How does national image affect tourists’ civilized tourism behavior? The mediating role of psychological ownership

Abstract

Encouraging tourists to engage in civilized tourism behavior is paramount in destination environment and culture protection. However, the uncivilized behavior of Chinese tourists when traveling abroad has sparked concern that such behaviors might have caused environmental damage to the destination and tarnished the international image of China. Despite the seriousness of uncivilized behavior, quantitative research on this topic is scarce. Thus, we attempted to identify an optimal solution for tourism management authorities by investigating the mechanism underlying the formation of civilized tourism behavioral intention. We found that national image is a novel construct that drives tourists to adopt civilized behaviors, and proposed an integrated model to explain how national image influences civilized tourism behavioral intention. Participants were 468 Chinese tourists, who completed a survey questionnaire. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the results revealed that national identity, patriotism, and psychological ownership played full mediating roles in the relationship between national image and civilized tourism behavioral intention. This study has implications for Chinese tourism management authorities, and could help to develop schemes to effectively advocate civilized tourism behavior.