Extended Theory of Planned Behavior and Environmentally Responsible Behavior in the Context of Beach Tourism

Abstract

This research aims to explain the intended environmentally responsible behavior of Beach visitors. Beach tourism is one of the most vulnerable areas, and yet sensitive to the consequences of littering caused by the growing population of beach visitors. This work aims to determine the factors significantly influencing intended environmentally responsible behavior, particularly Beach litter prevention. An extended theory of planned behavior is used to explain this phenomenon by incorporating biospheric value and positive affect. Convenience sampling techniques were used to collect the data, and a survey was conducted in the Gunung Kidul area, Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. The survey questionnaires were distributed in the three research sites: Krakal, Baron, and Sunda Beaches. The sample of this research consisted of 317 Beach visitors. The results were obtained from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) following a two-step analysis to ensure and evaluate the accuracy and quality of the measurements and the model. The result demonstrates a positive association between biospheric value and positive affect and attitude toward behavior. Besides, attitude toward behavior and perceived behavioral control predict beach litter prevention intention, whereas subjective norms were insignificant. This study integrated biospheric value and positive affect to advance the theory of planned behavior. This work provides additional knowledge to the literature, particularly in the context of Beach tourism. The results highlighted the importance of biospheric value and positive affect, which can be leveraged when considering solutions to the littering problem. Both practical implications and future research agenda are also discussed in this study. In addition, this work addressed the limitation and future direction of this research, which suggest adopting this model in different contexts.