Self-Identity Matters: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior to Decode Tourists’ Waste Sorting Intentions

Jian Cao, Hongliang Qiu () and Alastair M. Morrison
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Jian Cao: 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 6, 1-19

Abstract: Waste sorting is a practical way of handling the garbage and an effective strategy for facilitating sustainable waste management. This research extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with self-identity and moral norms to predict waste sorting intentions in a heritage context of tourism. A total of 403 valid self-administrated questionnaires were achieved at a heritage destination in China. The results indicated that: (1) TPB variables (i.e., attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control), self-identity, and moral norms were all directly and positively linked to tourists’ waste sorting intentions, respectively; (2) self-identity indirectly influenced tourists’ waste sorting intentions through the mediation of moral norms; and (3) the integrated model exhibited better predictive utility than any single model. This research contributes to the literature on waste management in the context of tourism by extending TPB with identity and personal normative constructs. It also provides practical implications for destination managers to leverage tourists’ self-identity and moral norms for sustainable management.

Keywords: theory of planned behavior; identity theory; self-identity; moral norms; tourists’ waste-sorting intentions; heritage tourism (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 (2)

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