Exploring the nexus: Hausman test application in tourism, globalization, and environmental sustainability- evidence of top 10 visited countries

Econometric analysis has long been integral to measuring sustainable environmental quality, with panel data methods, such as fixed and random effects models, becoming the focal point of modern research. Initially, such methods were used to simply investigate environmental issues, but recent years have seen a shift toward the study of random effects models, focusing on hypothesis testing and policy debates. However, several important aspects of the Hausman test have not been sufficiently investigated in the literature. This study seeks to evaluate the utility of the Hausman test using a real dataset from tourism and globalization, exploring their effects on sustainable environmental quality. Additionally, the study examines key factors contributing to environmental issues including economic growth and energy consumption, as critical explanatory variables. By investigating the relationship between tourism, globalization, economic growth, and energy use, the research focuses on the top 10 most visited economies: France, the USA, Spain, China, Turkey, Italy, Mexico, Germany, Thailand, and the UK. Using panel data and the cross-sectional random effects model for the period of 1998 to 2024, the study produces reliable estimations of these relationships. The empirical findings suggest that while the Hausman test favors the fixed effect model, the real-world characteristics of these countries point to the random effect model, highlighting the negative impact of economic growth, energy consumption, and globalization on sustainable environmental quality. It is also suggested that socio-environmental factors should be considered for each destination for sustainable environmental quality.