Flipping the script: how awareness of positive consequences outweigh negative in encouraging tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior?

The role of awareness of positive consequences in nurturing environmentally responsible intention among tourists has been explored in this study and explains the indirect link between awareness of positive consequences and tourists’ environmentally responsible intention, mediated by moral elevation and personal norms. The sample of the study consists of 387 tourists from a popular tourist destination in India. The data have been analyzed using structural equation modeling and multiple regression. Results indicate that the awareness of negative consequences influences the ascription of responsibility, which in turn influences personal norms, and ultimately leads to tourists’ environmentally responsible intentions. Moreover, awareness of positive consequences induces moral elevation, which positively affects personal norms. More significantly, the study found that the indirect influence of awareness of positive consequences on tourists’ environmentally responsible intention is stronger than that of negative consequences, highlighting the importance of emphasizing the positive outcomes of tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in promoting sustainable tourism. The present study makes a distinctive contribution by unraveling the paramount significance of awareness of positive consequences over negative consequences in influencing the intention of tourists to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors.