Destination psychological ownership, environmental awareness and sustainable practices: A study among inbound UK and Chinese adults of Generation Zs

Abstract

Sketching on psychological ownership-attitude-behavior theory, the present study examines the effect of destination psychological ownership on Generation Z’s tourist environmental attitude, which in turn influences their sustainable behavior. This study also investigates the conditional impact of environmental awareness on the ecological attitude-sustainable behavior relationship. Using a purposive sampling approach, the authors collected data from inbound Generation Z tourists in the UK and China through a survey. The findings concluded with a significant positive impact of destination psychological ownership on Generation Z’s environmental attitude. The current evidence also supports the positive effect of ecological attitude on Generation Z’s sustainable behavior. The present work offered robust evidence that environmental awareness moderates the environmental attitude-sustainable behavior relationship in Generation Z. Concerning UK and Chinese cultural differences, the findings concluded with variations among their Generation Z tourist destination psychological ownership, ecological attitude and sustainable practices. Implications and limitations have also been elaborated on at the end.