THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND PERCEIVED ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REGARDING NATURAL PARKS ON PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR AND DESTINATION SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL ENGAGEMENT: THE CASE OF SAZOVA PARK IN ESKİŞEHİR
Environmental Awareness and Pro-Environmental Behavior
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21196937Keywords:
Environmental Engagement, Environmental Awareness, Perceived Environmental Quality, Destination Social Responsibility, Pro-Environmental Behavior Urban ParksAbstract
Environmental sustainability in urban parks is becoming more and more dependent on the need to identify the determinants of environmentally responsible behaviors of visitors. In the presented study, the impacts of environmental awareness and perceived environmental quality on pro-environmental behavior and destination social responsibility through mediation by environmental engagement are examined. The sample for data collection comprised 268 visitors of Eskişehir Sazova Science, Art, and Culture Park, and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The study findings suggest that environmental awareness and perceived environmental quality positively impact the level of environmental engagement of visitors. Environmental engagement positively and substantially increases not only pro-environmental behavior but also destination social responsibility. Furthermore, it becomes clear that destination social responsibility contributes to the enhancement of pro-environmental behavior of visitors. Additionally, environmental engagement proves itself to be an important mediator, especially when dealing with perceived environmental quality and pro-environmental behavior. On the other hand, environmental awareness appears not to be enough to promote environmentally responsible behaviors of visitors. Overall, this study shows that promoting environmental engagement and applying social responsibility principles can be helpful in encouraging sustainable behaviors in parks.
Downloads
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Alkan, Y. (2019). Kent Parklarının Kullanıcı Memnuniyeti Açısından İrdelenmesi: Çanakkale Örneği Kent Akademisi, 12(3), 519-530. https://doi.org/10.35674/kent.592271
Aksöz, F., & Çelik, A. (2023). Küresel İklim Değişikliğine Karşı Dirençli Kent Yönetişimi. Uluslararası Sosyal Siyasal Ve Mali Araştırmalar Dergisi, 3(2), 75-85. https://izlik.org/JA48PJ89SD
Aydın, B., & Arslan, E. (2016). The Role of Social Media on Leisure Preferences: A Research on the Participants of Outdoor Recreation Activities. Turizm Akademik Dergisi, 3(1), 1-10. https://izlik.org/JA54RS75TS
Boermans, D. D., Jagoda, A., Lemiski D., Wegener, D. & Krzywonos, M. (2024). Environmental Awareness And Sustainable Behavior of Respondents in Germany, The Netherlands and Poland: A Qualitative Focus Group Study, Journal of Environmental Management, 370, 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122515
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Costa, R., Ferrara, I., Toplak M., Alam, A., Bowie, R. & Burnett, A. (2025). Behavioural İnsights and Environmental Sustainability: Key Findings and Policy İmplications From A Systematic Review, 390, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126118.
Demircan, N., Aytatlı, B., & Yıldız, N.D. (2018). Erzurum Kent Insanının Rekreasyonel Davranış Biçimleri. Bartın Orman Fakültesi Dergisi, 20(3), 420-430. https://izlik.org/JA67MX32RZ
Hair, J.F., Hult, G.T.M., Ringle, C.M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Halpenny, E.A. (2010), Pro-environmental Behaviours and Park Visitors, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18(1), 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JENVP.2010.04.006
Kasap, S., & Kara, B. (2020). Kentsel Kamusal Mekanların Kullanılabilirliği Üzerine Bir Araştırma: Aydın-Tataristan Bugulma Parkı, Türkiye. Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi Dergisi, 17(2), 227-233. https://doi.org/10.25308/aduziraat.727871
Kiper, T. (2013), Kentsel Açık-yeşil Alanların Sürdürülebilirliği. Tekirdağ Ziraat Fakültesi Dergisi, 10(3), 12–22. https://izlik.org/JA75XA32BW
Kocalar, A.O. (2016). Ekolojik Farkındalığın Arttırılmasında Milli Parkların Rolüne İlişkin Öğrenci Görüşleri. Avrupa Bilim ve Teknoloji Dergisi, 5(9), 55-61. https://izlik.org/JA55AD57RZ
Lee, T.H. & Jan, F.H. (2017). Ecotourism Behavior of Nature-Based Tourists: An Integrative Framework. Journal of Travel Research, 57(6), 792-810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517717350
Lehto, C., Sirén, A., Hedblom, M., & Fredman, P. (2025). A Conceptual Framework of Indicators for the Suitability of Forests for Outdoor Recreation. Ambio, 54, 184–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-024-02091-8
Mayer, F.S., & Frantz, C.M. (2004). The Connectedness to Nature Scale: A Measure of Individuals’ Feeling in Community with Nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(4), 503–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2004.10.001
Mehrabian, A., & Russell, J.A. (1974). An Approach to Environmental Psychology. The MIT Press.
Moulay, A., Ujanga, N., Maulana, S., & Ismail, S. (2018). Understanding the Process of Parks’ Attachment: Interrelation between Place Attachment, Behavioural Tendencies, and The Use of Public Place. City, Culture and Society, 14, 28-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2017.12.002
Piao, X., & Managi, S. (2024). Determinants of Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Effects of Socioeconomic, Subjective, and Psychological Well-Being Factors from 37 Countries, Humanit Social Science Communications, 11, 1293. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03790-z
Pourhossein, M., Baker, B.J., Dousti, M., Behnam, M., & Tabesh, S. (2023). Embarking on the Trail of Sustainable Harmony: Exploring the Nexus of Visitor Environmental Engagement, Awareness, and Destination Social Responsibility in Natural Parks. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 30, 100821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2023.100821
Ramkissoon, H., Smith, L., & Weiler, B. (2012). Place Attachment and Pro-environmental Behavior. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(2), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2011.602194
Ringle, C.M., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). Gain More Insight from your PLS-SEM results: The importance Performance Map Analysis. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 116(9): 1865-1886. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-10-2015-0449
Sancak, İ.T.B. (2022). Çevresel Bilincin, Tutum ve Davraniş Üzerindeki Etkisinin İncelenmesi: Bingöl Üniversitesi Örneği. Akademik Matbuat, 6(1), 91-110. https://izlik.org/JA76NA32YM
Soper, D.S. (2026). A-priori Sample Size Calculator for Structural Equation Models [Software]. https://www.danielsoper.com/statcalc (Erişim Tarihi: 02.06.2026).
Stern, P.C. (2000). Toward a Coherent Theory of Environmentally Significant Behavior. The Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00175
Uzun, S., & Müderrisoğlu, H. (2007). Kırsal ve Kentsel Alanlardaki Parklarda Kullanici Memnuniyeti; Gölcük Orman İçi Dinlenme Alani ve Inönü Parki Örneği. Düzce Üniversitesi Orman Fakültesi Ormancılık Dergisi, 3(2), 84-101. https://izlik.org/JA47BJ24DB
Wu, E., Shen, M., & Chai, X. (2026). Correlation between sustainability perception and recreational well-being in urban parks: A case study of Beijing olympic forest Park, China. Wellbeing, Space and Society. 10: 100347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2026.100347
Yoon, J., Lee, K. J., and Larson, L. R. (2024). Place Attachment Mediates Links between Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors among Visitors to Mt. Bukhan National Park, South Korea. Frontiers in Psychology Environmental Psychology, 15, 1338650. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1338650
Zhou, B., Wang L., Huang, S., Xiong, Q. (2023). Impact of Perceived Environmental Restorativeness on Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behavior: Examining the Mediation of Place Attachment and The Moderation of Ecocentrism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 56, 398-409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2023.08.006
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Elif Şenel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
