Don’t squeeze me! Exploring the mechanisms and boundary conditions between social crowding and uncivilised tourist behaviour

Many studies have revealed that social crowding may adversely affect tourists. However, the mechanisms by which social crowding negatively affects the psychology and behaviour of tourists, especially those in natural area destinations, and strategies for mitigating these impacts remain unclear. To address these issues, a mixed method approach was employed, consisting of two studies. Study 1 conducted semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to identify the critical variables and their potential relations. The results showed that social crowding can stimulate negative tourists’ psychological and behavioural responses. Tourists’ moral identity may also be a boundary factor. To verify the relationship between the variables, study 2 used a survey to explore the formative mechanism and boundary conditions of social crowding on uncivilised tourist behaviour. The empirical findings indicated that: (1) social crowding significantly influences uncivilised tourist behaviour; (2) negative emotions play a partial mediating role in uncivilised tourist behaviour; (3) moral identity negatively moderates the impact of negative emotions towards uncivilised tourist behaviour; (4) the indirect effect of negative emotions was also moderated by moral identity. Theoretically, this paper examines the relationship and boundary conditions between social crowding and uncivilised tourist behaviour. Practically, the research provides suggestions for natural area destination flow management.