Flipping the script: how awareness of positive consequences outweigh negative in encouraging tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior?

Abstract

The role of awareness of positive consequences in nurturing environmentally responsible intention among tourists has been explored in this study and explains the indirect link between awareness of positive consequences and tourists’ environmentally responsible intention, mediated by moral elevation and personal norms. The sample of the study consists of 387 tourists from a popular tourist destination in India. The data have been analyzed using structural equation modeling and multiple regression. Results indicate that the awareness of negative consequences influences the ascription of responsibility, which in turn influences personal norms, and ultimately leads to tourists’ environmentally responsible intentions. Moreover, awareness of positive consequences induces moral elevation, which positively affects personal norms. More significantly, the study found that the indirect influence of awareness of positive consequences on tourists’ environmentally responsible intention is stronger than that of negative consequences, highlighting the importance of emphasizing the positive outcomes of tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in promoting sustainable tourism. The present study makes a distinctive contribution by unraveling the paramount significance of awareness of positive consequences over negative consequences in influencing the intention of tourists to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors.

Keywords:

• Environmentally responsible behavior
• tourist
• eudaimonic emotions
• NAM
• moral elevation

Acknowledgements

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Prof. (Dr.) Xavier Font and the three anonymous reviewers for their invaluable reviews and timely support, which greatly enhanced the refinement and quality of this work. Lastly, but certainly not the least, the first author unequivocally praises Al-Azeez for the constant motivation.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Ethical issues

The manuscript is compliant with ethics guidelines.

Data availability

Data is available on reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Muhammed Sajid

Muhammed Sajid is a research scholar at the School of Management Studies, CUSAT, in Cochin, India. He is an MBA graduate from the University of Kerala. Formal education includes a Bachelor of Commerce and a PG diploma in Marketing Management. Sajid started his career with the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode as a teaching assistant and then moved on to full-time research. He has published articles in several international journals, including Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, International Journal of Healthcare Management, International Journal of E-adoption and Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal to name a few. His research interests include Sustainable Consumption and Healthcare Marketing.

K. A. Zakkariya

Zakkariya K.A. is currently a professor in Management and the Director of DDU KAUSHAL Kendra at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) with more than 24 years of experience in teaching, research, training, administration and institution building. Dr. Zakkariya is a psychology graduate and has taken his master’s degree in Psychology with the second rank from the University of Calicut. He has taken Master’s degrees in Business Administration(MBA) and Human Resource Management (MHRM) from the University of Calicut and the University of Kerala, respectively. He took his Doctorate from the Cochin University of Science and Technology. Prof. Zakkariya has published over 85 research articles in journals and edited books of national and international repute and has won best paper awards at different national and international conferences. He has produced eleven PhDs in the areas of Marketing, Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour.

Mukul Dev Surira

Mukul Dev Surira is a research scholar at the School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science & Technology. He has done his MBA in International Business. He has a B.tech degree in Computers.

Meera Peethambaran

Meera Peethambaran is a doctoral scholar at the Department of Management, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani). She is an M.Phil from the Institute of Management in Kerala (IMK), University of Kerala. Her areas of interest include Positive Psychology, Employee Emotions and Leadership.