What is it about?
The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical framework by integrating the valuebelief- norm (VBN) theory with environmental awareness in measuring Chinese university students’ environmentally sustainable behavior toward tourism destinations. University students tend to engage in sustainability efforts since their values and beliefs are still being formed. The participants were 301 university students from a university in eastern China. The empirical findings demonstrate that: (1) environmental awareness has positive influences on biospheric value, altruistic value and egoistic value; (2) biospheric value positively predicts the new ecological paradigm (NEP), whereas altruistic and egoistic values do not; (3) the NEP, awareness of consequence and personal norms play an important mediating role. Results indicate that extended VBN can explain students’ environmentally sustainable behavior. This research supports the growth of sustainable tourism and has a number of practical implications for universities and the relevant environmental departments to promote university students’ involvement in sustainable tourism.
Featured Image
Photo by Ram Kishor on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The extended model would be a guide for developing mainstream environmental education and disseminating information through mass media on environmental awareness for university students.
Perspectives
Using the VBN theory, this study explores university students’ environmentally sustainable behavior through the influencing factor of environmental awareness. The results exhibited the positive direct relationship between environmental awareness and biosphere, altruistic and egoistic values. The research also found that environmental awareness, biosphere values, beliefs and personal norms are highly predictive of environmentally sustainable behavior. For this reason, initiatives promoting environmentally sustainable behavior among university students must take environmental awareness into account.
Dr., Associate professor Eila Kyllikki Jeronen
University of Oulu
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding the Environmentally Sustainable Behavior of Chinese University Students as Tourists: An Integrative Framework, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, February 2023, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20043317.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
