Award Date

5-1-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

William F. Harrah College of Hospitality

First Committee Member

Billy Bai

Second Committee Member

Hyelin Kim

Third Committee Member

Jungsun Kim

Fourth Committee Member

John Schibrowsky

Number of Pages

94

Abstract

This study aimed at examining how social environmental norms affect tourists’ pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) in the destination and home contexts by employing the focus theory of normative conduct and norm activation theory. It also tested the moderating effects of the belief of a vacation break from environmental duties and the mediating effect of personal norms in the relationships between social-environmental norms and PEBs. A total of 400 usable surveys was collected through an online survey. Both t-test and regression analysis techniques were employed to analyze the data. There were two major findings from this study. First, PEBs became weaker when people were on holiday than at home. However, PEBs increased when tourists arrived at a destination where there were higher social norms than their homes. Second, the vacation break from environmental duties negatively moderated the relationships between social norms and PEBs. Moreover, the degree of behavioral discrepancy is larger among the tourists holding a stronger belief in vacation break from environmental duties on vacation than those who do not.

Keywords

Destination sustainability; Personal norms; Pro-environmental behaviors; Social norms; Vacation break from environmental duties

Disciplines

Sustainability

File Format

pdf

File Size

4600 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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