Applying a Combination of SEM and fsQCA to Predict Tourist Resource-Saving Behavioral Intentions in Rural Tourism: An Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Wei Zheng, Hongliang Qiu () and Alastair M. Morrison
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Wei Zheng: School of Tourism and Foreign Languages, Tourism College of Zhejiang, Hangzhou 311231, China
Hongliang Qiu: Postdoctoral Station of Business Administration, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Alastair M. Morrison: School of Management and Marketing, Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS, UK

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-23

Abstract: How to save resources and protect the environment at destinations is one of the hot issues in tourism. One effective solution is to cultivate tourist resource-saving behavioral intentions (TRSBI). Prior studies mainly use Structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore its antecedents, whereas other potential methods (i.e., fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, fsQCA for short) have been less adopted. This study combines SEM and fsQCA to examine TRSBI in a rural tourism context. Specifically, SEM is executed to investigate how environmental concern influences TRSBI based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), while fsQCA is applied to uncover the multiple configurations in the TRSBI formation. The findings from SEM indicated that (1) environmental concern positively and directly influenced TRSBI; (2) TPB constructs (i.e., attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) positively and separately mediated the associations of environmental concern with TRSBI. The fsQCA outcomes showed that three configurations result in a high level of TRSBI: (1) high attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, (2) high attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and environmental concern, and (3) high attitudes toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control, and environmental concern. The combined approaches offer a systematic and holistic solution to explore TRSBI in rural tourism.

Keywords: tourist resource-saving behavioral intentions; theory of planned behavior; fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA); environmental concern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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