Effects of social and personal norms, and connectedness to nature, on pro-environmental behavior: A study of Western Australian protected area visitors

Authors/Creators

Joanna Pearce, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Songshan (Sam) Huang, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Ross K. Dowling, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Amanda J. Smith

Abstract

Pro-environmental behaviors play a key role in the management and sustainability of parks and protected areas. An understanding of the antecedents of visitors' pro-environmental behaviors is vitally important in advancing knowledge, encouraging sustainability, and bettering management practice. This study developed and tested a behavioral model which integrated personal norms and social norms as normative influences, with connectedness to nature as a personality trait, as antecedents of pro-environmental behaviors. Data were collected through a visitor survey across three protected areas in Western Australia and analyzed via structural equation modelling. Results indicated that personal norms and connectedness to nature had a positive effect on pro-environmental behaviors, whereas social norms did not. The results highlight to protected area managers the need to consider moral obligations and personal identification with nature to foster on-site pro-environmental behaviors and encourage a positive spill-over effect off-site.

RAS ID

44343

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

4-30-2022

Volume

42

Funding Information

Strategic Research Grant administered by School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University

School

School of Business and Law

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Publisher

Elsevier

Comments

This is an Authors Accepted Manuscript version of an article published by Elsevier, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2022.100966

Pearce, J., Huang, S. S., Dowling, R. K., & Smith, A. J. (2022). Effects of social and personal norms, and connectedness to nature, on pro-environmental behavior: A study of Western Australian protected area visitors. Tourism Management Perspectives, 42, article 100966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2022.100966

Recommended Citation

Pearce, J., Huang, S., Dowling, R. K., & Smith, A. J. (2022). Effects of social and personal norms, and connectedness to nature, on pro-environmental behavior: A study of Western Australian protected area visitors. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2022.100966