How personality affects environmentally responsible behaviour through attitudes towards activities and environmental concern: evidence from a national park in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Environmentally responsible behaviour enables sustainable development of tourism destinations. However, there is scant empirical research on the mediating effect between personality and environmentally responsible behaviour. This study examined a behavioural model using the latent variables of personality, environmental concern, attitudes towards activities, and environmentally responsible behaviour among hikers visiting a national park in Taiwan. The analytical results from 398 questionnaires indicate personality positively and significantly affects environmental concern and attitudes towards activities. Additionally, attitudes towards activities fully mediate the relationship between personality and environmentally responsible behaviour. This study identified different mediating effects of attitudes towards activities and environmental concern. National park managers should aim to improve hikers’ attitudes towards activities to foster environmentally responsible behaviour.

KEYWORDS:

• Personality
• environmental concern
• attitudes towards activities
• environmentally responsible behaviour
• National Park
• Taiwan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yung-Sen Chen

Dr. Yung-Sen Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Real Estate Management at National Pingtung University, Taiwan. His research interests include ecotourism, protected area management and tourism geography.

Yi Hsien Lin

Dr. Yi Hsien Lin is an assistant professor in the Department of Tourism and Travel Management at Da-Yeh University, Taiwan. His research fields include tourists’ behaviour, place attachment and natural reserve area tourism.

Yueh-Jung Wu

Ms. Yueh-Jung Wu graduated from Department of Leisure Management at National Pingtung University, Taiwan.