The impact of restorative destination environments on tourists' well-being and environmentally responsible behavior: A Reasonable Person Model

Abstract

Tourist destinations play an important role in facilitating restoration and recovery from stress and mental fatigue. Building upon the Reasonable Person Model, this study tested the causal relationships between three antecedent constructs, i.e., perceived destination restorative qualities (PDRQs), tourist hedonic well-being, tourist eudaemonic well-being, and one consequent construct, i.e., environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). It also assessed the biased effect of perceived crowding through multi-group analysis. A total of 427 valid questionnaires were collected. Results showed that PDRQs exert positive effects on tourist hedonic and eudaemonic well-being as well as ERB. Moreover, tourist eudaemonic well-being exerts a positive effect on ERB and partially mediates the relationship between PDRQs and ERB. This study also revealed that perceived crowding plays a moderating role in the relationship between PDRQs and ERB. Findings enrich the extant knowledge on restorative tourist destination and human-nature relationships and provide implications for destination management and environmental protection.