Can the COVID-19 risk perception affect tourists’ responsible behavior intention: an application of the structural equation model

Abstract

Responsible tourism has received great attention as a recovery strategy post COVID-19 in the tourism industry. The originality of this study is the integration of knowledge-attitude-practice theory and theory of planned behavior to disclose how knowledge influences responsible tourism behavior intention and the development of a new scale of responsible tourism behavior in the post COVID-19 era. By using a mixed-methods approach with quota sampling, a propensity score weighting structure equation model is adopted to examine the behavior developed scales and proposed framework. From a methodological perspective, the propensity score weighting structural equation model was adopted to address the sampling bias in the non-probability sampling, which is a supplement and deepening of the research methods in tourism economics. This study finds that the responsible behavioral intention is partially mediated by the knowledge in travel risk. Behavioral attitude and subjective norm are the mediators and their indirect effects are causally moderated by tourists’ past travel experience. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.