Visitors’ Experience, Place Attachment and Sustainable Behaviour at Cultural Heritage Sites: A Conceptual Framework

Piera Buonincontri, Alessandra Marasco and Haywantee Ramkissoon
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Piera Buonincontri: Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS)—National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Sanfelice, 8, 80134 Napoli, Italy
Alessandra Marasco: Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS)—National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Sanfelice, 8, 80134 Napoli, Italy
Haywantee Ramkissoon: Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: Sustainable tourism research has attracted wide interest from scholars and practitioners. While several heritage sites are mandated to provide optimum visitor satisfaction with increasing competition in the market, managers of heritage sites face growing challenges in striking a balance between consumption and conservation. This calls for promoting more sustainable behaviours among consumers of heritage. This study proposes a conceptualization of sustainable behaviour for heritage consumers. Using the attitude–behaviour relationship underpinned by the Theory of Reasoned Action, it develops and proposes a conceptual framework that integrates visitors’ heritage experiences, their attachment to heritage sites, and their general and site-specific sustainable heritage behaviour and presents their interrelationships as proposed hypotheses. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for heritage site managers are discussed.

Keywords: sustainable heritage behaviour; heritage experience; place attachment; general behaviour; site-specific behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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