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Article

Intentions of Green Behavior by Mountain Climbers at the Hallasan National Park and World Heritage Site

by
Hyojin Kim
1,
Doohwan Bae
2 and
Sangmook Lee
2,*
1
Department of Tourism Management, Mokpo National University, Yeongsan-ro 1666, Cheonggyemyeon, Muan-gun 58554, Republic of Korea
2
Department of Tourism Management, Jeju National University, 102, Jejudaehak-ro, Jeju-si 63243, Republic of Korea
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2960; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072960
Submission received: 8 February 2024 / Revised: 28 March 2024 / Accepted: 29 March 2024 / Published: 2 April 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Consumer Behavior and Green Brands in the Tourism/Hospitality Industry)
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Abstract

:
In the field of social sciences, there has been a relative lack of empirical research analyzing the influential relationship between tourism motivations for visiting the Hallasan National Park and meaningful variables corresponding to this tourism motivation, and there has specifically been a lack of such research targeting tourists who visit and recognize the value of Hallasan National Park. Therefore, the current study aims to empirically analyze the relationship between tourism motivations and their impact on the image of the Hallasan National Park, as well as their place attachment and intention of green behavior. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the revitalization and promotion of tourism in Jeju Island by improving the image of the Hallasan National Park. This study established and tested a research model based on the structural relationship among tourism motivation, emotional image of the Hallasansan National Park, place attachment, and intention of green behavior from the perspectives of tourists. First, the findings of this study confirm that the motivation of tourists to visit the Hallasan National Park directly affects the emotional image, place attachment, and intention of green behavior. Second, this study demonstrates that the emotional image formed by tourists is a variable that directly affects place attachment. Lastly, this study demonstrates that the place attachment formed by tourists does not appear to have a direct effect on their green behavior intention. This study concludes by discussing the strategic implications and limitations of this work.

1. Introduction

Jeju Island, which is located at the southernmost tip of Korea, is an island that was created as a result of volcanic activity. The island’s Halla mountain is a landmark that is representative of Jeju Island. The mountain has a different origin from other mountains on the Korean Peninsula—i.e., mainland Korea—and boasts a unique landscape that is difficult to experience in other national parks on the Korean Peninsula. Because of this exceptional natural environment, the Hallasan National Park has been registered as a ‘UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Biosphere Reserve’, a ‘UNESCO World Natural Heritage’ site, and a ‘UNESCO Global Geopark’. Following its designation as a natural reserve in 1966, the Hallasan National Park was designated as a national park in 1970. Moreover, as a representative natural landscape of Korea, it has long been established as a major tourism destination for Koreans and foreign tourists alike [1]. The number of visitors to the Hallasan National Park has stagnated over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this number has recently been recovering again. According to the “2023 Jeju Tourism Market Trend Report (2023)” published by the Jeju Tourism Organization, the number of visitors to the Hallasan National Park in September 2023 was 61,084, thus representing an increase of 16.2% compared to the previous year (52,576 in September 2022). Moreover, the number of visitors from January to September 2023 was 656,484, thus showing an increase of 11.7% compared to the same period last year.
As indicated by the number of visitors to the Hallasan National Park, this can be considered a representative tourism destination, and it has therefore served as an attractive research subject for many researchers. In particular, many studies in the field of natural sciences have been conducted on the Hallasan National Park, with many of these studies resulting in remarkable findings. However, in the field of social sciences, there has been a relative lack of empirical research analyzing the influential relationship between the tourism motivation for visiting the Hallasan National Park and meaningful variables corresponding to the tourism motivation while targeting tourists who visit the Hallasan National Park and recognize its value. Tourism motivation, which is one of the most important keywords in this study, is a significant factor that causes tourist behavior, and it occurs when humans seek satisfaction by engaging in tourism [2]. In other words, tourism motivation is the starting point for studying tourists’ behavior and understanding the tourism system [3], and it can be thought of as the social and economic desire to escape from the constraints and stress caused by work in daily life [4]. Since humans have various tourism motivations to participate in tourism activities, research elucidating tourism motivations can help establish strategies to predict what tourism activities tourists will engage in [5].
There has been a large number of studies examining tourism motivation in the tourism area. Recent studies include a study on the tourism motivations of tourists who visit Japanese hot springs [2], a study on the tourism motivations of visitors to touristic destinations of cultural heritage [6], a study on the tourism motivations of Taiwanese tourists [7], a study on the tourism motivations of DMZ ecotourism participants [8], and a study on the tourism motivations of Arctic tourists [9]. As it can be seen from this selection of literature, most recent studies on tourism motivation have focused on targeting special tourism destinations, identifying the tourism motivation of tourists who visit those special tourism destinations, and then empirically analyzing whether tourism motivation has either a positive or negative relationship with other variables. Meanwhile, another representative study on tourism motivation is the study by Crompton [10] proposing the Push–Pull Factor theory, which has been an essential research topic in this area. Push factors—also called driving factors—refer to motivations inherent to humans, such as exploration, escape, and relaxation, while pull factors—also called attraction factors—refer to motivations related to the resources of the tourism destination itself, such as its specific facilities and local culture. In addition to the study proposing the Push–Pull Factor by Crompton [10], Lee et al.’s [7] study categorized and measured tourism motivations into novelty/adventure, escape/relaxation, knowledge/culture, friendship promotion, nature/culture, activity/experience, facility/convenience, and access/cost.
At the time of writing, Jeju Island had recently hosted a World Heritage Festival, ‘Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Cave’, a fall cultural festival with the theme of a UNESCO-listed World Heritage site which was held in October 2023 as a government project. Jeju Island also allows foreign tourists to enter through Jeju Island’s visa-free entry system, which has been in effect since April 2002. As the island continues to receive increasing attention as an international tourism destination due, in part, to this policy, it is important to examine the perceptions of tourists, such as the tourists’ motivation and behavior, visiting the Hallasan National Park to further solidify the destination’s internationally competitive image. A recent study analyzing the influential relationship among tourists’ perceived image of a tourism destination, place attachment, and tourist behavioral intention (with a specific focus on ecofriendly behavioral intention by tourists) has shown that the higher one’s positive image of and place attachment to a certain place, the more likely that person is to reside in, visit, and invest in that place. This results in a linkage with the intention to engage in ecofriendly behavior [8,11,12,13]. In this way, despite the fact that tourists’ perceptions constitute a research topic of substantial interest in the field of academic tourism and that the Hallasan National Park is an international tourism destination, there has been insufficient research verifying the influential relationship among tourism motivation, destination image, place attachment, and ecofriendly behavior, particularly for this destination. Therefore, the present study aims to empirically analyze the relationship between the tourism motivation of tourists who visit Hallasan National Park and its impact on the tourists’ image of the Hallasan National Park, as well as their place attachment and intention to engage in ecofriendly behavior. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the revitalization and promotion of tourism in Jeju Island by presenting strategic implications that can help improve the image of Hallasan National Park.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Tourism Motivation

In the term ‘tourism motivation’, which is the focus of this study, motivation can be defined as the inherent desire that causes humans to act in a certain way to satisfy their desires [14]. An array of academic studies has examined motivation. Among those studies, Kim et al. [15] described motivation as a dynamic factor that moves a person’s mind to do something. More specifically, it is a factor that activates humans, gives them a direction, and causes them to continue their behavior until the end. Further, Owens [16] argued that motivation is one of the mediating variables that allows human desires to be expressed through behavior, while Gartner [17] defined it as a desire that causes an individual to take action to achieve his or her own satisfaction.
In the field of tourism in particular, there has been far-reaching research examining tourism motivations to understand the psychology of tourists wanting to travel to touristic destinations [18,19]. A representative study related to tourism motivation is the theory of push and pull factors. Dann [20] defined tourism motivation as a meaningful internal state that causes an individual or group to travel and classified such motivation in terms of push factors and pull factors. Many researchers are still conducting studies that apply the push and pull factor theory to tourism. In the push and pull factor theory, push factors arouse the desire for tourism in the psychology of tourists and lead to tourism behavior, while pull factors refer to all of the factors that are present in a specific tourism destination that attract tourists to that destination. For example, Gilbert and Terrata [21] presented new experiences, self-development, and expansion of values as push factors of tourism motivation, while history, novelty, the heterogeneity of the destination itself, and tradition were presented as pull factors.
Looking at recent studies on tourism motivation that have been conducted in the field of tourism, Won et al. [6] examined the structural relationship among tourism motivation, tourism constraints, tourism satisfaction, and the revisit intention of visitors to cultural heritage sites while specifically targeting China’s Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Army Museum. They focused on education/knowledge seeking and entertainment as measurement factors for tourism motivation, and they argued that tourists have one main motivation factor and that their behavior is caused by the interaction of various motivation factors. Lee et al. [7] conducted an empirical analysis of the effect of tourism motivations on the image of tourism destinations and behavioral intentions among Taiwanese tourists who visited Korea. From the results of their study, they divided the detailed factors used to measure tourism motivation into eight dimensions: novelty/adventure, escape/relaxation, knowledge/culture, friendship promotion, nature/culture, activities/experience, facilities/convenience, and access/cost. Choi et al. [9] conducted a study of market segmentation that targeted Arctic tourists based on their types of tourism motivation. In their study, tourism motivation was defined as the power that induces tourists to travel to the Arctic by combining the intrinsic factors of tourists who want to go sightseeing in the Arctic with the extrinsic factors stemming from the inherent attractiveness of Arctic destinations.

2.2. Emotional Image

The term ‘image’, which is mainly used in psychology, began to be actively discussed with the early research by Boulding [22] in the 1950s. He defined human behavior as being influenced by images created by information obtained from the environment surrounding the person rather than objectively observed entities, and that these images are a complicated concept encompassing cognitive, emotional, spatial, and temporal elements. Moreover, according to Kotler [23], an image is defined as an impression, idea, or belief that an individual has toward an object. At the end of 1990, Baloglu and McCleary [24] began to divide images into cognitive and emotional images. In their research, a cognitive image refers to a sensory perception that an individual has from objective and factual information about an object, while an emotional image refers to the value aspect of how positive an image an individual thinks an object has [25]. By applying their claims about these images to the concept of tourism destination image, a cognitive image refers to an individual’s perceptual evaluation of a tourism destination, while an emotional image refers to the subjective feelings or emotions formed through the tourist’s accumulated experience in relation to the tourism destination [26].
Among the images of a tourism destination, the cognitive image, which is the sensory perception that an individual perceives about the tourism destination, is important, but it is also important to analyze how positive an image the individual is forming of the tourism destination. Agreeing with this argument, Alcañiz, García and Blas [27] addressed the lack of consideration that had been given to emotional images until the late 1990s, but they noted that the gap had recently started to close. From recent research on emotional images in the field of tourism, Yeom and Kim [28] claimed that a cognitive image measures the perception of physical/non-physical attributes that make up a place, whereas an emotional image is a feeling or emotion formed through an individual’s past experience with that place. Kim [29] studied the effect of the cognitive/emotional image of a tourism destination on tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention, while focusing on food tourists, and she emphasized that tourists make emotional evaluations of tourism destinations after they have formed their cognitive evaluations. She also argued that the positive formation of emotional images leads to behavioral intentions, which constitute an important factor in the future development of a given tourism destination. Therefore, by taking note of the importance of emotional images according to previous research, the current study focused on emotional images rather than cognitive images.

2.3. Place Attachment

The literature review on place attachment, which is another important concept in this study, uncovered the following. ‘Place’ is an everyday term with a variety of meanings, being used, fore example, to announce a location, indicate a destination, or reveal ownership, privacy, and belonging [30]. Attachment is known to derive from the Old French word of ‘attacher’, meaning ‘to fix firmly’ or ‘to become a part of an object or person’. According to Kaltenborn [31], attachment is a concept used in psychology to explain relationships with others as well as a psychological state of feeling affection toward or a bond with an object which results in a variety of outcomes, including effects on both humans and tourism destinations. Therefore, to comprehensively explain the concepts of place and attachment, place attachment is an important concept to consider, as it measures how psychologically tied an individual is to a particular geographical location. It is a human psychological state created from experiences regarding a certain environment, and it is formed from that psychological state. It can be explained by an individual’s behavior or attitude [32]. Dwayne and Tasaki [33] claimed that attachment is similar to the concept of ownership related to objects that can bring back memories to an individual and develop into the concept of place attachment by providing a place where spatial psychological relationships occur with meaning. Moreover, according to a study by Lee [34], because place attachment is a concept formed as a result of the interaction between the environment and human psychological factors, the place itself can be deeply involved in the formation of human identity.
Inspired by recent research examining place attachment in the field of tourism, Choi, Lee, and Oh [35] defined place attachment as a degree of positive emotion that exists between a place and an individual, and they conducted a study targeting tourists in Yeosu city. Meanwhile, Wang, Xian, and Cho [36] studied the impact of museum tourism experience on place attachment and tourism satisfaction among tourists at the National Maritime Museum. In their study, place attachment was defined as the psychological and emotional intimacy or bond with a tourism destination that one forms during a tourism experience. The authors of that study claimed that place attachment was measured in terms of place identity and place dependence. Place identity refers to the degree to which humans feel the value of a certain place for symbolic or emotional reasons [37], while place dependence refers to the degree to which humans are dependent on a place that is suitable for tourism activities in a functional aspect [38].

2.4. Intention of Green Behavior

Behavioral intention, which is the dependent variable selected in the present study, is defined as the possibility that an individual’s subjective perception will turn into action, and it can also be expressed as a definite will to act. Behavioral intention is also a decisive factor that directly induces behavior, and it is a variable that can predict human behavior [39]. However, Cho [40] argued that behavioral intention does not necessarily lead to an individual’s behavior in every case and claimed that it can instead be interpreted as an individual’s beliefs and will that are likely to lead to a particular behavior. With respect to ecofriendly (hereafter green) behavior, which is a topic related to human behavioral intention that has attracted much attention, Stern [41] defined it as a responsible behavior that an individual performs with the intention of positively changing the environment. Steg and Vlek [42] defined green behavior as a conscious behavior that strives to either reduce the negative impact of individual human behavior on the environment or protect the environment, and they argued that the environmental impact resulting from human behavior can be changed through appropriate actions. A study by Park and Kim [43] also defined green behavior as an individual’s behavior that contributes to sustainable development by refraining from acts that infringe on nature or the environment surrounding humans as much as possible during their daily lives.
Lee, Kim, and Jeong [44] examined the impact of the media coverage of carbon emissions on the intention to behave in the context of green tourism and argued that tourists are more likely to implement green behavior if they believe that they will face consequences if environmental problems worsen. In their study, green behavior included using public transportation, reducing one’s use of disposable products, and being willing to pay extra money for green activities. Similar to the results from Lee et al.’s [44] study, Jeon [45] argued that green behavior can directly or indirectly reduce the negative impact on the environment through individual behavior. Specifically, the former includes energy conservation, the use of public transportation, and the use of green energy, while the latter includes paying carbon taxes, purchasing green products, and using green hotels. Lim and Ryu [46] applied green behavior intention to the tourism sector and defined green tourism behavior as the will and effort to participate in green tourism behavior by the MZ (Millennials who are born between 1981 and 1995 and Generation Z who are born between 1996 and 2005) generation in particular. They defined green tourism behavior as saving energy or recycling at tourism destinations. Therefore, based on previous research, the current study also defined green behavior intention as a concept that includes sustainable environmental protection efforts, use of green products, willingness to participate in natural environment protection, intention to pay additional costs for environmental protection, and use of public transportation.

3. Methods

3.1. Research Hypothesis Development

Lee et al. [7] analyzed the impact of tourism motivation on tourism image, tourism satisfaction, and behavioral intention among Taiwanese tourists who visited Korea. In that study, tourism motivation was defined as an internal factor that led to a feeling of satisfaction after traveling to a specific destination, and the sub-factors of knowledge/culture and novelty/adventure were found to have statistically significant positive (+) effects on emotional image. In another study, Yu et al. [2] investigated the relationship among tourism motivation, tourism destination image, and behavioral intention in Korean tourists visiting Japanese hot springs. In that study, tourism motivation was defined as the fundamental reason that prompts tourists to travel, and the analytical results showed that tourism motivation had a significantly positive influence on tourism image. In a similar study, Liang [47] investigated the relationship among tourism motivation, tourism destination image, tourism satisfaction, and behavioral intention in Chinese tourists who had visited Korea. In that study, tourism motivation was defined as a resource that elicits tourism satisfaction to satisfy the needs or motivations of tourists, and the results of their analysis showed that tourism motivation had a significantly positive influence on the image of a tourism destination.
Based on these previous studies, the present study defines tourism motivation as the motivation for tourists to experience the Hallasan National Park, including a sense of accomplishment, challenge, and inspiration through word of mouth; thus, the following hypothesis was established.
Hypothesis 1 (H1).
Tourism motivation will have a positive effect on emotional image.
Park and Choi [48] analyzed the relationship among tourism motivation, place attachment, and loyalty as perceived by local beach visitors. In that study, tourism motivation was subdivided into physical, interpersonal, and cultural motivations. Their results confirmed that the motivation has a significantly positive (+) effect on place attachment. In another study, Yang et al. [5] empirically analyzed the causal relationship among visitor motivations, attachment to the area, emotional experience during the visit, and the post-visit behavioral intentions of visitors to dark tourism attractions in Jeju Island. In that study, visitor motivation was defined as the internal state that causes tourism agents to travel, and it was divided into experientiality, historicity, and place charm. Meanwhile, place attachment was defined as attachment to the region as a tourism destination. Their results showed that all three factors of visit motivation had significantly positive (+) effects on place attachment. Therefore, the present study defines place attachment as an emotional bond that can be formed by individuals who visit the Hallasan National Park with the park itself. Based on the abovementioned studies, the following hypothesis was established.
Hypothesis 2 (H2).
Tourism motivation will have a positive effect on place attachment.
Jin [11] empirically analyzed the relationship between ecotourism motivation and ecofriendly attitudes. In that study, the motivation for ecotourism was subdivided into pull motivation and push motivation. The results of that study showed that the detailed factors of the pull motivation were facilities, natural activities, natural environment, and biological resources, while the detailed factors of the push motivation were playfulness, interpersonal relationships, knowledge pursuit, and relaxation. The study found that all pull and push factors had a significantly positive influence on the ecofriendly attitude. Meanwhile, Jang [8] investigated the effect of motivation about ecotourism on behavioral intention and the mediating effect of ecofriendly attitudes among tourists with experience or interest in DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone). That study reported that motivation to participate in DMZ ecotourism had a significantly positive effect on ecofriendly attitudes. Therefore, based on these previous findings, the present study also defines ecofriendly behavior intention as the will and action to visit the Hallasan National Park, and the following hypothesis was developed.
Hypothesis 3 (H3).
Tourism motivation will have a positive effect on green behavior intention.
Hwang [49] empirically investigated the quality of the service environment in urban waterfront spaces and identified that emotional image and place attachment were significantly related to each other. In that study, the emotional image was considered to be one of the components of a tourism destination image, and it was defined as an emotional response obtained by evaluating the overall or specific attributes of a tourism destination. That study reported that attractiveness and comfort, which are sub-factors of the emotional image, have a significantly positive influence on place attachment. Moreover, Jo [50] empirically analyzed the relationship among local residents’ perceptions of rural tourism place images, place attachment, and empowerment. The study demonstrated that the perceived place image had a significantly positive influence on place attachment. Similarly, Jeon and Hwang [51] empirically analyzed the relationship among the experience value of a YouTube online tour, local image, place attachment, and tourist behavior intention. Their results showed that emotional images have a significantly positive influence on place attachment. In a recent study, Alghamdi and Agag [52] verified how COVID-19 has impacted consumers’ green purchasing behavior, and they demonstrated that motivations (altruistic and egoistic) can directly influence conscious green purchasing behavior. Therefore, the present study defines the emotional image as the subjective evaluation of charm, comfort, and the like gained by visitors while visiting the Hallasan National Park. Moreover, based on the findings of previous research, we expect that the emotional image of the Hallasan National Park tourists will have a significant positive influence on their attachment to the destination. Hence, this study developed the following hypothesis.
Hypothesis 4 (H4).
Emotional image will have a positive influence on place attachment.
Chung [53] divided the image of a domestic tourism destination into a cognitive and an emotional image and then empirically analyzed how the tourism destination image influenced tourists’ behavioral intentions regarding local specialty restaurants. The results showed that the emotional image of the tourism destination had a significantly positive influence on behavioral intention. In another study, Kim [29] identified the relationship between the cognitive and emotional image of a tourism destination as well as verifying the relationship among image, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. The study revealed that cognitive and emotional images can improve tourists’ satisfaction and affect behavioral intentions, and that emotional images have a significant positive influence on behavioral intentions. Based on these previous studies, the following hypothesis was established.
Hypothesis 5 (H5).
The emotional image will have a positive influence on green behavior intention.
Lastly, Yoon and Lee [54] conducted a study to determine the perceived value of rural tourism villages, the degree of place attachment, and ecofriendly behavioral intentions of visitors. The study divided place attachment into place dependence and place identity, and all place attachment factors were found to have a significant positive influence on ecofriendly behavior intentions. Kim et al. [13] conducted a study aiming to verify the relationship among recreation specialization, place attachment, environmental attitude, and ecofriendly behavior among male mountaineering participants. The study divided place attachment into place dependence and place identity, and the results showed that place identity had a direct and significant positive influence on ecofriendly behavior. Jin et al. [12] empirically demonstrated the impact of the attributes of Taishan storytelling in China on tourists’ place attachment and ecofriendly behavior intentions. In that study, place attachment had a significant positive influence on ecofriendly behavioral intentions. Therefore, the present study established the following research hypothesis.
Hypothesis 6 (H6).
Place attachment will have a positive effect on green behavior intentions.

3.2. Data Collection and Analytical Techniques

This study conducted a survey of climbers of the Hallasan National Park and extracted samples using a convenience sampling method. The survey period was from August to October 2023, when three researchers climbed the Hallasan National Park and conducted a survey targeting climbers. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to climbers. Climbers completed self-administered questionnaires by themselves. Three researchers collected a survey after asking climbers if they were aware of the fact that the Hallasan National Park is a designated nature reserve as well as a UNESCO-registered park. In total, 216 copies out of 300 were singled out and used for the final analysis after excluding unusable surveys with missing values. The questions included: (1) five items of tourism motivation, (2) five items of emotional image, (3) five items of place attachment, (4) five items of green behavior intention, and (5) five items of demographic characteristics. Answers to demographic questions in the survey were recorded using either nominal or ordinal scales, while the rest of the questions entailed a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).
The following analyses were performed using the SPSS Version 26.0 program for statistical analysis. First, frequency analysis was used to identify the respondents’ demographic characteristics such as gender, marital status, climbing experience, age, and occupation. The reliability and validity of the measurement factors were also verified, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the measurement factors prior to hypothesis verification using the AMOS Version 23.0 program. After verifying the suitability of the research model, the structural differences between each measurement factor were verified. The causal relationship was then verified. In this study, the research model shown in Figure 1 was established based on the structural relationship among tourism motivation, emotional image of the Hallasan National Park, place attachment, and green behavior intention as perceived by the Hallasan National Park climbers.

4. Results

4.1. Demographic Chatacteristics

Frequency analysis was performed only to extract demographic information from the sample (Table 1). Because this study, as well as most research from the literature review, have dealt with tourism motivation, emotional image, place attachment, and green behavior intention as key variables, demographic variables were not employed to verify the relationship between tourism motivation and other dependent variables. The demographic characteristics of the climber sample are listed in Table 1. In terms of gender, there were 113 males (52.3%) and 103 females (47.7%). Regarding marital status, 129 respondents (59.7%) were single and 87 respondents (40.3%) were married. In the question about climbing experience with respect to the Hallasan National Park, the number of first-time climbers (184; 85.2%) was much higher than that of repeat visitors (32; 14.8%). In terms of age, 82 respondents (38.0%) were ‘30–39 years old’, 80 respondents (37.0%) were ‘20–29 years old’, and 32 respondents (14.8%) were ‘40–49 years old’. The occupational distribution was as follows: 41 professionals (19.0%), 35 students (16.2%), 30 sales/service workers (13.9%), and 29 office/technical workers (13.4%).

4.2. Results of Reliability and Validity Verification

In this study, the construct validity of the measurement tool was verified using convergent validity, discriminant validity, and rule validity. The reliability of the measurement tools was also verified by checking internal consistency based on Cronbach’s α.
First, the result of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the standardized factor loading values were 0.519~0.894, all of which were higher than the standard value of 0.5 [55], and that the composite reliability (CR) also exceeded 0.7 [56] (Table 2). Next, the conceptual reliability (CCR) was higher than the standard value of 0.7, indicating that the convergent validity was appropriate (Table 2). Further, a reliability analysis that was conducted to verify the reliability of the measurement tool of the construct concepts showed that the reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s α) of the construct factors was between 0.756 and 0.838, thus exceeding the standard value of 0.6. Therefore, the reliability of the measurement model was confirmed (Table 2).
In this study’s measurement model, the chi-square value was 178.723 (d.f. = 95, p = 0.000), and it showed inadequacy. However, the sample size and number of observed variables can influence the result, so the degree of fit cannot be determined based on significance alone. Therefore, the degree of fit was instead determined by considering the absolute fit index and the incremental fit index. Specifically, the absolute fit was evaluated to verify the fit based on CMIN/DF, GFI, AGFI, and RMSEA, while the intermediate fit was evaluated based on NFI, RFI, IFI, TLI, and CFI scales [56]. First, CMIN/DF = 1.881, which is below the general standard of 3, and GFI = 0.907, AGFI = 0.867, and RMSEA = 0.063, all of which are acceptable for the standard. Next, the results of the median goodness of fit verification (NFI = 0.901, RFI = 0.876, IFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.938, CFI = 0.951) showed that the model met, or was acceptable for, the standard (Table 2).
Lastly, the average variance extracted (AVE) for the measurement factors in this research model was found to be 0.505~0.626, which was higher than the standard value of 0.5 [56,57] (Table 3). A comparison of the squared correlations among all latent factors was conducted. Aside from the results between emotional image and place attachment, the range of squared correlations (r2) among all latent factors was found to be smaller than the standardized factor loading. Hence, the difference in chi-square values according to the difference in degrees of freedom was found to be statistically significant (∆χ2 = 63.252; ∆df = 3). Specifically, the construct concept for all factors was found to be significant as a result of comparing the constrained model (χ2 = 241.975) and the unconstrained model (χ2 = 178.723), while focusing on the emotional image factor and place attachment factor in the research model. The discriminant validity was verified (Table 3).

4.3. Hypothesis Verification of the Research Model

In this study, a structured research model was verified using the AMOS 26.0 program to assess the proposed hypotheses. First, the covariance between variables was set by referring to the modification indices measured by connecting all paths centered on factors with high correlation of residuals between variables to verify the suitability of the structural equation model between each component concept. According to the criteria for determining suitability presented by Hair et al. [57], the standard is met when the IFI, TLI, or CFI value is 0.9 or more, and when the RMSEA is 0.8 or less, if the number of measurement variable items is between 12 and 30. The results of this study met all acceptable criteria (χ2 = 168.73, d.f. = 93, GFI = 0.911, AGFI = 0.870, NFI = 0.907, RFI = 0.880, IFI = 0.956, TLI = 0.942, CFI = 0.955, and RMSEA = 0.062).
The path coefficients and hypothesis testing results with respect to the research model for each measurement factor are presented in Table 4. In this study, the influential relationship among tourism motivation, emotional image, place attachment, and ecofriendly behavior intention was established and tested via the hypotheses. As a result of the study, tourism motivation was found to have a significant positive influence on emotional image (t = 7.569; p < 0.001), place attachment (t = 4.417; p < 0.001), and green behavior intention (t = 1.997; p < 0.05). Accordingly, Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 2, and Hypothesis 3 were confirmed, respectively. Next, the results from the investigation into the influential relationship among emotional image, place attachment, and green behavior intention showed that a positive emotional image of the Hallasan National Park had a significant positive (+) influence on place attachment to the Hallasan National Park (t = 7.733; p < 0.001). Moreover, the emotional image had a significant positive (+) effect on the intention to engage in green behavior toward the Hallasan National Park (t = 3.538; p < 0.001). Therefore, Hypotheses 4 and 5, respectively, were also verified in the present study. Lastly, this study showed that place attachment had no significant effect on pro-environmental behavior intention (t = 0.552; p > 0.05) after testing the relationship between place attachment and green behavior intention; therefore, Hypothesis 6 cannot be supported (Table 4). The results from hypothesis verification are presented in Figure 2.

5. Conclusions and Implications

Jeju Island, which attracts many tourists both domestically and from abroad every year, has many attractive tourism destinations. Among these attractive places is the Hallasan National Park, Korea’s first natural heritage site to be registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. Korea and local organizations around Jeju Island are accordingly making continuous efforts to create a sustainable Hallasan National Park that is valuable not only in terms of tourism but also in terms of its cultural aspect. Academically, as part of such efforts, conducting research related to the Hallasan National Park is expected to contribute to the development of sustainable tourism by informing Jeju Island’s ecofriendly tourism policy and supporting the local government and policy makers.
Most of the previous research on the Hallasan National Park has been conducted from a geological perspective, and there has been very little research focusing on the experience of climbers visiting the Hallasan National Park. Therefore, the present work focused on examining the tourism motivation that was formed before visiting the Hallasan National Park by tourists climbing the mountain, as well as the emotional image of the Hallasan National Park, place attachment, and green behavioral intention that may be created during climbing the mountain, not only academically but also practically. The present study attempted an empirical survey focusing on the visitors’ perceptions of the Hallasan National Park, and it theoretically examined the following variables: tourism motivation, emotional image, place attachment, and green behavior intention. A summary of the results from the research hypotheses of this study is as follows.
First, tourism motivation had a significant positive influence on emotional image (t = 7.569, p < 0.001) as a result of conducting a hypothesis test examining the relationship between tourism motivation and emotional image of tourists in the Hallasan National Park. Second, tourism motivation was found to have a significant positive influence on place attachment (t = 4.417, p < 0.001) after conducting a hypothesis test on the relationship between tourism motivation and place attachment. Third, tourism motivation had a significant positive influence (t = 1.997, p < 0.05) on green behavioral intention, as discovered following testing of the relationship between tourism motivation and green behavioral intention. Fourth, emotional image had a significant positive influence on place attachment (t = 7.773, p < 0.001), discovered following hypothesis testing regarding the influential relationship between emotional image and place attachment. Fifth, emotional image had a significant positive influence on green behavioral intention (t = 3.538, p < 0.001), uncovered as a result of an investigation into the influential relationship between emotional image and green behavioral intention. Lastly, place attachment did not appear to have a significant effect on green behavioral intention following testing on the influential relationship between place attachment and green behavioral intention. The last hypothesis, therefore, was rejected (t = 0.552, p > 0.05).
The foundation laid by the current study is going to help explore strategic implications for better management of the Hallasan National Park. Based on the research conducted herein, which included both theoretical considerations and empirical analyses, the present study would like to present the following academic and practical implications. First, this study confirmed that the tourism motivations of tourists directly affect the formation of emotional images, place attachment, and green behavior intentions. These findings ran parallel to the studies by Lee et al. [7] and Yu et al. [2] which showed that sub-factors (knowledge/culture and novelty/adventure) of tourism motivation had a statistically significant positive influence on emotional image formation. This is also consistent with the research by Park et al. [48] and Yang et al. [5] which confirmed that tourism motivation is a variable that directly affects place attachment. Moreover, tourism motivation was found to have a significant effect on green behavioral intention. This result is supported by the study by Jin [11], demonstrating that all examined factors of interpersonal relationships, knowledge pursuit, and relaxation had a significant positive influence on ecofriendly attitudes, as well as by the study by Jang et al. [8] that reported that the motivation to participate in ecotourism has a significant positive influence on ecofriendly attitudes.
The current study has broad academic meaning as it re-verified the causal relationship among tourism motivation, image, place attachment, and behavioral intention, verified here for the first time with respect to the Hallasan National Park climbers. In particular, this study demonstrates the value of applying various academic approaches to green behavioral intentions by verifying that those variables among climbers who are visiting UNESCO-designated national parks can have a direct impact on green behavioral intentions. This implies that the administrator(s) of the Hallasan National Park should promote and manage the National Park by carefully considering the visitors’ tourism motivations to promote formation of visitors’ emotional image, place attachment, and green behavior intention in the Hallasan National Park. Specifically, the present study divided the tourism motivations of the Hallasan National Park tourists into experience, sense of accomplishment, challenge, inspiration through word of mouth, and pursuit of a new environment. All of these motivations would be expected to have a positive impact on the emotional image, place attachment, and green behavior intentions perceived by tourists in the Hallasan National Park. Further, tourists can be motivated to visit the Hallasan National Park by looking for experiences, accomplishments, and challenges that can be gained in a new environment. From this practical implication, the National Park managers should strive to develop various types of content that allow tourists to feel that they will have new experiences, feel a sense of accomplishment, or stimulate a spirit of challenge while visiting and climbing the mountain. For example, the Korea Mountaineering Federation promoted climbers’ experience, sense of accomplishment, and spirit of challenge by actively planning events such as climbing events with climbing experts, climbing equipment certification events, and mountaineering course recommendation events in 2022. Hence, the administrators of the national park should promote various events like this that tourists can directly participate in.
Second, this study confirmed that the emotional image of the Hallasan National Park tourists is a variable that directly affects place attachment. Similar results have been found in previous studies. For example, Hwang [49] verified that the emotional image formed of a waterfront space in the city has a positive effect on place attachment, while Jo [50] conducted a study on rural tourists targeting rural areas and verified that positive emotional images formed through tourism have a direct positive influence on place attachment. Moreover, Kim [29] and Chung [53] verified that positively formed emotional images have a direct and significant positive influence on behavioral intentions. Therefore, the present study verified that the positive emotional image formed by the Hallasan National Park visitors directly influenced not only their attachment to the Hallasan National Park, but also their future expected participation in continuous conservation efforts or activities, and green behavioral intention to pay additional costs for environmental protection.
Based on these results, this study is expected to be of value by detailing how the structural influential relationship among image, attachment, and behavioral intention can be extended to tourists who have green behavioral intentions. Accordingly, the emotional image formed through climbing the Hallasan National Park was measured in terms of comfort, hopefulness, friendly impression, and favorability. Managers of the Hallasan National Park made climbers more comfortable when they were active within the national park, and they should establish more places that can make people feel good about the ecofriendly park itself. In particular, efforts should be made to increase the cultural and historical value of the Hallasan National Park through the provision of interpreters or online services that can explain the history and value of the Hallasan National Park to induce ecofriendly behavior toward the Hallasan National Park.
Lastly, this study determined that the place attachment formed by visitors of the Hallasan National Park did not appear to have a direct effect on their green behavior intention. Although previous studies [12,54] have found that place attachment has a direct effect on green behavioral intention, no direct significant relationship was found in the present study. This result seems to imply that most climbers, who were first-time visitors to the Hallasan National Park, did not have sufficient time and experience to form an attachment to the Hallasan National Park. A few examples of previous research have found that attachment to a place can have a direct impact on the intention to engage in ecofriendly behavior [54], while this study recognized that the emotional image of the Hallasan National Park is an important antecedent variable to place attachment and continue to promote awareness of the Hallasan National Park. This suggests that green behavioral intention will be promoted if both emotional image and place attachment are formed at the same time. In particular, attachment to the place was measured in terms of the Hallasan National Park’s differentiated feeling, unique charm, and special place. Accordingly, we should recognize the need to provide various activities and run different promotions so that climbers can more easily access and recognize the value and charm of the Hallasan National Park.
This study was unable to overcome the following limitations. First, this study was conducted with the restricted location of the Hallasan National Park, which is a UNESCO-registered park with high environmental value. Therefore, as it is a unique site, it is difficult to verify the representativeness of other national parks based on the results from this study. It is also challenging to generalize that all climbers visiting the Hallasan National Park were aware of their green behavioral intentions despite asking climbers about their knowledge of the Hallasan National Park being designated as both a nature reserve and a UNESCO-registered park. Future research should also strive to consider various factors such as cognitive image factors other than the emotional image considered in this study, because the emotional image considered in this study has limitations in reflecting all image factors of the Hallasan National Park perceived by visitors. There is also a need to understand a wider range of marketing implications through a comparative study using demographic variables such as repeat visitors or first-time visitors to the Hallasan National Park climbers. Additionally, to increase the reliability and generalizability of this study, another comparative research study in other national parks in Korea should be conducted to confirm or disprove the analytic results from this study. In sum, future research should address these limitations and conduct more studies examining the value of the Hallasan National Park, which is an attractive destination not only from an academic perspective, but also from the perspective of Jeju Island’s tourism management.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, H.K. and S.L.; methodology, S.L. and H.K.; software, D.B.; validation, H.K., D.B. and S.L.; formal analysis, D.B.; investigation, S.L. and D.B.; resources, D.B.; data curation, S.L.; writing—original draft preparation, S.L., D.B. and H.K.; writing—review and editing, S.L. and H.K.; visualization, D.B.; supervision, S.L.; project administration, S.L. and H.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the research grant of Jeju National University in 2022.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to both privacy and confidentiality of respondents.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Sustainability 16 02960 g001
Figure 1. Research model.
Figure 1. Research model.
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Figure 2. Results of hypothesis testing.
Figure 2. Results of hypothesis testing.
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Table 1. Demographic information (N = 216).
Table 1. Demographic information (N = 216).
ItemsFrequencyRate (%)
GenderMale11352.3
Female10347.7
Marital statusSingle12959.7
Married8740.3
Climbing experienceFirst time18485.2
Revisit3214.8
Age20~298037.0
30~398238.0
40~493214.8
50~59177.9
Over 6052.3
OccupationProfessional4119.0
Management/
Administrative position		2411.1
Office/technical positions2913.4
Sales/service3013.9
Functional73.2
Agriculture/Forestry/Livestock 83.7
Self-employed177.9
Housewife62.8
Student3516.2
Unemployed52.3
Other146.5
Table 2. Results of confirmatory factor analysis.
Table 2. Results of confirmatory factor analysis.
FactorMeasurementStandardized
Regression Weights		EstimateS.E.t-ValuepCCRCronbach’s α
Tourism MotivationAchievement0.8941 0.8320.823
Various Experience0.710.8450.07710.991***
New Challenge0.7580.8870.06912.869***
Emotional
Image		Comfortable0.7721 0.8040.756
Positive Impression0.7550.8550.07511.378***
Hopeful0.5190.6510.1145.703***
Sympathetic0.8620.9840.07812.661***
Place
Attachment		Special place0.7971 0.8410.838
Differentiated0.7781.0120.08312.149***
Attachment0.7640.8440.0869.827***
Unique attraction0.7540.8780.07711.476***
Green
Behavior
Intention		Continuous protection efforts0.7221 0.8340.796
Use of ecofriendly products0.8381.1720.10511.174***
Participation in natural environment protection0.7040.7330.0769.589***
Intention to pay additional costs for environmental protection0.6870.7290.0977.535***
Use of public transportation0.5760.7530.0987.727***
Note: χ2 = 178.723, d.f. = 95, CMIN/DF = 1.881, GFI = 0.907, AGFI = 0.867, NFI = 0.901, RFI = 0.876, IFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.938, CFI = 0.951, RMSEA = 0.063. *** p < 0.001.
Table 3. Results of discriminant validity.
Table 3. Results of discriminant validity.
FactorsTourism
Motivation		Emotional Image Place AttachmentGreen Behavioral
Intention
Tourism Motivation0.626 +
Emotional Image0.3960.521 +
Place Attachment0.5960.6970.570 +
Green Behavioral Intention0.3270.4820.4130.505 +
+ = AVE; Italic = range of squared correlations (r2).
Table 4. Results of Hypothesis verification.
Table 4. Results of Hypothesis verification.
HypothesisEstimateS.E.C.R.t-ValueResult
Tourism Motivation → Emotional Image0.4230.0567.569***Supported
Tourism Motivation → Place Attachment0.2710.0614.417***Supported
Tourism Motivation → Green Behavior Intention0.1600.0801.9970.046 *Supported
Emotional Image → Place Attachment0.7340.0957.733***Supported
Emotional Image → Green Behavior Intention0.6760.1913.538***Supported
Place Attachment → Green Behavior Intention0.0990.1790.5520.581Not Supported
Note: χ2 = 168.73, d.f. = 93, CMIN/DF = 1.814, GFI = 0.911 AGFI = 0.870, NFI = 0.907, RFI = 0.880, IFI = 0.956, TLI = 0.942, CFI = 0.955, RMSEA = 0.062. * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.
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Kim, H.; Bae, D.; Lee, S. Intentions of Green Behavior by Mountain Climbers at the Hallasan National Park and World Heritage Site. Sustainability 2024, 16, 2960. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072960

AMA Style

Kim H, Bae D, Lee S. Intentions of Green Behavior by Mountain Climbers at the Hallasan National Park and World Heritage Site. Sustainability. 2024; 16(7):2960. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072960

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kim, Hyojin, Doohwan Bae, and Sangmook Lee. 2024. "Intentions of Green Behavior by Mountain Climbers at the Hallasan National Park and World Heritage Site" Sustainability 16, no. 7: 2960. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072960

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