Environmentally responsible behavior of residents: impact of mindfulness, enjoyment of nature and sustainable attitude

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of individuals' mindfulness and enjoyment of nature on environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) through mediating effect of sustainable attitude (SA).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from residents of Antalya through convenience sampling. Four hundred and five residents participated in the study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsMindfulness was found effective for sustainable attitude of residents, but it has no significant direct effect to ERB. There is an indirect-only mediation effect of SA between mindfulness and ERB. Enjoyment of nature affects the sustainable attitude and ERB significantly and positively. The findings show that SA also offers a complementary mediation between enjoyment of nature and ERB.Research limitations/implicationsThe study closes the void by investigating the psychological aspects of individuals among residents of a tourist hub to create sustainable attitude, acts and responsible behavior toward environment. In particular, as the predicting role of mindfulness on ERB was not significant, further studies needed to investigate the effects of mindfulness on the environmental behavior and attitude.Practical implicationsDestination management organizations can consider more focusing on the environmentally responsible behavior of residents, which can play a pivotal role in attaining sustainable tourism development in destinations. By this regard, increasing the sustainable attitude and enjoyment of nature of residents through applying various campaigns would help policies and strategies aiming the conservation of the environment in the destination.Originality/valueSearching the impact of mindfulness on the SA and ERB and finding the indirect-only mediation effect of SA between mindfulness, ERB are novel contributions of this paper.