERB ← EK*SCS2 | 0.209 | 0.100 | 0.870 | 0.537 | |||
SCS3 | Protection behavior from fellow visitors | ERB ← EK | 0.593 * | 0.051 | 0.165 | 0.069 | |
ERB ← SCS3 | 0.041 * | 0.068 | 1.710 | 0.087 | |||
ERB ← EK*SCS3 | 0.133 ** | 0.079 | 2.052 | 0.040 |
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Gao, Y.; Zou, L.; Morrison, A.M.; Wu, F. Do Situations Influence the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of National Park Visitors? Survey from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China. Land 2021, 10, 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090891
Gao Y, Zou L, Morrison AM, Wu F. Do Situations Influence the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of National Park Visitors? Survey from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China. Land. 2021; 10(9):891. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090891
Chicago/Turabian StyleGao, Yan, Lilin Zou, Alastair M. Morrison, and Fanglin Wu. 2021. "Do Situations Influence the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of National Park Visitors? Survey from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China" Land 10, no. 9: 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090891
APA StyleGao, Y., Zou, L., Morrison, A. M., & Wu, F. (2021). Do Situations Influence the Environmentally Responsible Behaviors of National Park Visitors? Survey from Shennongjia National Park, Hubei Province, China. Land, 10(9), 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090891