IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2024i1p43-d1553100.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mechanism by Which Environmental Education Influences Pro-Environmental Behavior in Wuyishan National Park, China

Author

Listed:
  • Xinyi Wu

    (College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China)

  • Weiguo Jia

    (College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China)

  • Tianyu Wu

    (College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China)

Abstract

Environmental education is one of the main functions of China’s national parks, and it also plays a crucial role in the construction of an ecological civilization. Compared with the rest of Asia, the inception of national parks in China occurred relatively late, and fostering tourists’ pro-environmental behavior is a challenging endeavor. According to the theoretical paradigm of stimulus–organism–response (SOR), in this study, we selected place attachment, environmental attitude, and environmental quality to construct a theoretical model of the relationship between the perception of environmental education and pro-environmental behavior. We conducted a sample survey of 728 tourists who had been to Wuyishan National Park and constructed a structural equation model. Our findings indicate the following: (1) pro-environmental behavior is directly and significantly promoted by one’s perception of environmental education, place attachment, and environmental attitude; (2) place attachment and environmental attitude play an intermediary role between one’s perception of environmental education and pro-environmental behavior; and (3) the quality of the external environment positively influences the correlation between one’s perception of environmental education and place attachment. This study provides solutions and suggestions for Wuyishan National Park to improve the effectiveness of environmental education regarding tourists’ pro-environmental behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinyi Wu & Weiguo Jia & Tianyu Wu, 2024. "Mechanism by Which Environmental Education Influences Pro-Environmental Behavior in Wuyishan National Park, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2024:i:1:p:43-:d:1553100
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/1/43/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/1/43/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin Meng & Wentao Si, 2022. "Pro-Environmental Behavior: Examining the Role of Ecological Value Cognition, Environmental Attitude, and Place Attachment among Rural Farmers in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-24, December.
    2. Wentao Si & Chen Jiang & Lin Meng, 2022. "The Relationship between Environmental Awareness, Habitat Quality, and Community Residents’ Pro-Environmental Behavior—Mediated Effects Model Analysis Based on Social Capital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Jian Xu & Ruixia Han, 2019. "The Influence of Place Attachment on Pro-Environmental Behaviors: The Moderating Effect of Social Media," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Kersti Pärna & Kaja Rahu & Noël Barengo & Mati Rahu & Patrick Sandström & Vesa Jormanainen & Markku Myllykangas, 2005. "Comparison of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour regarding smoking among Estonian and Finnish physicians," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 50(6), pages 378-388, December.
    5. Jiantao Zhang & Li Jin & Xinning Pan & Yang Wang, 2024. "Pro-Environmental Behavior of Tourists in Ecotourism Scenic Spots: The Promoting Role of Tourist Experience Quality in Place Attachment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-22, October.
    6. Wei Fu & Bin Zhou, 2024. "Theme Exploration and Sentiment Analysis of Online Reviews of Wuyishan National Park," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Yongli Tian & Yuchang Jin & Yadi Zhao & Yifan Du & Sicen Shen & Junxiu An, 2024. "Analysis of Knowledge Graph: Hotspots and Future Trends in Environmental Education Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Ben Yang & Ningning Wu & Zepeng Tong & Yan Sun, 2022. "Narrative-Based Environmental Education Improves Environmental Awareness and Environmental Attitudes in Children Aged 6–8," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-19, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chien-Hsiang Huang & Tai-Wei Chang & Chih-Wen Ting & Stanley Y. B. Huang, 2024. "How Does Organizational Leadership Promote Pro-Environmental Behavior? A Moderated Mediation Model of Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Susmita Sarmin & Atia Shahin & Md. Faruq Hasan, 2024. "Influence of socio-demographic and psychological factors on shaping farmers’ pro-environmental behavior in Dinajpur, Bangladesh," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 1017-1049, December.
    3. Xuezhen Xu & Fang Wang & Tao Xu & Sufyan Ullah Khan, 2023. "How Does Capital Endowment Impact Farmers’ Green Production Behavior? Perspectives on Ecological Cognition and Environmental Regulation," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-27, August.
    4. Ying Yan & Abdol Aziz Shahraki, 2023. "Exploring the Mutual Relationships between Public Space and Social Satisfaction with Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Ruixia Han & Jian Xu, 2020. "A Comparative Study of the Role of Interpersonal Communication, Traditional Media and Social Media in Pro-Environmental Behavior: A China-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-21, March.
    6. Yifei Niu & Xi Wang & Ciyun Lin, 2022. "A Study on the Impact of Organizing Environmental Awareness and Education on the Performance of Environmental Governance in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Lingyun Mi & Jiali Han & Ting Xu & Xuejiao Wang & Lijie Qiao & Tianwen Jia & Xiaoli Gan, 2023. "Evaluating Whether and How Public Health Event Information Frameworks Promote Pro-Environmental Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-20, February.
    8. Chengquan Zhang & Xifeng Wu & Kun Qian & Sijia Zhao & Hatef Madani & Jin Chen & Yu Chen, 2024. "Environmental Awareness and Social Sustainability: Insights from an Agent-Based Model with Social Learning and Individual Heterogeneity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-21, September.
    9. Habib, Muhammad Danish & Filimonau, Viachaslau & Coşkun, Ayşen & Wang, Ling-en & Ermolaev, Vladimir A., 2023. "Altruistic and collectivistic values as the antecedents of surplus food donation intention," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Lin Meng & Wentao Si, 2022. "Pro-Environmental Behavior: Examining the Role of Ecological Value Cognition, Environmental Attitude, and Place Attachment among Rural Farmers in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-24, December.
    11. Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández & Manuel Escobar-Farfán & Mauricio Guerra-Velásquez & Elizabeth Emperatriz García-Salirrosas, 2023. "COVID-19 Effects on Environmentally Responsible Behavior: A Social Impact Perspective from Latin American Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-21, February.
    12. Galeotti, Fabio & Hopfensitz, Astrid & Mantilla, César, 2024. "Climate change education through the lens of behavioral economics: A systematic review of studies on observed behavior and social norms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    13. Anaïs Besson & Alice Tarpin & Valentin Flaudias & Georges Brousse & Catherine Laporte & Amanda Benson & Valentin Navel & Jean-Baptiste Bouillon-Minois & Frédéric Dutheil, 2021. "Smoking Prevalence among Physicians: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-58, December.
    14. Hao Li & Tiantian Li & Wei-Yew Chang, 2023. "Family Identity, Place Identity, and Chinese Farmers’ Environment-Friendly Production Behavior," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, June.
    15. Soesilo, Nining Indroyono & Alfarizi, Muhammad, 2024. "Psycho-social conditions of urban communities in the complexity of waste management: Are awareness and waste banks the main solution?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    16. Sorcaru, Iulian Adrian & Muntean, Mihaela-Carmen & Manea, Ludmila-Daniela & Nistor, Rozalia, 2024. "From social norms to pro-environmental behavior: The role of destination social responsibility for families traveling with children," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    17. Abida Begum & Jingwei Liu & Hina Qayum & Amr Mamdouh, 2022. "Environmental and Moral Education for Effective Environmentalism: An Ideological and Philosophical Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Jialiang Yang & Wen Yin & Yi Jin, 2023. "Analyzing Public Environmental Concerns at the Threshold to Reduce Urban Air Pollution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-17, October.
    19. Zikai Zhao & Bing Liang & Guoqing Shi & Wenqi Shan & Yingqi Li & Zhonggen Sun, 2025. "Factors Influencing Climate-Induced Evacuation in Coastal Cities: The Case of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-24, March.
    20. Lan Tran & Ye Su, 2025. "Consumers’ Health and Environmental Attitudes and Local Food Purchases," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(2), pages 1-19, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2024:i:1:p:43-:d:1553100. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.