Would you speak softly in public? An investigation of pro-environmental behavior of Chinese outbound tourists in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This study proposed a new model to examine how personality and social factors interacted to control the intention of speaking softly in public among Chinese outbound tourists. A total of 305 valid questionnaires were obtained from three tourist sites in Hong Kong, and the results indicated that behavioural intention was directly affected by both personality and social factors. Specifically, benefit affected intention, both directly and indirectly, indicating that its effect was partially mediated by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. Cost indirectly affected intention; its effect was fully mediated by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Pro-environmental behaviour (PEB)
• Chinese tourist
• Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
• Social Exchange Theory (SET)
• structural regression modelling (SEM)

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Ms. Joni Fung Mei Wong who assisted in organizing the questionnaire survey. The author is also grateful to Mr. Andrew Yan To Ng for polishing and editing the English of this paper.

Disclosure statement

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