Linking Perceived Environmental CSR to Residents' Environmental Citizenship Behavior in Rural Tourism: The Mediating Role of Resident-Environment Relationship Quality

Xiaojuan Rao; Hongliang Qiu; Alastair M Morrison; Wei Wei

doi:10.3390/ijerph192416566

Linking Perceived Environmental CSR to Residents' Environmental Citizenship Behavior in Rural Tourism: The Mediating Role of Resident-Environment Relationship Quality

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 9;19(24):16566. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416566.

Authors

Xiaojuan Rao¹, Hongliang Qiu^{1

2}, Alastair M Morrison³, Wei Wei⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Business Administration, Tourism College of Zhejiang, Hangzhou 311231, China.
² Zhejiang Academy of Culture & Tourism Development, Hangzhou 311231, China.
³ School of Management and Marketing, Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS, UK.
⁴ Department of Hospitality Services, Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32819, USA.

Abstract

Residents' environmental citizenship behavior is essential to the environmental protection and sustainable development of rural destinations. However, previous research with regards to environmental citizenship behavior has focused on an employee perspective, rather than a resident one. Through the theoretical lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, our research examined how perceived environmental CSR (ECSR) contributes to residents' environmental citizenship behavior, with resident-environment relationship quality acting as the organism. Data collected from a Chinese rural destination were analyzed with a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicate that: (1) perceived ECSR directly and positively influences residents' environmental citizenship behavior; (2) relationship quality variables (i.e., environmental identification and environmental commitment) directly and positively affect residents' environmental citizenship behavior; (3) environmental identification directly and positively affects environmental commitment; (4) relationship quality variables positively mediate the effect of perceived ECSR on residents' environmental citizenship behavior. The current research complements existing tourism literature on environmental citizenship behavior with a focus on perceived ECSR and relationship quality from the aspect of residents in rural destinations. The findings also provide some practical implications that potentially facilitate the adoption of environmental citizenship behavior among residents for sustainable destination management.

Keywords: Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model; environmental citizenship behavior; environmental commitment; environmental corporate social responsibility; environmental identification; resident-environment relationship quality; rural destinations; rural tourism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Citizenship*
Conservation of Natural Resources
Humans
Rural Population
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tourism*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Youth Key Project of Premier Humanities and Social Science Program for Higher Educational Institutes of Zhejiang Province, China (grant number: 2018QN015), the Policy Theory Research Program of the Zhejiang Civil Affairs Bureau (grant number: ZMKT202175), the High-Level Research Achievement Cultivation Program of Tourism College of Zhejiang (grant number: 2019GCC08), and the General Research Program of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education (grant number: Y202043912).