An Exploration of Hiking Risk Perception: Dimensions and Antecedent Factors

Shengxiang She, Yunzhang Tian, Lin Lu, Iveta Eimontaite, Ting Xie and Yan Sun
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Shengxiang She: School of Business, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang 550025, China
Yunzhang Tian: Center for Behavior Decision, Shannxi University of Technology, Hanzhong 723000, China
Lin Lu: School of Business, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang 550025, China
Iveta Eimontaite: Sheffield Robotics, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
Ting Xie: Department of Tourism Management, Beijing Institute of Petro-chemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China
Yan Sun: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: Hiking is a form of green tourism which deserves promotion and popularization, especially in present day China. However, the risks inherent in hiking could have a negative impact on the development of hiking tourism. It is important to better understand how people perceive the risks of hiking and what type of experience attributes they prefer. However, no studies have investigated the nature of risk perception from the perspective of hikers. This study explores the dimensions of the perceived risk of hiking and investigates the associated factors of hiking risk perception as well as hiking preference. A questionnaire with 18 items was used to capture people’s perception of hiking risks, and two groups of samples were surveyed. Generally, this study identified two dimensions of perceived risk towards hiking based on a sample of hikers, i.e., physical risk and psychological risk. Demographic variables such as gender, upbringing background, and hiking frequency were shown to predict hiking risk perception while gender and hiking frequency predicted route preference. The personality trait of sensation seeking appeared to be a significant predictor of hiking preference. These findings lend themselves to market segmentation and marketing strategies on hiking tourism.

Keywords: hiking; risk perception; sensation seeking; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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