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Abstract |
Ajzens (1985) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the most recognized frameworks for understanding wildlife-related behaviors. According to this framework, intentions to perform behaviors can be predicted from attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Behavioral intentions are evaluated as how likely a person is to perform a behavior in the future, with these intentions accounting for a considerable amount of variance in actual behavior together with perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). Involvement is another useful concept when studying behavioral outcomes, as highly involved participants can hold more intense attitudes and emotions, that may in turn influence future behavior (Burke & Stets, 1999; Havitz & Dimanche, 1999). Understanding a possible relationship between involvement and TPB may provide further insight on wildlife-related behaviors, as the literature suggests both concepts have effects on behavioral intentions. However, to the best of the authors knowledge there are no previous studies combining TPB and involvement in a wildlife watching tourism context. Meanwhile, one of wildlife watching tourisms main justifications is its potential to improve participants empathy and actions toward wildlife and the environment (Hughes, 2013). However, some activities are better suited for this purpose than others, and short duration and mass marketed activities oriented toward a single focal species may not have this effect (Curtin, 2013).Our study investigates connections between TPB and centrality to life, a concept that is often used to measure involvement when studying participants degree of recreation specialization (Scott & Shafer, 2001) and enduring involvement (Forgas-Coll et al., 2017). Additionally, we investigated participants intentions to perform three pro-environmental behaviors that benefits wildlife following a wildlife watching experience. |
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