Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review and Research Model
2.1. The Emotion of Awe
2.2. Awe in Sustainable Tourism Experiences
2.3. Awe in Pilgrims and Secular Tourists
3. Method
3.1. Study Site and Sampling
3.2. Data Collection and Measures
4. Data Analyses
4.1. Measurement Model
4.2. Structural Equation Model
4.3. Mediation Analyses
4.4. Moderation Analyses
4.5. Moderated Mediation Analyses
5. Conclusions
5.1. Practical/Managerial Implications
5.2. Limitations and Research Implications
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Constructs and Scale Items | Factor Loadings | Composite Reliability | Average Variance Extracted (AVE) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Perceived Vastness of Natural Environment | 0.936 | 0.784 | ||
NE1 | Mount Emei impresses me with its majestic and precipitous appeal. | 0.908 | ||
NE2 | I feel Mount Emei is magnificent. | 0.932 | ||
NE3 | Mount Emei shows me how strong the nature is. | 0.847 | ||
NE4 | Mount Emei gives me a fantastic display of the magically beautiful scenery. | 0.852 | ||
Perceived sanctity of Religious Ambience | 0.917 | 0.688 | ||
RA1 | The Buddhist ceremony makes me feel solemnity and seriousness. | 0.854 | ||
RA2 | In Mount Emei, I feel the powers of the Buddha are unlimited. | 0.808 | ||
RA3 | I think the Buddhist culture of Mount Emei is gorgeous. | 0.881 | ||
RA4 | I think the Buddhist arts of Mount Emei are beautiful and magical. | 0.821 | ||
RA5 | The temples in Mount Emei let me feel the long history of Buddhism. | 0.779 | ||
Awe | 0.871 | 0.628 | ||
AW1 | boring-exciting | 0.819 | ||
AW2 | usual-unusual | 0.807 | ||
AW3 | arrogant-humbling | 0.765 | ||
AW4 | expected-unexpected | 0.778 | ||
Tourists satisfaction | 0.911 | 0.773 | ||
TS1 | In general, this site was much better than I expected. | 0.875 | ||
TS2 | This visit was well worth my time and effort. | 0.879 | ||
TS3 | Overall, I was very satisfied with my holiday in Mount Emei. | 0.884 |
Natural Environment | Religious Ambience | Awe | Tourists’ Satisfaction | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Natural environment | 0.885 a | |||
Religious ambience | 0.435 ** | 0.829 | ||
Awe | 0.595 ** | 0.421 ** | 0.792 | |
Tourists’ satisfaction | 0.538 ** | 0.382 ** | 0.712 ** | 0.856 |
Awe | Satisfaction | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 4 | Model 5 | Model 6 | |
Constant | 4.895 *** | 1.802 *** | 5.036 *** | 4.995 *** | 1.572 ** | 0.630 |
Gender | −0.019 | 0.029 | 0.114 | −0.093 | −0.001 | −0.015 |
Age | 0.003 | 0.037 | 0.043 | −0.001 | −0.042 | −0.060 |
Education | −0.033 | −0.029 | −0.111 | −0.042 | 0.108* | 0.122 *** |
Revisit | 0.118 * | 0.051 | 0.066 | 0.265 * | −0.038 | −0.063 |
TY | 0.049 | 0.044 | 0.136 | 0.015 | 0.120 * | 0.099 |
NE | 0.461 *** | 0.467 *** | 0.427 *** | 0.203 *** | ||
RA | 0.178 *** | 0.383 *** | 0.165 ** | 0.078 | ||
Awe | 0.468 *** | |||||
NE * TY | −0.277 *** | |||||
RA * TY | 0.275 ** | . | ||||
R2 | 0.018 | 0.323 | 0.325 | 0.173 | 0.228 | 0.448 |
Hypothesis | Direct Effects | Indirect Effects | Support/No Support |
---|---|---|---|
H1a: Natural Environment is positively related to awe | 0.508 *** | Supported | |
H1b: Religious Ambience is positively related to awe | 0.200 *** | Supported | |
H2: Awe is positively related to tourists’ satisfaction | 0.590 *** | Supported | |
H3a: Natural Environment–Awe–Tourists’ Satisfaction | 0.299 *** | Supported | |
H3b: Religious Ambience–Awe–Tourists’ Satisfaction | 0.118 *** | Supported |
Predictors | Type of Tourists | Tourists’ Satisfaction | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indirect Effect | Boot Se | Boot LLCI | Boot ULCI | ||
Perceived vastness of natural environment | Tourists | 0.3188 | 0.0501 | 0.2284 | 0.4240 |
Pilgrims | 0.1671 | 0.0535 | 0.0761 | 0.2827 | |
Perceived sanctity of religious ambience | Tourists | 0.1662 | 0.0469 | 0.0736 | 0.2693 |
Pilgrims | 0.3363 | 0.0778 | 0.1952 | 0.5039 |
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Lu, D.; Liu, Y.; Lai, I.; Yang, L. Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism. Sustainability 2017, 9, 2189. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122189
Lu D, Liu Y, Lai I, Yang L. Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism. Sustainability. 2017; 9(12):2189. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122189
Chicago/Turabian StyleLu, Dong, Yide Liu, Ivan Lai, and Li Yang. 2017. "Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism" Sustainability 9, no. 12: 2189. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122189