IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/anture/v105y2024ics0160738323001548.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The power of respect for authority and empathy – Leveraging non-cognitive theoretical constructs to trigger environmentally sustainable tourist behaviour

Author

Listed:
  • Zhu, Oscar Yuheng
  • Li, Hongwei
  • Grün, Bettina
  • Dolnicar, Sara

Abstract

Behavioural change research for environmental sustainability is currently guided almost exclusively by a cognitive paradigm, which assumes that cognitive constructs drive behaviour and must be influenced to change it. This study challenges this dominant paradigm and tests two non-cognitive theoretical constructs – respect for authority and empathy – in the context of reducing buffet plate waste. Respect for authority (in contrast to empathy) passes the manipulation check and significantly reduces plate waste in a quasi-experimental field study in a Chinese hotel, providing proof of concept for a new, urgently needed, re-orientation in behavioural change intervention design. The intervention tested in this study can immediately be deployed by tourism and hospitality businesses who want to make their buffets more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Oscar Yuheng & Li, Hongwei & Grün, Bettina & Dolnicar, Sara, 2024. "The power of respect for authority and empathy – Leveraging non-cognitive theoretical constructs to trigger environmentally sustainable tourist behaviour," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:105:y:2024:i:c:s0160738323001548
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2023.103681
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738323001548
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103681?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muhammad Rasyid Abdillah & Weishen Wu & Rizqa Anita, 2022. "Can altruistic leadership prevent knowledge-hiding behaviour? Testing dual mediation mechanisms," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 352-366, May.
    2. Arthur Schram, 2005. "Artificiality: The tension between internal and external validity in economic experiments," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 225-237.
    3. Zhu, Oscar Yuheng & Dolnicar, Sara, 2022. "Can disasters improve the tourism industry? The role of normative, cognitive and relational expectations in shaping industry response to disaster-induced disruption," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Marrocu, Emanuela & Paci, Raffaele & Zara, Andrea, 2015. "Micro-economic determinants of tourist expenditure: A quantile regression approach," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 13-30.
    5. Kevin D Hall & Juen Guo & Michael Dore & Carson C Chow, 2009. "The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-6, November.
    6. Yang, Yang & Zhang, Carol X. & Rickly, Jillian M., 2021. "A review of early COVID-19 research in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research's Curated Collection on coronavirus and tourism1," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Viglia, Giampaolo & Dolnicar, Sara, 2020. "A review of experiments in tourism and hospitality," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Manfred Lenzen & Ya-Yen Sun & Futu Faturay & Yuan-Peng Ting & Arne Geschke & Arunima Malik, 2018. "The carbon footprint of global tourism," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(6), pages 522-528, June.
    9. Gabriel Mugny & Eric Tafani & Juan Manuel Falomir-Pichastor & Carine Layat, 2000. "Source credibility, social comparison and social influence," Post-Print hal-01796281, HAL.
    10. Lingfei Wang & Yuqin Yang & Guoyan Wang, 2022. "The Clean Your Plate Campaign: Resisting Table Food Waste in an Unstable World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    11. Fisher, Robert J, 1993. "Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 303-315, September.
    12. Joseph K. Goodman & Gabriele Paolacci, 2017. "Crowdsourcing Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(1), pages 196-210.
    13. Manfred Lenzen & Ya-Yen Sun & Futu Faturay & Yuan-Peng Ting & Arne Geschke & Arunima Malik, 2018. "Author Correction: The carbon footprint of global tourism," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(6), pages 544-544, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Geng, Yuqing & Zhang, Xiaorui & Gao, Juan & Yan, Yan & Chen, Lingyan, 2024. "Bibliometric analysis of sustainable tourism using CiteSpace," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Osorio, Pilar & Cadarso, María-Ángeles & Tobarra, María-Ángeles & García-Alaminos, Ángela, 2023. "Carbon footprint of tourism in Spain: Covid-19 impact and a look forward to recovery," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 303-318.
    2. Tim F. Thormann & Pamela Wicker, 2024. "Environmentally-Friendly Stadium Travel of Football Fans: A Stated Preferences Study," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(1), pages 3-29, January.
    3. Arletta Isaeva & Raufhon Salahodjaev & Anastas Khachaturov & Shakhnoza Tosheva, 2022. "The Impact of Tourism and Financial Development on Energy Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emission: Evidence from Post-communist Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(1), pages 773-786, March.
    4. Scott, Daniel & Gössling, Stefan, 2022. "A review of research into tourism and climate change - Launching the annals of tourism research curated collection on tourism and climate change," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Walters, Gabby & Magor, Thomas & Kelly, Sarah & Wallin, Ann, 2022. "Cruising through a pandemic: Or not?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Run Liu & Ziyue Qiu, 2022. "Urban Sustainable Development Empowered by Cultural and Tourism Industries: Using Zhenjiang as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-15, October.
    7. Lei Zhang & Jing Gao, 2024. "Does climate policy uncertainty influence corporate cash holdings? Evidence from the U.S. tourism and hospitality sector," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(7), pages 1704-1728, November.
    8. Chlupsa, Christian & Dietert, Tilko & Flori, Heiko & Herbrand, Marc & Istok, Ferdinand & Kocagöz, Orhan & Kraus, Hans & Ladnar, Nadine & Mendler, Josef & Mörtl, Timo & Ranig, Ragna & Rühl, Alexander &, 2023. "Nachhaltige Mobilität der Zukunft," KCFM Schriftenreihe, FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, KCFM KompetenzCentrum für Future Mobility, volume 1, number 1 edited by FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, KCFM KompetenzCentrum für Future Mobility.
    9. Talwar, Shalini & Kaur, Puneet & Escobar, Octavio & Lan, Sai, 2022. "Virtual reality tourism to satisfy wanderlust without wandering: An unconventional innovation to promote sustainability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 128-143.
    10. Blättler, Kevin & Wallimann, Hannes & von Arx, Widar, 2024. "Free public transport to the destination: A causal analysis of tourists’ travel mode choice," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    11. Natalia Porto & Matías Ciaschi, 2021. "Reformulating the tourism-extended environmental Kuznets curve: A quantile regression analysis under environmental legal conditions," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(5), pages 991-1014, August.
    12. Pipatpong Fakfare & Walanchalee Wattanacharoensil, 2023. "Low‐carbon tourism for island destinations: A crucial alternative for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 180-197, February.
    13. Ani Trstenjak & Ivana Tomas Zikovic & Sa a Zikovic, 2023. "How to Make EU Tourism Sector Greener, more Efficient and Sustainable: A Bibliometric Analysis," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(2), pages 77-85, March.
    14. Nicholas Apergis & Konstantinos Gavriilidis & Rangan Gupta, 2023. "Does climate policy uncertainty affect tourism demand? Evidence from time-varying causality tests," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(6), pages 1484-1498, September.
    15. Ti-An Chen, 2022. "Business Performance Evaluation for Tourism Factory: Using DEA Approach and Delphi Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, July.
    16. Cathrine Linnes & Jerome Agrusa & Giulio Ronzoni & Joseph Lema, 2022. "What Tourists Want, a Sustainable Paradise," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, February.
    17. Li Li & Yang Liu & Liqin Zhang & Jianjun Li & Tingning Wang & Qizheng Han, 2024. "Viticulture Carbon Footprint in Desert Areas of the Global South: A Cabernet Sauvignon Case of Ningxia, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, December.
    18. Mattioli, Giulio & Scheiner, Joachim & Holz-Rau, Christian, 2022. "Generational differences, socialisation effects and ‘mobility links’ in international holiday travel," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    19. Uktam Umurzakov & Shakhnoza Tosheva & Raufhon Salahodjaev, 2023. "Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development: Evidence from Belt and Road Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(1), pages 503-516, March.
    20. Kock, Florian & Nørfelt, Astrid & Josiassen, Alexander & Assaf, A. George & Tsionas, Mike G., 2020. "Understanding the COVID-19 tourist psyche: The Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:105:y:2024:i:c:s0160738323001548. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.