Effects of the Threatened Moral Self on Visitors’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior: Insights From a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment

Abstract

Although the threatened moral self has received increasing academic attention, researchers have not yet considered its priming prerequisite in the tourism context or its influence on visitor-related behavior. This research aims to fill this gap by exploring boundary conditions of the threatened moral self and how it influences visitors’ environmentally responsible behavior. A lab-in-the-field experiment reveals the following regarding boundary conditions of the threatened moral self in tourism: the moral behavior that stimulus material depicts must be related to group interests rather than to personal interests; a threatened moral self promotes environmentally responsible behavior; and connectedness to nature plays a mediating role whereas environmental protection knowledge serves as a moderator. These findings expand the body of knowledge and conceptual framework related to visitors’ morality, presenting a novel perspective on investigations of environmentally responsible behavior.