Do motivations contribute to local residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors? Resident-destination relationship and pro-environmental climate perspective

Abstract

Local residents play an indispensable role in environmental conservation at tourist destinations. To facilitate the sustainable development of tourism, it is of great significance to identify how and when residents engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Based on the theory of motives, the analysis results from a survey of 566 local residents in Xidi and Hongcun of Southern Anhui suggests that the motivations (i.e., egoistic and altruistic motivation) have not only direct effects but also indirect effects via the resident-destination relationship variables (i.e., pro-environmental identification and pro-environmental commitment) on residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. These findings predict the underlying mechanisms of the motivations to influence residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. The results also present that the direct effects of the motivations regarding residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors are positively moderated by the pro-environmental climate, which shows the boundary condition of the motivations to affect residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. Generally, this paper reveals how and when the motivations play roles in residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors, which provides important practical implications for tourism destination management. Additionally, this study focuses on local residents of tourist destinations, which broadens the research perspective of pro-environmental behaviors in the tourism field.