Predicting Private and Public Pro-Environmental Behaviors in Rural Tourism Contexts Using SEM and fsQCA: The Role of Destination Image and Relationship Quality

The importance of pro-environmental behavior in tourism has been established, but explaining its sub-dimensions, especially in the private and public dimensions, is under-researched. Existing literature on tourism research mainly uses SEM to analyze tourist pro-environmental behavior, while fsQCA is scarcely implemented. In this study, SEM is applied to reveal the links among destination image, relationship quality, and pro-environmental behavior, while fsQCA is utilized to investigate configurations predicting pro-environmental behavior. Responses of 285 tourists were collected and analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses. The SEM results showed that (1) destination image directly and positively affected relationship quality (including satisfaction and destination trust); (2) relationship quality was found to positively and directly influence private and public pro-environmental behaviors; (3) relationship quality did mediate the influence of destination image on private pro-environmental behavior partially, while it played a full mediating role in the effect of destination image on public pro-environmental behavior. The findings from fsQCA indicated that (1) three sufficient configurations consistently lead to a high level of private pro-environmental behavior: (a) high destination image and satisfaction, (b) high destination image and trust, (c) high relationship quality; (2) there was only one sufficient causal configuration for a high level of public pro-environmental behavior: high relationship quality. The results provide tenable evidence that relationship quality can be a vital factor enhancing the sub-dimensions of pro-environmental behavior. The integration of these two methods helps to open the black box of tourist pro-environmental behavior in rural tourism contexts in a more systematic and holistic way.