Purpose

Recent reviews of field experiments aiming to entice tourists to behave in more environmentally sustainable ways conclude that attitudes – while the primary target – do not perform as well as expected. The purpose of this study is to analyse in detail when attitudes have or have not been successful as behavioural change targets and propose a conceptual framework of possible explanations. In so doing, this study represents the first theoretical – rather than empirical – challenge to the currently dominant theoretical understanding of environmentally significant tourist behaviours and offers alternative theoretical constructs tourism researchers aiming to make tourists behave in more sustainable ways could investigate in future.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors investigate in detail experiments where attitude-based behavioural change approaches failed. Based on the insights from this analysis, the authors propose a conceptual framework offering five potential explanations. This study also discusses alternative theoretical constructs that could be used for behavioural change interventions.

Findings

The authors derive five potential explanations for why attitudes often fail to trigger behavioural change in the context of environmentally sustainable tourist behaviour: tourists do not notice messages attempting to change their attitudes; tourists are unwilling to cognitively process behavioural change messages; tourists develop reactance to behavioural change requests; attempts to alter attitudes do not influence habits; and attempts to alter attitudes do not reduce the effort associated with displaying the desired behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

This study broadens research attention to alternative theoretical constructs that may be more effective in making tourists behave in more sustainable ways and opens opportunities for new measures tourism businesses and destinations can implement to influence tourist behaviour.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first theoretical investigation of possible reasons why attitudes have performed poorly as targets of behavioural change interventions aiming to trigger environmentally sustainable tourist behaviours.

中文翻译：

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为什么针对性的态度往往无法引发可持续的旅游行为

目的

最近对旨在吸引游客以更加环境可持续的方式行事的实地实验进行的审查得出的结论是，态度（虽然是主要目标）并没有达到预期的效果。本研究的目的是详细分析态度作为行为改变目标是否成功，并提出可能解释的概念框架。在此过程中，本研究代表了对当前对环境重要游客行为的主流理论理解的第一个理论而非实证挑战，并提供了旅游研究人员未来可以研究的替代理论结构，旨在使游客以更可持续的方式行事。

设计/方法论/途径

作者详细调查了基于态度的行为改变方法失败的实验。根据这一分析的见解，作者提出了一个概念框架，提供了五种可能的解释。这项研究还讨论了可用于行为改变干预的替代理论结构。

发现

作者得出了五种可能的解释，解释了为什么态度往往无法在环境可持续的旅游行为背景下引发行为改变：游客没有注意到试图改变他们态度的信息；游客不愿意认知处理行为改变信息；游客对改变行为的要求产生抵触情绪；尝试改变态度不会影响习惯；改变态度的尝试并不会减少与表现出期望的行为相关的努力。

研究局限性/影响

这项研究扩大了对替代理论结构的研究注意力，这些理论结构可能更有效地使游客以更可持续的方式行事，并为旅游企业和目的地可以实施影响游客行为的新措施提供了机会。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这是对态度作为旨在引发环境可持续旅游行为的行为改变干预措施目标表现不佳的可能原因的首次理论调查。