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Article

Influence of Consumer Landscape on Place Attachment in Agritourism—The Case of Huatung, Taiwan

by
Ching-Cheng Shen
1,
Dan Wang
1 and
Jennifer Pasion Loverio
2,*
1
Graduate Institute of Tourism Management, National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, No.1, Songhe Rd., Xiaogang District, Kaohsiung City 812301, Taiwan
2
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management, College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agriculture 2022, 12(10), 1557; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12101557
Submission received: 21 August 2022 / Revised: 13 September 2022 / Accepted: 24 September 2022 / Published: 27 September 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Local Development, Social Anthropology, and Economic Activities)
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Abstract

:
The offerings and demand for agritourism have increased in the past four decades as farms seek to expand and diversify their income and urban dwellers pursue a slower pace during travel. Taiwan’s Huatung area organic agricultural tourism is an environmentally friendly type of tourism that has emerged in recent years, and more and more tourists are engaged in agricultural tourism. Developing the landscape resources of organic agricultural tourists to make them stand out and attract more tourists is not an easy task. This research establishes a comprehensive model to explore how the consumer landscape (LAN) affects place attachment (PAT), with attention recovery theory (ART) as a mediating variable. A quantitative questionnaire survey was conducted, and the LISREL was used as an analysis tool to verify the relationship between variables. The result shows that attention restoration substantially influences PAT, and the LAN positively affects attention restoration and PAT. In addition, this research found that the impact of LAN on PAT through attention recovery was more significant than that of LAN directly, which verified that attention recovery was an important mediating variable. The findings not only break through the theoretical gap but also provide practical suggestions for developing organic agriculture.

1. Introduction

The offerings and demand for agritourism have increased in the past four decades as farms seek to expand and diversify their income and urban dwellers pursue a slower pace during their travel [1,2,3]. Agritourism has been defined by Arroyo et al. [4] as a recreational and educational activity extended by operating farms. Compared to other farm business ventures, agritourism successfully increases profit, creates jobs, and conserves both natural and cultural heritage [5]. However, despite its continued growth, academic research in this field remains underdeveloped [1].
Meanwhile, organic agriculture tourism (OAT) combines healthy food (agricultural and grain products, livestock products, aquatic products, and processed products) [6] and farmhouse accommodation, which creates an atmosphere for tourists to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a rural leisure experience [7]. OAT has become one of the famous scenic spots for urban people during long holidays because of slow travel and blissful life [2]. Residents and tourists often require unique field systems and settlement patterns as attractive landscapes [8] since the rural landscape is different from the people’s usual environment. The rural scenery represents peace and tranquility for urban residents and an escape from urban life [9,10]. These drivers, coupled with better access to rural destinations, have made agritourism increasingly popular among stakeholders, such as farmers, farming communities, tourists, and tourism [11]. Taiwan’s Huatung area has natural environmental resources and the government’s strong support. Huatung area OAT is an environmentally friendly type of tourism that has emerged in recent years, and more and more tourists are engaged in agricultural tourism [2].
Green infrastructure, such as natural elements, can alleviate the pressure on residents [12], while landscape can be explained as the interaction between people and the environment [13]. Therefore, natural environments can bring a higher psychological resilience to life [14]. In “involuntary attention”, attention responds to immediate perceptual stimuli, and attractive features/objects usually initiate involuntary attention. Kaplan [15] proposed that attractive features/objects can improve the role of involuntary attention, reduce voluntary attention, and restore mental fatigue to achieve the purpose of attention restoration [16]. In addition, Scannell and Gifford [17] emphasized the beneficial role of the interaction between people and place regarding place attachment (PAT) to the environment for treating mental illness. Mental illnesses caused by excessive fatigue and environmental stress are common, but studies have shown that green infrastructure has a positive mental effect on relieving stress [12]. Previous studies have paid a lot of attention to natural elements and landscape features [18,19,20], but they ignore the changes in human psychology through these landscapes [21]. As mentioned above, the organic agricultural landscape differs from the general natural landscape. Few studies have explored the impact of the organic agricultural landscape on tourists’ attention recovery. Therefore, this study is of theoretical and practical value, whether due to academic gaps or neglect of the theme of organic agriculture.
Scannell and Gifford [22] stated that the question of how the human-land relationship benefits individuals psychologically are underexplored. Previous tourism research on landscape value emphasizes the result of PAT [23] instead of the process of developing destination attachment [24]. Thus, ignoring the restoration of psychology among people, places, and the role of society [21], particularly the potential for people to relate to the place [18,25,26]. Previous theoretical construction has discussed the role of PAT from the perspective of emotional relationships [24,27,28]. There have also been several studies exploring the antecedents of PAT [29,30,31,32], destination marketing, emotion and development, mental health, and well-being. Some studies also use PAT as an antecedent variable to explore the effect on attention recovery [18,21,26]. To answer the theoretical gap, this research takes the consumer landscape (LAN) and attention recovery as antecedents of tourists’ PAT and explores their influence relationship.
Based on the above discussion, the research objectives are as follows:
  • To explore the effect of the LAN of organic agriculture on attention recovery and PAT.
  • To explore the role of attention recovery as a mediating variable in the relationship between LAN and PAT.
This research proposes three hypotheses in response to the purposes through the literature review. This research conducts a quantitative questionnaire survey, and the Linear Structure Relationship Model (LISREL) was used as an analysis tool to verify the relationship between variables.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Organic Agricultural Tourism (OAT) and Sustainable Development

In areas where agritourism is not well developed, there is the little economic impact, however, social effects, such as cultural exchange and tourist contact, are observed [33]. In more developed parts of the world, such as the United States, Barbieri [5] found that agritourism can increase farm profit and help in the conservation of natural and cultural heritage. However, more environmentally friendly and conservation practices need to be implemented by farmers.
In today’s society, the awareness of health, environmental protection, and love for the earth is rising, making the topic of organic agriculture attract global attention [3]. OAT has soft and hard facilities and activities for ecology, education, knowledge, and experience and is friendly to the environment’s sustainability [3,34]. OAT, as sustainable tourism can promote sustainable agriculture, local development, health and well-being, learning, socio-cultural, and environmental protection [7,35]. Participating in OAT is key to improving tourism quality, protecting tourism resources [36], and eliminating the conflict that destroys the development of tourism projects [37]. The participation of the stakeholders in the implementation of tourism projects is an important component in developing sustainable tourism development.
In addition, sustainable tourism is an essential factor in global sustainable development goals [38,39]. The emphasis on developing a sustainable and resilient tourism system highlights PAT to all stakeholders [40]. However, in sustainable development research, the topics on tourism are considerably lacking compared to other industries [38,39,41]. As of September 2022, Web of Science had only 76 articles related to OAT, of which only a tiny part was related to sustainable agricultural development. Therefore, this research takes the development of organic agriculture as the theme of sustainable tourism development to complement the theoretical literature on relevant topics. Some physical suggestions are also put forward for developing OAT.

2.2. Attention Restoration Theory (ART)

Kaplan and Kaplan [16] proposed four characteristics of a restoration environment in ART. These are “being away, extent, fascination, and compatibility” [16,42], also known as a restorative environment. This environment can be really illusory or a combination of both [43]. In the concept of “involuntary attention”, attention responds to immediate perceptual stimuli, usually features/things that attract people [15]. Because of the pull of attraction, these features/things tend to increase the effect of involuntary attention and a retreat from reality, which can lead to recovery from mental fatigue and achieve the purpose of attention restoration [16]. Meanwhile, extent refers to an environment that expands into a more extensive and different world in time or space [15]. Extent is divided into tangible and intangible [16]. Tangible extent refers to a rich and harmonious environment that attracts attention and creates a desire for exploration. Intangible extent emphasizes imagination where people can experience the extension to a more abstract degree [44]. Compatibility refers to the concept of connectivity between the things experienced and the understanding of the whole world [16].
Among the relevant studies on ART, some believe that PAT will affect landscape restoration [18,21,26,45], and some believe that landscape will affect PAT through positive emotions [46]. These studies used MANOVA and ANOVA for difference analysis, regression analysis to explore the influence relationship between variables, and LISREL for potential variables. However, there is a relative lack of research on the impact relationship between OAT landscape, landscape attention restoration, and PAT. If landscape attention restoration is regarded as a positive emotion [46] or value [47], then whether attention restoration is a mediating variable of landscape impact on PAT is a subject worth studying.
In addition, as mentioned above, previous studies have not explored the effect of organic agricultural landscapes on PAT from the impact of attention restoration on tourists. Therefore, this research explores the role of LAN in the impact of LAN on PAT when attention recovery is a mediating variable. This research defines attention restoration as a feeling of relaxation and freedom from the stress of daily life when exposed to an agricultural environment and a willingness to immerse in such an environment to explore, think, and engage in activities they enjoy [14,48].

2.3. Place Attachment (PAT)

PAT is a complex phenomenon incorporating different aspects of people-place bonding. It has been subsumed in various concepts, such as community development, environmental embeddedness, insideness, genres of place, place identity, and topophilia [49]. Environmental psychologists define PAT as the relationship between people and a physical setting [50], while [49] defines it as “the primary target of affective bonding of people is to environment settings themselves”. Meanwhile, Jorgensen and Stedman [51] state that a sense of place is an attitude that integrates behavioral commitment, beliefs, and emotions. In tourism, when a tourist or visitors have a profound involvement and social interaction with a place, they tend to develop an attachment to a site [52].
PAT has been extensively studied across disciplines and applied to tourism research to understand individuals’ place relationships and market tourism destination competitiveness [40]. It includes: place identity and place dependence [53]. PAT also provides emotional and mental recovery and escape from everyday stressors [14,15,54].
It is also the emotional connection between people and unique places [53,55,56]. According to Bricker and Kerstetter [57], PAT happens when tourists express their inner feelings about the destination, especially symbolic meaning or a sense of belonging. The cognitive and behavioral connections between people and places [58] are also components of PAT. In tourism and leisure research, PAT is often used as a variable to study emotions and feelings related to a specific place or environment [59,60].
Also, the antecedents of PAT in terms of environmental governance, experience, authenticity, involvement, emotion, and memory [29,30,31,32] have been extensively studied. Menatti et al. [21] used MANOVA analysis, and the results showed that urban landscapes did not have landscape restoration compared with natural landscapes. Moreover, the results of regression analysis show that the higher the PAT, the higher the perceived restoration [21]. Liu et al. [18] adopted the regression analysis method. Their results showed that PAT and environmental preference had a positive and significant impact on the restoration potential of the urban park environment [18]. Liu et al. [26] used an experimental design approach with 382 respondents to explore the relationship between local landscape features, PAT, and perceived restoration. According to the regression analysis results, the research found that the higher the respondents’ perception of landscape characteristics and PAT, the stronger their perception of restoration [26]. These studies use regression analysis to explore the relationship between PAT and attention recovery. However, few studies used landscape and tourists’ attention recovery as the antecedent variables to explore PAT. This research redefines PAT as love, support, and deep feeling for organic agriculture [2,3,53].

2.4. Consumer Landscape (LAN)

Landscapes can be divided into physical and non-physical, natural and cultural [41,61]. It has multiple meanings, tangible and intangible landscapes have inherent and symbolic significance. The landscape is a dynamic system that reflects the interaction between humans and the environment and will continue to develop and change with the evolution of time [62,63]. Human beings are a part of the landscape, and we belong to it. Kollmuss and Agyeman [64] emphasized the importance of directly experiencing the impact of landscape on people’s behavior.
According to Dai et al. [65], traditional landscape resources lack tourists’ feelings and mindscapes. While present landscape resources emphasize the perception, expectation, and acceptance of tourists, landscape resources are valuable since they are an essential factor affecting tourists’ attraction, visit, and loyalty [66]. The description of landscape resources in image, structure, and meaning affects the consumption behavior of tourists, and the development of sightseeing landscapes produces value for tourists.
In summary, landscape resources are the core foundation of tourism development. Thus, the construction of landscape resources in tourism destinations is essential to the success of tourism development. Through the Web of Science review, this study found that only 168 of 2688 studies used consumer landscape for tourism-related topics, and only dozens of studies used it for agricultural tourism. LAN provides tourists’ cognition and value of the environment, enabling tourists to generate environmental identity and emotional links, creating PAT to the destination [41]. Through the above literature review, this study defines LAN as experiencing the organic agricultural environment and the production process of products, feeling different rural life resources, and enjoying the slow-paced atmosphere of the agricultural environment [2,3,65].

2.5. Research Hypotheses

2.5.1. Relationship between LAN and PAT

PAT is considered the driving force of landscape management [67]. The functionality of the landscape also complements this emotional connection [68]. Moore and Graefe [53] stated that human beings have an attachment to nature and unique places, called PAT in environmental psychology. Local landscape features usually reflect the beliefs, needs, lifestyles, and cultural awareness of prominent cultural groups living in the region [69]. Local landscape features also enhance PAT [26]. People tend to have a stronger attachment to an environment with good quality, such as natural elements, unique physical terrain, and good urban design [70]. Beery and Wolf-Watz [71] also mentioned that more vital contact between people and the natural environment fosters a stronger willingness to attach to the place and take actions to defend or protect it. When people are in contact with the natural environment, they will be attracted by the elements of landscape resources and have a feeling of attachment. Thus, according to the above literature review, the first hypothesis of this research is:
H1: 
LAN has a significant positive impact on PAT.

2.5.2. Relationship between LAN and Attention Restoration

The natural environment can restore people’s physical and mental health [44,72]. A beautiful natural landscape can give the viewer a pleasant feeling [51]. Simultaneously, it can make people experience a deep sense of comfort from activities, eliminate psychological fatigue and produce a recovery experience. Kuo et al. [73] proposed that a higher degree of visual and non-visual preference of tourists for the forest environment results in a higher degree of attention recovery. Compared to environments with weak landscape features, strong environmental features evoke a higher personal perception restoration [26]. Tourists with frequent exposure to the natural environment and landscape resources have stronger psychological resilience and have more positive beliefs about PAT and environmental governance [3,30]. From the above analysis, this study speculates that the landscape of organic agriculture makes tourists feel relaxed and restored. Therefore, this research deduces the second hypothesis:
H2: 
LAN has a significant positive impact on attention restoration.

2.5.3. Relationship between Attention Restoration and PAT

PAT refers to the relationship between multiple emotions and valuable connections between people and places. Marcu et al. [74] stated that a suburb is a restorative place, and residents form a sense of identity through daily experience. Environmental restorative perception (ERP) significantly affects PAT and psychological well-being [75]. ERP and preference, meanwhile, positively correlate with PAT [76]. Environmental attractiveness is another crucial factor in restoring environmental perception. It emphasizes that tourism destinations attract individuals to rich and exciting things, resulting in better restoration and alleviating directional attention fatigue [29,77]. The higher the environmental charm, the higher the PAT [78]. Kastenholz et al. [46] used a questionnaire survey to collect data and regression analysis. The results showed that the sensory experience of rural tourism would produce positive emotions of pleasure, and tourists’ relaxation would also trigger PAT [46]. In this study, the Huatung area has environmental restoration and attraction. According to the above analysis, this research speculates that tourists will have an attachment to the Huatung area when they recover their attention. Accordingly, this research proposed the third hypothesis:
H3: 
Attention restoration has a significant positive effect on PAT.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. Research Site

Taiwan’s Hualien and Taitung area is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is replete with clean air and fertile soil. According to the Organic Agricultural Production Information Platform [6], the land dedicated to organic planting has increased from 502 hectares in 1994 to 3880 hectares in 2021, increasing by 672.91%.
Hualien takes the townships of Jian, Shoufeng, Guangfu, Fengbin, Yuli, and Fuli are the main organic agricultural leisure areas. Meanwhile, the main organic agricultural towns in Taitung are Chishang, Guanshan, Luye, Donghe, and Taimali townships (Figure 1). The reason for choosing these areas in this research is because these areas abide by the principle of recycling and sustainable utilization of Taiwan’s organic agricultural and natural resources. These areas are not allowed to use synthetic chemicals to achieve the goal of producing natural and safe agricultural products [6].

3.2. Measurement Development

This research uses a survey method to achieve its objectives. The survey questionnaire has four parts: Consumer landscape (LAN), attention restoration theory (ART), place attachment (PAT), and demographic variables. The LAN is defined as tangible or intangible human and natural landscape resources that are meaningful and valuable to tourists and affect tourists’ consumption behavior. Field scenery, nostalgic rural life, wild, healthy slow life, and organic agricultural environment experience are the basis for measuring the LAN. Meanwhile, PAT is the recognition and dependence of tourists on tourism destinations and is based on the dimensions of local dependence and local identity. The attention restoration scale is based on four characteristics of the restorative environment proposed by Kaplan and Kaplan [16]: “being away, extension, acceleration, and compatibility”. A seven-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = significantly disagree to 7 = extremely agree, was used to measure the tourist’s perception.

3.3. Sample’s Criteria

This research used the convenience sampling method. The respondents of this research are tourists who experienced organic agritourism in Taiwan’s Hualien and Taitung. In the questionnaire design, the first question is “whether you had experienced organic agritourism in Taiwan’s Hualien and Taitung.” The respondents can only enter the questionnaire when choosing “YES”. After meeting these two conditions, they became the sample of this research.

3.4. Data Collection

This research used the formula ( n ≥ ( Z α / 2 ) 2 S 2 e 2 ) to estimate the sample size. Since this sample uses a 7-point Likert scale, m = 4, the sample variance S = 1.5, and the confidence level was 95%, e = 5% × 4 = 0.2, the calculated result is 216 [45].
The questionnaire was made through the Surveycake platform and distributed to respondents of different ages, jobs, and living in other regions using Line and Facebook groups with more than 100 participants. The links were distributed in the morning, mid-day, evening, and midnight. The links are circulated at different times since the respondents’ characteristics are other at different day parts. Three hundred eighty-four (384) questionnaires were distributed from 1 January 2021 to 20 March 2021, and 336 (more than 216) valid questionnaires were received.

3.5. Analysis Tool

Descriptive statistical analysis is used to understand the basic situation of tourists. Then, factor analysis is used to extract the main factor facets of each variable and analyze each variable’s validity and reliability. The Linear Structure Relationship Model (LISREL) is used to verify the constructed linear structure model and the impact relationship between the variables. The structural Equation Model (SEM) is a method capable of handling conventional and simultaneous regression models while accounting for the multicollinearity and other assumptions of regression modeling. Although Amos is the most widely used software package in SEM, researchers with more specialist requirements still use LISTREL [79].

4. Statistical Results

4.1. Demographic Statistics

The demographic characteristics of respondents showed that there were more male participants (52.08%) than females (47.92%). With ages between 32 and 41 (47.62%) followed by 42–51 (35.12%). There were more married participants (60.12%) than unmarried (36.90%). A majority (66.37%) have a university degree, while the rest (16.96%) finished high school. The average monthly income is above 65,000 TWD (2311 USD) for 26.79% of the participants, followed by 25,000–35,000 TWD (888–1243 USD) for 26.49%. Most participants work in the service industry (27.08%), followed by business (22.32%). In terms of residency, most live in the southern region (78.87%), followed by those living in the northern region (13.69%). Table 1 shows the detailed demographic profiles of the participants.

4.2. Descriptive Statistics

The results of descriptive statistical analysis are shown in Table 2. The average LAN ranges from 5.64 to 6.15, with “Create an organic and non-toxic sustainable environment” having the highest mean score. The average attention restoration ranges from 5.60 to 5.78, with “The surrounding environment makes me feel the comfort of nature”, receiving the highest mean score. For the average PAT, the mean value ranges from 5.01 to 5.65, with “I strongly agree with the development of organic agritourism” having the highest mean.
The above analysis shows that an organic and non-toxic sustainable environment is a prerequisite for organic agriculture. In particular, Taiwan has paid special attention to food safety and health after the food safety storm. An organic and non-toxic sustainable environment is the essential condition for ensuring the non-toxic safety of agricultural products. The Huatung area is the back garden of Taiwan, providing a natural environment for urban people’s pressure relief. The above analysis also shows the importance of environmental comfort. Therefore, the Huatung area has the uniqueness and competitiveness of tourism, which is deeply loved and recognized by the people [2].

4.3. Structural Model

As Anderson and Gerbing [80] suggest, data analysis begins with confirmatory factor analysis to determine whether all the indicator variables reflect their underlying constructs appropriately and whether the measurement model is an acceptable fit to the data. The error variance in model fitting cannot exceed zero and must attain a significance level. The primary goodness-of-fit index of the research model and its error variance is more significant than zero. Moreover, the estimated values are important, showing that the model met the above criteria. The composite reliabilities of the latent variables range from 0.916 to 0.968, indicating high reliability [41].
Concerning the goodness-of-fit index of the model, the chi-square statistic (χ2) is 579.47 (df = 202), and the chi-square ratio (χ2/df) is 2.87. The goodness-of-fit index (GFI) is 0.88, the adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) is 0.81, the root means a square error of approximation (RMSEA) is 0.053, the normalized fit index (NFI) is 0.98, the non-normalized fit index (NNFI) is 0.98, and the comparative fit index (CFI) is 0.99. All of the indices stated above are within an acceptable range, indicating that the model’s overall goodness-of-fit is good [81]. These results showed that the model fitted well with the data. Meanwhile, the average variance extracted (AVE) estimates range from 0.528 to 0.764, which exceeded the cut-off value of 0.5.
Multiple square correlations range from 0.38 to 0.86, and Cronbach’s α ranges from 0.916 to 0.968. The composite reliability (CR) ranges from 0.898 to 0.963, which surpasses the recommended 0.7 [82]. These results showed that the reliability and validity of each dimension are acceptable (Table 3).
The following table shows the discriminant validity of the constructs. As presented in Table 4, the AVE square root of each construct has an excellent square root correlation with the same concept than with the other, showing an acceptable discriminant validity.
Figure 2 presents the path coefficient of the structural model. In this research, the independent variable is LAN, and the dependent variables are ART and PAT.
Based on the analysis, the verification of the research hypothesis is presented in Table 5. All the hypotheses are accepted (p < 0.050). LAN has a significant positive effect on ART and PAT, and ART has a significant positive effect on PAT. The coefficient of the mediating effect of LAN on PAT through ART is 0.48, which is much higher than the direct effect of LAN on PAT of 0.29. That is, ART is an essential mediating variable.

5. Discussion

According to Table 3, the critical factors of LAN are LAN6 (Rich in diverse ecological resources and environment), LAN7 (Enjoy a natural and healthy living environment), and LAN8 (Enjoy independent and rural leisure life). This means that in an organic and non-toxic environment, ecological diversity, enjoyment of natural health, and rural living environment align with the current spirit of slow tourism and essential factors affecting local attachment. The critical factors of ART are ART6 (In the natural environment, I am willing to spend more time exploring and thinking), ART4 (The surrounding environment makes me feel the comfort of nature), and ART7 (I can do my favorite activities in such an environment). These findings imply that self-exploration, a natural environment, and doing what they love can restore visitors’ attention.
From Table 5 and Figure 2, the result of this research verified the significant role of attention restoration (0.83) as a mediating variable between LAN and PAT. This shows that the natural environment can restore physical and mental health [14,44,72]. OAT creates a healthy living environment and independent leisure rural life [7]. The natural landscapes provide tourists with a pleasant feeling and a sense of calm, eliminating fatigue and producing a recovery experience [48].
The importance of LAN to tourists’ physical, mental, and destination attachment is verified. According to the research results, “Rich in diverse ecological resources and environment” and “Enjoy a natural and healthy living environment” are the main factors affecting attention restoration. These results are similar to previous studies stating that the local landscape contributes to PAT. The landscape feature usually reflects the region’s local cultural beliefs, needs, lifestyle, and cultural awareness [69]. All of these enhance the connection between individuals and their living environment [26,83]. People tend to have a stronger attachment to environments with superior natural elements, unique atmosphere, and good urban design [26,70]. This research also shows that the effect of attention restoration on PAT is significant (0.58). As Liu et al. [26] stated, the perception of landscape features have a positive impact on the restoration.
LAN has a significant positive impact on ART and PAT, and ART has a significant positive effect on PAT. The coefficient of the mediating effect of LAN on PAT through ART is 0.48, which is much higher than the direct effect of LAN on PAT of 0.29. That is, ART is an essential mediating influence variable. This result is different from many previous studies [18,21,26]. This study verifies that ART affects PAT when tourists are exposed to the LAN, ART value and PAT are generated [46,47].

6. Implication

6.1. Theoretical Implication

This study explains LAN and the relationship between attention restoration and PAT based on landscape value and resources. The result shows that LAN positively affects attention restoration and PAT, and attention restoration also positively affects PAT. Moreover, attention restoration is an essential mediating variable affecting PAT. In addition, the effect of PAT produced by attention restoration is greater than that of LAN on PAT.
Therefore, this research not only verifies the effect between LAN, attention restoration, and PAT, but also confirms the critical role of attention restoration as a mediating variable.

6.2. Industrial Implications

The research also found that the LAN is linked with various Huatung landscape forms. An organic, non-toxic, sustainable environment, slow-paced atmosphere, enjoyment of nature, and healthy rural living environment are important factors that cannot be ignored in Huatung’s LAN. This is in line with Shen et al.’s [2] results, where humanities and nature stimulate LAN along with the tangible and intangible features of the landscapes.
These aspects are also the main elements that affect the LAN of tourists in the Huatung area of Taiwan. Therefore, when shaping and planning the landscape environment of OAT, this research suggested that managers should design multiple landscape consumption values to make it distinctive from general tourism. Another critical component is creating multiple emotional values (e.g., nostalgic atmosphere, authentic local culture, slow-paced life experience, and immersive organic agriculture experience) to meet the needs of different tourists attached to the place.
When attention restoration is used as a mediating, the LAN significantly impacts PAT. The sense of comfort brought by the environment to tourists and tourists’ exploration and thinking are the main influencing factors of attention restoration. Increasingly tourists pay attention to the Huatung natural scenery and hope to return to their original feelings by helping the local environment. In the process of tourism, individuals experience a deeper meaning of themselves and the environment and feel that they are entirely immersed in their bodies and spirit [84,85]. Therefore, creating attractions like a history museum is needed to increase the understanding of culture and local customs about the LAN of Huatung organic agriculture. Consumption of scenery can be regarded as an immersive understanding and exploration of the environment.

7. Limitation and Future Research

First, this study established a new framework on landscape and PAT and defined the LAN. Since the new theoretical framework is established for the first time, this research lacks relatively new literature and academic support in the literature discussion. Therefore, this research recommends that future researchers refer to the theoretical basis of this study to explore relevant topics further. Second, OAT is a niche topic, and the research area is the Huatung region of Taiwan, which cannot be extended to other tourism forms or areas. Therefore, it is suggested that future researchers explore OAT in different regions. Finally, this research objective is to explore the influence relationship between variables and does not explore the difference or interference effect of demographic variables on PAT. Therefore, this research suggests that future research can study the differences or interference effects on gender, age, education level, or region.

8. Conclusions

This research is the first to explore the effect of LAN on PAT from the relationship between LAN and attention recovery. This research establishes a comprehensive model to explore how the LAN affects PAT with ART as a mediating variable. This research also found that the impact of LAN on PAT through attention recovery was more significant than that of LAN directly, which verified that attention recovery was an important mediating variable. The findings not only break through the theoretical gap in the past but also provide practical suggestions for developing organic agriculture.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, C.-C.S.; Data curation, formal analysis, writing of original draft, D.W.; Reviewing and editing, J.P.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Agriculture 12 01557 g001 550
Figure 1. Study area—Taiwan’s Hualien and Taitung.
Figure 1. Study area—Taiwan’s Hualien and Taitung.
Agriculture 12 01557 g001
Agriculture 12 01557 g002 550
Figure 2. Path coefficients of the structural model.
Figure 2. Path coefficients of the structural model.
Agriculture 12 01557 g002
Table
Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of the samples.
Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of the samples.
ItemsVariablesN%ItemsVariablesN%
GenderMale17552.08%Age22–31 years205.95%
Female16147.92%32–41 years16047.62%
Marital statusMarried20260.12%42–51 years11835.12%
Single12436.90%52–61 years329.52%
other102.98%Above 62 years61.79%
EducationElementary and middle61.79%Place of residenceNorthern region4613.69%
High school5716.96%Central region195.65%
College22366.37%Southern region26578.87%
Graduate and above5014.88%East area61.79%
OccupationCivil servant319.23%Monthly income (TWD)≤25,0003911.61%
Service9127.08%25,001–35,0008926.49%
Business7522.32%35,001–45,0003911.61%
Freelance4814.29%45,001–55,0005616.67%
Industry and Commerce6519.35%55,001–65,000236.85%
Others267.74%Above 65,0009026.79%
Table
Table 2. Descriptive statistics.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics.
ConstructCodingItemsMeanSDReferences
LANLAN1Natural landscape resources5.641.05Dai et al. [65]
Shen et al. [2,3]
LAN2Vast field scenery5.760.93
LAN3Rural plain environment5.581.11
LAN4Fresh and natural air5.881.12
LAN5Can enjoy the pace of slow life6.070.93
LAN6Rich in diverse ecological resources and environment5.930.97
LAN7Enjoy a natural and healthy living environment5.990.91
LAN8Enjoy independent and rural leisure life5.990.86
LAN9The nostalgic landscape of rural life5.811.02
LAN10Unique facilities and activities5.900.93
LAN11Experience the production of organic agricultural products5.890.96
LAN12Experience the production of organic agricultural products (DIY)5.911.02
LAN13Creates an organic, non-toxic, and sustainable environment6.150.98
ARTART1Contact with nature can help me relax my tight mood5.771.10Hartig et al. [14]
Huang et al. [47]
ART2Contact with nature can make me feel free from the effects of the stress of everyday life.5.731.13
ART3The natural environment can make me yearn for a better life5.601.22
ART4The surrounding environment makes me feel the comfort of nature5.781.10
ART5The natural environment is attractive5.731.09
ART6In the natural environment, I am willing to spend more time exploring and thinking5.681.13
ART7I can do my favorite activities in such an environment5.681.19
ART8I like this natural environment5.701.20
PATPAT1I like traveling to the organic agriculture village very much5.341.26Moore and Graefe [53]
Shen et al. [2,3]
PAT2I will think of OAT first5.011.27
PAT3I very much agree with the development of OAT5.651.19
PAT4Compared with other tourism, I have deeper feelings for organic agricultural villages5.361.39
Table
Table 3. Result of the confirmatory factor analysis.
Table 3. Result of the confirmatory factor analysis.
PathCoefficientt-ValueSMCStandardized ResidualsCronbach’s αCRAVE
LAN→LAN10.7314.930.490.550.9390.9350.528
LAN→LAN20.7013.540.430.63
LAN→LAN30.6813.330.410.67
LAN→LAN40.7314.650.480.58
LAN→LAN50.7415.660.520.51
LAN→LAN60.9121.040.790.23
LAN→LAN70.9019.880.730.29
LAN→LAN80.8517.960.660.38
LAN→LAN90.7916.100.550.51
LAN→LAN100.7615.260.510.56
LAN→LAN110.6713.460.430.60
LAN→LAN120.6412.460.380.66
LAN→LAN130.7515.280.490.59
ART→ART10.87 0.720.300.9680.9630.764
ART→ART20.8620.290.690.33
ART→ART30.9122.180.760.26
ART→ART40.9323.500.820.19
ART→ART50.9123.120.790.22
ART→ART60.9624.980.860.15
ART→ART70.9221.670.730.31
ART→ART80.9122.050.740.28
PAT→PAT10.86 0.680.350.9160.8980.688
PAT→PAT20.8121.800.590.45
PAT→PAT30.8617.550.700.32
PAT→PAT40.9418.940.780.25
Table
Table 4. Discriminant validity of the constructs.
Table 4. Discriminant validity of the constructs.
MS.T.LANARTPAT
LAN5.880.7810.726
ART5.711.0350.7800.874
PAT5.341.1440.7360.7620.829
Table
Table 5. Tested result of hypotheses.
Table 5. Tested result of hypotheses.
Hypothesesβ Coefficientt ValuepResult
H10.8315.81 ***p < 0.001Accepted
H20.294.68 ***p < 0.001Accepted
H30.588.99 ***p < 0.001Accepted
Note: *** p < 0.001.
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Shen, C.-C.; Wang, D.; Loverio, J.P. Influence of Consumer Landscape on Place Attachment in Agritourism—The Case of Huatung, Taiwan. Agriculture 2022, 12, 1557. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12101557

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Shen C-C, Wang D, Loverio JP. Influence of Consumer Landscape on Place Attachment in Agritourism—The Case of Huatung, Taiwan. Agriculture. 2022; 12(10):1557. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12101557

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Shen, Ching-Cheng, Dan Wang, and Jennifer Pasion Loverio. 2022. "Influence of Consumer Landscape on Place Attachment in Agritourism—The Case of Huatung, Taiwan" Agriculture 12, no. 10: 1557. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12101557

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