Why volunteer teaching tourism? Empirical evidence from China

ABSTRACT

Volunteer teaching tourism, as a particular type of volunteer tourism supported by China government, has become an effective supplement to and acceleration for education development in the regions of China where education resources are limited. The motivation and experience of volunteers have a direct impact on the healthy and sustainable development of volunteer teaching tourism. This study therefore aims to identify motivation of Chinese youth participating in volunteer teaching tourism in China, and the relationships between motivation, satisfaction, and behavioral intention are further examined. Empirical results show that in addition to the six motives advanced by Clary et al. (1998), two unique motives are further identified: love of children and desire to travel. Among these eight motives, three have significant effects on post-trip satisfaction, and post-trip satisfaction further influences behavioral intention. The implications benefit both organizational and governmental bodies who seek to develop both national and international volunteer teaching tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Volunteer teaching tourism
• motivation
• post-trip satisfaction
• behavioral intention
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71573289], [grant number 71402195], [grant number 71772192].