Structural relationships between environmental attitudes, recreation motivations, and environmentally responsible behaviors

This study examines the relationship between environmental attitudes, outdoor recreation motivations, and environmentally responsible behaviors. Little has been reported about whether motivation can serve as a mediator to better understand environmental attitude–behavior relationships. On-site responses collected from Florida National Scenic Trail hikers were utilized in a structural equation model. Structural model results indicated significant relationships between attitudes, motivations, and behaviors. Environmental attitudes influenced motivations and environmental behaviors, and motivations were significantly related to environmental behaviors. Further analyses found that motivation served as a partial mediator of the attitude–behavior linkage. These results suggest that environmental attitudes and motivations substantially shape environmentally responsible behaviors. Managerial implications are discussed, including maintaining natural aspects of environments and increasing awareness about natural environments through educational programs. Further studies utilizing participants in other outdoor recreation activities at various settings are recommended.Management implicationsPublically owned natural areas depend on public support for political buttressing and financial resources to sustain and increase public services. Environmental attitudes are nurtured in those settings through the fulfillment of motivations and benefits sought that drive visitors׳ participation in nature-based recreation. Well-managed natural environments help foster pro-environment attitudes and environmentally responsible behaviors. Those who hold strong environmental attitudes tend to behave in more environmentally responsible ways, including political and educational actions. Natural environments that provide opportunities to recreate generate support for those areas. This means that public land managers shape more than just the immediate experiences visitors attain in an area. It follows that strategies initiated by managers of increasing awareness about and appreciation for their natural areas through outlets such as mass media, internet, and on-site interpretive programs can influence pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors.