Dual trust, emotional bond, and tourists’ on-site pro-environmental behavior at nature-based destinations: Extending norm-activation theory from the perspective of social dilemma

Abstract

The sustainable development of tourism is closely tied to the protection and preservation of natural environments, particularly in nature-based destinations where the appeal and competitiveness depend heavily on the quality of environmental resources. Among the various strategies to enhance environmental sustainability, a strong emphasis has been placed on encouraging tourists to engage in spontaneous on-site pro-environmental behavior (PEB). However, tourists' participation in PEB at travel destinations often presents a scenario of social dilemma, where individual interests conflict with collective benefits. This conflict often makes individuals less willing to engage in PEB in the tourism context than they would in their everyday environments. To address this issue, the study advances the norm-activation theory (NAT), a well-established framework in PEB studies, by incorporating trust and emotion—two critical factors in resolving social dilemmas. An integrated model was proposed to better understand and predict the formation of tourists' on-site PEB and was empirically tested on a sample of 544 visitors from three natural parks in Hangzhou, China. The results reveal that (1) the two dimensions of trust—interpersonal trust and outcome trust—have significant effects on the key cognitive variables in NAT, namely ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequence, and (2) the emotional bond developed between tourists and the destination significantly enhances the link between ascription of responsibility and tourists' PEB intentions through the mediation of personal norm. These findings suggest that innovative interactive-based approaches can be implemented to more effectively promote tourists’ on-site PEB, thereby fostering sustainability in nature-based destinations.