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Personality Traits Or Interpretive Services? a Case Study of Beijing’S Yuyuantan Urban Park, China

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Personality Traits Or Interpretive Services? a Case Study of Beijing’S Yuyuantan Urban Park, China Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research ISSN: 1094-1665 (Print) 1741-6507 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rapt20 Key impact factors of visitors’ environmentally responsible behaviour: personality traits or interpretive services? A case study of Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park, China Minyan Zhao, Suocheng Dong, Homer C. Wu, Yu Li, Tengwei Su, Bing Xia, Ji Zheng & Xin Guo To cite this article: Minyan Zhao, Suocheng Dong, Homer C. Wu, Yu Li, Tengwei Su, Bing Xia, Ji Zheng & Xin Guo (2018) Key impact factors of visitors’ environmentally responsible behaviour: personality traits or interpretive services? A case study of Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park, China, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 23:8, 792-805, DOI: 10.1080/10941665.2018.1493518 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2018.1493518 Published online: 03 Jul 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 21 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rapt20 ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH 2018, VOL. 23, NO. 8, 792–805 https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2018.1493518 Key impact factors of visitors’ environmentally responsible behaviour: personality traits or interpretive services? A case study of Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park, China Minyan Zhaoa,b, Suocheng Donga,c, Homer C. Wud,YuLia,c, Tengwei Sue,f, Bing Xiaa,c,g, Ji Zhenga,c and Xin Guoh aInstitute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; bSouthwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China; cUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; dNational Taichung University of Education, Taichung, 40306, Taiwan; eBeijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China; fYunnan Forestry Technological College, Kunming, 650224, China; gTourism College, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China; hManagement Office of Beijing Yuyuantan Park, Beijing, 100038, China ABSTRACT KEYWORDS The environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB) facilitates the sustainability of Environmentally responsible tourism destinations. This study aims to identify the key impact factors to promote behaviour; personality traits; visitors’ ERB in urban park and examine the impact mechanism. A total of 567 satisfaction with interpretive visitors were surveyed in Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park. Structural equation service; place attachment; structural equation modelling results indicate that personality traits are the most important factors that modelling; Beijing affect visitors’ ERB, while the effect of how satisfaction with interpretive services plays upon visitors’ ERB using place attachment as a mediator. Openness traits positively affect satisfaction with experiential services and general behaviour. Additionally, implications in urban park management are provided. Introduction term environment conservation and recreational Why do people’s tourism-based activities have nega- setting. tive impacts on destinations? How to promote Academic researchers indicate that environmen- people’s responsible behaviour for tourism environ- tally responsible behaviour (ERB) in nature-based ment? These questions have become important con- tourism destinations often focus on nature resources cerns to both researchers and administers (Juvan & and large-scale bio-diverse ecosystem (Su & Dolnicar, 2016; Lee, Jan, & Huang, 2015; Swanson, 2017). They often chose wetland, scenic Logar, 2010). Visitors’ improper behaviour may not areas, wildlife protect area, national park, and cultural only result in environmental degradation through heritage as study areas to assess visitor’s environ- waste generation, depletion of wildlife, collect flora mental concerns, recreation involvement, visitor and fauna specimens, but also increase difficulties experiences, destination image, and value perception in destination management such as overcrowding, that affect their behaviours (Atik, 2010; Cheng, Wu, & polluting, damaging tourism facilities, arbitrarily Huang, 2013; Cheng & Wu, 2015; Chiu, Lee, & Chen, inscribing and caving (Chang, 2010; Chen, 2011; 2014b; Han, Lee, & Hwang, 2016). Chiu, Lee, & Chen, 2014a; Su & Swanson, 2017). Unfortunately, the urban green space sustainability Although the result of a single visitor’s unawareness receives lesser scientific or political attention. Urban behaviour may be always ignored, there were 1235 park is one example of urban green space which million visitors in different destinations around the affords individuals nature enjoyment, recreation world in 2016 (World Tourism Organization, 2017). experience, and social interactions (Budruk, Thomas, These combined effects are not positive for long- & Tyrrell, 2009). When ERB occurs in urban park, CONTACT Yu Li [email protected], [email protected] © 2018 Asia Pacific Tourism Association ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH 793 these behaviours may be defined as protect and pre- between personality traits and ERB. The personality serve natural- or human-modified urban environ- trait is an important factor leading the visitor to ments that contain significant amounts of vegetation engage the parking setting and services, while open- (Megha, Heidi, & Timothy, 2009). Assessing the ERB ness to experience is a personality predictor of satis- of urban park can help administrators promote the faction of interpretive services such as visual and sustainable development of recreational settings and verbal information (Correa, Hinsley, & Zúñiga, 2010; improve the scientific supplying of park services. Sojka & Giese, 2001). Interpretive services are commonly used in parks There is a research problem that needs to be and other detestation for information communication, explored: If visitors’ behaviours are influenced by per- to present the knowledge and values of natural and sonality traits which could be both biological and human resource, and to enhance recreation experi- developmental, is it necessary to provide interpretive ence (Ballantyne & Uzzell, 1999; Ham, 2013; Powell & service to communicate persuasive messages and to Ham, 2008). Interpretive services may be guided and provoke reflection in destination? We consider this self-guided depending on the type of services to be necessary from both academic research and practical rendered. Guided interpretive services are those that implications. With the rapid development of urbaniz- facilitate person-to-person information exchange ation in China, visitors entered urban parks for recrea- and sharing, such as guided tours, lectures, and dis- tion and their activities have resulted in negative cussions; self-guided interpretive activities rely on impacts on destinations. Unfortunately, few studies signs, self-guided trails and motor tours, publications, of ERB in urban park context have been conducted exhibitions, and visitor centres (Braun & Dierkes, 2017; in China. Therefore, this study empirically assesses Powell & Ham, 2008). Recently, smartphone and iPad the effect of personality traits and interpretive services are applied in outdoor interpretive programme on ERB among urban park visitors in China. Specifi- (Kacoroski, Liddicoat, & Kerlin, 2016). Due to interpre- cally, this study reaches three main goals: tive purpose, the interpretive media, contents, and places could be varied (Ham, 2013). Effective interpre- (1) identifying the key impact factors to promote visi- tive services influence environmental awareness, tors’ ERB in urban park; environmental attitude, environmental commitment, (2) assessing the impact mechanism of key factors on and even pro-behaviours (Tsang, Yeung, & Cheung, the promotion of visitors’ ERB; 2011). Powell, Vezeau, Stern, Moore, and Wright (3) exploring effective strategies for improving park (2017) conducted a study to evaluate the Junior services based on the results of the study. Ranger program of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and found that these interpretive pro- grammes had significant immediate influences on Literature review both elaborations as well as stewardship intentions Environmentally responsible behaviour and behaviours (in-park behaviours, home behaviours, and community behaviours). Based on theory of ERB contributes to nature conservation and promotes reasoned action, interpretive service affects human the sustainable development of the natural environ- behaviours through promoting their feeling to ment and responses to climate change (Han et al., specific site, and place attachment is introduced in 2016; Lee, 2011). Tourism destinations provide facili- interpretation research in sustainable tourism (Cheng ties and services help visitors to understand the & Wu, 2015). value of tourism resource and to create environmental Although previous studies have aimed to examine awareness and ERB (Chiu et al., 2014b; Kil, Holland, & human behaviours from the personality perspective, Stein, 2014). Some studies have applied research fra- there is a scarcity of research in tourism context. meworks and conclusions from environmental psy- They have discussed the personality traits which are chology (Mei, Wai, & Ahamad, 2017), social the impact factors that determine individual beha- psychology (Lee et al., 2015), and environmental edu- viours (Allport, 1938) and found that openness and cation (Braun & Dierkes, 2017) to explore the factors conscientiousness were the traits strongly linked to that affect visitors’ ERB. These impact factors were human environmental engagement (Milfont &
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