Applying protection motivation theory to understand international tourists’ behavioural intentions under the threat of air pollution: A case of Beijing, China

ABSTRACT

Air pollution represents a major concern for the tourism industry worldwide; however, few studies have investigated the influence of smog pollution on international tourists’ behavioural intentions. Protection motivation theory was taken as the theoretical foundation of this study, and ‘perceived government support’ was integrated as a new construct into the research model. Using data collected from international tourists visiting Beijing, China, structural equation modelling was employed to identify significant variables that could predict and explain international tourists’ protective behavioural intentions. Results reveal that severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, and self-efficacy significantly and positively influenced protective behavioural intention, whereas perceived government support exerted a significant and negative effect. Among significant and positive variables, the influence of the severity of threat appraisal was largest. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications related to protection motivation theory are discussed in a tourism context.

KEYWORDS:

• Smog pollution
• protection motivation theory
• international tourist
• Beijing
• behavioural intention

Acknowledgment

This research was based upon the first author (Wenjia Ruan)’s doctoral dissertation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A5A2A03037133).