Forming Responsible Behavior of Tourists in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh: The Mediating Role of Social Norms

The tourist industry plays a major role in the economies of both wealthy and poor countries. In addition to creating a variety of revenue-generating opportunities, tourism also causes a number of issues for society at large. Tourists may engage in a variety of irresponsible behaviors, such as littering, using unsanitary restrooms, smoking in public, vying for seats, talking loudly, taking pictures without permission, picking flowers from tree branches, etc., which could hinder the growth of sustainable tourism destinations and compromise the dignity of visitors. It’s equally critical to comprehend the elements that lead to good tourism practices and the reasons behind irresponsible tourism practices. Therefore, encouraging responsible tourism could be a key priority for countries looking to increase tourism’s competitiveness. Yet, scientific research in this field is still neglected. The purpose of this study is to investigate the variables that affect visitors’ responsible travel practices in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Investigating the connections between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and social norms in relation to responsible tourism behavior is the aim of this study. This study presents a theoretical framework for responsible tourism behavior using the widely used theory of planned behavior (TPB). The study evaluates the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control using social norms as the mediating variable. Convenient sampling was employed to gather data from 421 respondents who had previously visited the Sundarbans using a questionnaire, and PLS-SEM software was utilized for data analysis. The findings show that social norms partially mediate the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, and responsible tourism behavior; and attitude, perceived behavioral control, and social norms have a significant direct influence on responsible tourism behavior. Moreover, it has been revealed that while the indirect relationship between subjective norms and responsible tourism through social norms was found to be statistically significant, the direct relationship between subjective norms and responsible tourism behavior is statistically negligible The findings of this study would contribute to both practitioners and academics to develop better strategies to improve the tourists’ behavior in the spots when visiting the tourism destinations.