Abstract

This study extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to embrace the pro-environmental construct in predicting visitor off-trail behavioral intentions at national parks. Quantitative questionnaire items were developed through an elicitation study and empirically tested among 325 respondents. Empirical results revealed overall predictive variance of 21.7 percent (R2) in predicting visitor off-trail intentions. Behavioral beliefs predicted most of behavioral intentions followed by normative beliefs. The contribution of control beliefs and pro-environmental values had the weakest predictive power. Among the behavioral beliefs, visitors had the strongest belief that walking off the trails would lead to a shorter route. Friends as a reference group were the strongest normative belief that influenced off-trail intentions. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Document Type

Journal Article

Funding Information

Edith Cowan University - Open Access Support Scheme 2020

School

School of Business and Law

RAS ID

31524

Creative Commons License

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

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Comments

Goh, E. (2023). Walking off-trail in national parks: Monkey see monkey do. Leisure Sciences, 45(1), 1-23.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1755750

Share

 
COinS
 

Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1080/01490400.2020.1755750