Antecedents and Consequences of Ecotourism Behavior: Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals, Ecological Belief, Willingness to Pay for Ecotourism Services and Satisfaction with Life

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the antecedents related to why tourists engage in ecotourism and the consequences of ecotourism behavior. This study examined the concept of self-construal as a social aspect of self that influences different levels of ecological beliefs, which, in turn, affect ecotourism behavior. To address the unsatisfactory predictive power of the belief/attitude-behavior model, this study included the willingness to pay (WTP) for ecotourism between the ecological belief and ecotourism behavior relationships. Finally, this study examined the impact of ecotourism on tourists’ satisfaction with life as a result of ecotourism behavior. A structural equation model was constructed to test the proposed model. We found significant impacts of self-construals in explaining ecological beliefs. Significant relationships were found between ecological belief and WTP for ecotourism services which influenced ecotourism behavior, and between ecological belief and ecotourism behavior which affected satisfaction with life. The moderating effect of gender was only found on the path between WTP and ecotourism behavior. The findings of this study offer some implications for industry and policymakers to develop effective ecotourism programs.