Does Psychological Contract Violation Change the Original Intention of Eco-Tourists to Participate in Scenic Value Co-Creation?

Abstract

Eco-tourists are the practitioners of promoting the harmonious development of humans and nature, and have a very important significance for the scenic spots and sustainable development of scenic areas. However, external factors often interfere with the eco-tourists’ original intention, which not only affect the tourist experience, but also bring a negative influence to the scenic spots, and even the destinations where they are located. Identifying the triggering factors and processes that influence eco-tourists’ participation in scenic value co-creation will lay a solid foundation for the effective governance of scenic areas. This paper systematically explores whether, how and when psychological contract violations significantly affect the eco-tourists’ participation in scenic value co-creation from the perspective of psychological contract violations. The data are collected from 556 eco-tourists’ questionnaires from the Yellow River Estuary Ecotourism Zone of Dongying City, Shandong Province, China. Through a hierarchical regression analysis and further validated by the Bootstrap method, the study finds the following: First, eco-tourists’ psychological contract violation has a significant negative effect on their participation in value co-creation. Second, moral disengagement plays a mediating role in the relationship between psychological contract violation and value co-creation behavior. Third, moral disengagement acts on value co-creation. The process of moral disengagement on value co-creation behavior is influenced by the level of expertise. The negative effect of moral disengagement on value co-creation decreases as the level of expertise increases. The findings of this paper not only expand the antecedents of tourists’ participation and the path of psychological contract violation in value co-creation, but also have important practical implications for promoting eco-tourists’ participation in value co-creation as well as reducing, preventing and identifying psychological contract violation in ecotourism scenic spots.