Browsing by Author "Hall CM"

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A child play-and-learn area contributing to urban regeneration: A case in Christchurch, New Zealand
(John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of New Zealand Geographical Society, 2024-04-18) Huang Y; Chen NC; Hall CM
This study regards a Child Play-and-Learn Area (CPLA) in a library as a third place and investigates its relationships with visitors through the concept of place attachment. To understand the influence of the CPLA, the study examined the relationships among visitors' place attachment, servicescape and behavioural intentions involving place scales. A survey was conducted in a CPLA in Christchurch, New Zealand (The Imagination Station in the central library) and collected 406 questionnaires. The results indicate that the physical and social servicescape of the CPLA can enhance visitors' place attachment and influence their behavioural intentions in the library and the city. The findings suggest that community-oriented places like CPLAs and libraries should be used as social infrastructure in urban regeneration strategies.
A cross-country comparison of accommodation manager perspectives on online review manipulation
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2019-08-27) Gössling S; Zeiss H; Hall CM; Martin-Rios C; Ram Y; Grøtte I-P
Accommodation businesses are increasingly dependent on a limited number of reservation platforms. A significant feature of these platforms is guest evaluations, which are transformed into ratings and rankings. As the positioning of the business in comparison to competitors determines customer demand, accommodation managers have considerable interest in maintaining or improving their online reputation. One response may be to engage in manipulation strategies. This paper presents the results of a survey including 270 hotel managers in five countries, Germany, Israel, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Managers confirm growing competition as a result of ratings and rankings, and they report that guests are increasingly aware of the importance of reviews. To avert negative online feedback impacts, managers intervene strategically. The paper discusses new market pressures, emergent consumer judgement culture and consumer citizenship, opportunities for legal redress and the emerging importance of reputation management strategies.
A virtual geobibliography of polar tourism and climate change
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-09-01) Demiroglu OC; Bohn D; Dannevig H; Hall CM; Hehir C; Lundmark L; Nilsson RO; Olsen J; Tervo-Kankare K; Vereda M; Welling J
The polar regions are increasingly at the center of attention as the hot spots of climate crisis as well as tourism development. The recent IPCC reports highlight several climate change risks for the rather carbon-intensive and weather-based/dependent polar tourism industry in the Arctic and the Antarctic. This study presents the scholarly state-of-knowledge on tourism and climate change in the polar regions with a literature survey extending beyond the Anglophone publications. As a supporting tool, we provide a live web GIS application based on the geographical coverages of the publications and filterable by various spatial, thematic and bibliographical attributes. The final list of 137 publications indicates that, regionally, the Arctic has been covered more than the Antarctic, whilst an uneven distribution within the Arctic also exists. In terms of the climate change risks themes, climate risk research, i.e. impact and adaptation studies, strongly outnumbers the carbon risk studies especially in the Arctic context, and, despite a balance between the two main risk themes, climate risk research in the Antarctic proves itself outdated. Accordingly, the review ends with a research agenda based on these spatial and thematic gaps and their detailed breakdowns.
Application of EMGB to Study Impacts of Public Green Space on Active Transport Behavior: Evidence from South Korea
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2022-06-17) Kim MJ; Hall CM; Tchounwou PB
Public green spaces (e.g., parks, green trails, greenways) and motivations to engage in active transport are essential for encouraging walking and cycling. However, how these key factors influence walker and cyclist behavior is potentially being increasingly influenced by the use of smart apps, as they become more ubiquitous in everyday practices. To fill this research gap, this work creates and tests a theoretically integrated study framework grounded in an extended model of goal-directed behavior, including public green space and motivation with perceived usefulness of smart apps. In order to accomplish the purpose of this study, we conducted an online survey of Korean walkers (n = 325) and cyclists (n = 326) between 10 and 25 July 2021 and applied partial least squares, structural equation, and multi-group analysis to validate the research model. Results revealed that active transport users’ awareness of public green space positively influences attitude toward (γ = 0.163), as well as behavioral intention of (γ = 0.159), walking and cycling. Additionally, motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic) greatly influences attitude (γ = 0.539) and behavioral intention (γ = 0.535). Subjective norms (γ = 0.137) and positive (γ = 0.466) and negative anticipated emotions (γ = 0.225) have a significant impact on the desire that leads to behavioral intention. High and low perceived smart app usefulness also significantly moderates between public green space and attitude (t-value = 25.705), public green space and behavioral intention (t-value = 25.726), motivation and attitude (t-value = −25.561), and motivation and behavioral intention (t-value = −15.812). Consequently, the findings are useful to academics and practitioners by providing new knowledge and insights.
Behavioral Influences on Crowdfunding SDG Initiatives: The Importance of Personality and Subjective Well-Being
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-04-01) Kim MJ; Hall CM; Han H; Cumming D
Crowdfunding is emerging as a significant means by which to finance and advance the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Generating financial support for the SDGs is now of even more importance because of the economic impacts of COVID-19. However, little research on sustainability crowdfunding has been conducted, particularly with respect to how behavioral influences, such as personality and subjective well-being, affect the willingness of individuals to financially support the different SDGs. To fill this gap, a theoretically comprehensive research model including the big five personality traits typology, value on SDGs, attachment to sustainability crowdfunding, subjective well-being, and three groups of SDGs was constructed and tested. Results reveal that agreeableness has the highest effect on value on SDGs among five personalities, followed by openness and conscientiousness. Unexpectedly, extraversion has a negative impact on value on SDGs and neuroticism has an insignificant effect on value on SDGs. Value on SDGs has a great effect on attachment, followed by subjective well-being. Attachment has the greatest effect on subjective well-being within this research model. Comparing fair distribution, efficient allocation, and sustainable scale groups of SDGs shows substantial differences with respect to the hypotheses.
Breaking boundaries: Exploring gendered challenges and advancing equality for Iranian women careers in tourism
(Elsevier Ltd, 2024-08-01) Carrasco-Santos MJ; Seyfi S; Hosseini S; Hall CM; Mohajer B; Almeida-García F; Cortes Macías R
While there's growing interest in gender and employment issues in tourism studies, a gap exists when examining the obstacles women face in career pursuits, especially in theocratic societies. Drawing on Risman's gender structure theory, this qualitative study investigates how Iranian women perceive the impact of gender power dynamics on their careers and those of their peers. The findings reveal inhibitory factors affecting women's quest for equal career opportunities, including deeply ingrained societal influences on gender roles, institutionalized gender discrimination, and self-imposed constraints. The findings also demonstrate how gender stereotypes and theocratic structures manifest in the Iranian tourism industry, and how Iranian women working in the tourism sector actively negotiate, resist, and challenge these stereotypes to advance their careers. In a field where most gender-related studies originate from Western perspectives, this study holds particular significance in amplifying the voices of those in non-Western, theocratic societies.
Can Climate Change Awareness Predict Pro-Environmental Practices in Restaurants? Comparing High and Low Dining Expenditure
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2019-12-01) Kim MJ; Hall CM
The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of what makes consumers reduce waste in order to address climate change, particularly when dining out. To accomplish this goal, this research constructs an extended theory of planned behavior model, using four main constructs of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention and incorporating climate change awareness and mitigation pursuing actions, anticipated pride and guilt, and high and low levels of dining expenses. An online survey was conducted of 482 respondents aged 20 years old or over who had dined in restaurants in the previous month in 2019. A partial least squares-structural (PLS) equation modeling analysis has been utilized with multi-group analysis. Results reveal that climate change awareness has significant effectson attitude and behavior intention, and climate change mitigation pursuing actions positively influence attitude and behavioral intention to reduce waste. Consumers' anticipated emotions lead to their behavioral intention. Diners' behavioral intention to reduce waste is significantly influenced by their attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on waste reduction in restaurants. The levels of dining expenses significantly moderate seven out of nine hypotheses. Research on consumers' waste reduction in relation to climate change is not sfficiently conducted in the foodservice sector. Using an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand diner behavior related to waste reduction and climate change, this study therefore makes an important contribution to improving sustainability in foodservices, especially in the Asian context.
Can Co-Creation and Crowdfunding Types Predict Funder Behavior? An Extended Model of Goal-Directed Behavior
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2019-12-10) Kim MJ; Hall CM
Crowdfunding is an emerging means for financing by small and medium-sized enterprises or individuals to attract capital from investors who look to obtain products, services, and/or equity in the future. Co-creation in crowdfunding projects substantially influences sponsors' behavior, playing a critical role in crowdfunding performance. Despite the significance of co-creation in crowdfunding, research from the leisure and tourism fields has been largely neglected in terms of theory-based models of co-creation. To address this gap, the goal of this work is to study the effects of co-creation on the extended model of goal-directed behavior, along with the moderator of crowdfunding types. To do this, an online survey was conducted on crowdfunders in South Korea and partial least squares (PLS)-structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to analyze the collected data. Results reveal that co-creation considerably leads to attitude towards, as well as behavior in relation to, crowdfunding participation. Funders' attitude and positive and negative anticipated emotion also significantly influence desire to participate in crowdfunding. Behavioral intention is highly affected by perceived behavioral control as well as desire. Reward and investment types significantly moderate eight relationships in the research model. Hence, this study contributes to crowdfunding research and stakeholders in the visitor economy sectors.
Can MNCs promote more inclusive tourism? Apollo tour operator's sustainability work
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2018-08-08) Zapata Campos MJ; Hall CM; Backlund S
Outbound tour operators are key actors in international mass tourism. However, their contribution to more sustainable and inclusive forms of tourism has been critically questioned. Drawing from new institutional theories in organization studies, and informed by the case of one of the largest Scandinavian tour operators, we examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability work in large tour operators and the challenges faced in being more inclusive. On the basis of in-depth interviews with corporate officers, document analysis and media reports, we show how top-down coercive and normative pressures, coming from the parent company and the host society shape the ability of the daughter corporation to elaborate a more inclusive agenda. However, daughter companies do not merely comply with these institutional pressures and policy is also developed from the ‘bottom-up’. We show how the tour operator's sustainability work is also the result of organizational responses including buffering, bargaining, negotiating and influencing the parent organization. By creating intra and inter-sectoral learning and collaborative industry platforms, MNCs not only exchange and diffuse more inclusive practices among the industry, but also anticipate future normative pressures such as legislation and brand risk. Daughter organizations help shape their institutional arrangements through internal collaborative platforms and by incorporating local events and societal concerns into the multinational CSR policy, especially when flexible policy frameworks operate, and the corporate CSR agenda and organizational field are under formation. However, risks do exist, in the absence of institutional pressures, of perpetuating a superficial adoption of more inclusive practices in the mass tourism industry.
Choices of Virtue and Vice Products and Their Impact on Visual Attention: A Meta-Analysis of Eye-Tracking Food Research
(John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2025-09-03) Ladeira WJ; Lim WM; Perin MG; de Oliveira Santini F; Rasul T; Gursoy D; Hall CM; Akhtar S
This article aims to analyze the impact of attention drivers associated with food bottom-up processes (virtue, vice, and binary choices) on physiological measures (fixation count and fixation duration) of psychological constructs (attention allocation and cognitive processing) of visual attention. Existing studies have analyzed these relationships in an isolated and scattered manner, indicating the need for a new study that integrates the effect sizes to better understand the state of the art. To achieve this goal, a meta-analysis was carried out, compiling information from 54 articles, encompassing 21,756 participants and 153 effect sizes (Cohen's d), to discern patterns of attention allocation and cognitive processing across three product choice scenarios: choice of virtue food products, choice of vice food products, and choice of their combination. The results reveal that virtue and vice choice contexts influence attention allocation while virtue and binary choice contexts influence cognitive processing. The results also show that the heterogeneity of the effects of virtue, vice, and binary choice contexts can be explained by externally driven marketing factors such as the cause of allergy or intolerance (product), shopping channel (place), and vividness of product presentation (promotion), as well as internally driven socioeconomic indicators such as average supply of fat per day (health), average supply of food calories per day (health), body mass index (health), expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages (economic), and reading PISA score (education).
Contested Development Paths and Rural Communities: Sustainable Energy or Sustainable Tourism in Iceland?
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2019-07-02) Sætórsdóttir AD; Hall CM
The Icelandic economy has transitioned from being dependent on fishing and agriculture to having tourism and refined aluminum as its main exports. Nevertheless, the new main industries still rely on the country's natural resources, as the power intensive industry uses energy from rivers and geothermal areas whereas tourism uses the natural landscape, where geysers, waterfalls and thermal pools are part of the attraction to visitors. Although both industries claim to contribute to sustainability they utilize the same resources, and land-use conflicts can be expected, illustrating the contestation that can occur between different visions and understandings of sustainability. This paper focuses on the attitudes of Icelandic tourism operators towards power production and proposed power plants using data from questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Results show that the majority of Icelandic tourism operators assume further power utilization would be in conflict with nature-based tourism, and they are generally negative towards all types of renewable energy development and power plant infrastructure. Respondents are most negative towards transmission lines, reservoirs and hydro power plants in the country's interior Highlands. About 40% of the respondents perceive that existing power plants have negatively affected tourism, while a similar proportion think they had no impact. According to the respondents, the two industries could co-exist with improved spatial planning, management and inter-sectoral cooperation.
Demarketing Tourism for Sustainability: Degrowing Tourism or Moving the Deckchairs on the Titanic?
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-02-02) Hall CM; Wood KJ; Cheer JM; Graci S; Dolezal C
Demarketing is generally recognized as that aspect of marketing that aims at discouraging customers in general or a certain class of customers in particular on either a temporary or permanent basis and has been increasingly posited as a potential tool to degrow tourism and improve its overall sustainability, particularly as a result of so-called overtourism. The paper provides an overview of the various ways in which demarketing has been applied in a tourism context and assesses the relative value of demarketing as a means of contributing to sustainability and degrowing tourism. It is argued that demarketing can make a substantial contribution to degrowing tourism at a local or even regional scale, but that the capacity to shift visitation in space and time also highlights a core weakness with respect to its contribution at other scales. The paper concludes by noting that the concept of degrowth also needs to be best understood as a continuum of which demarketing is only one aspect.
Destination image during the COVID-19 pandemic and future travel behavior: The moderating role of past experience
(Elsevier Ltd, 2021-09-01) Rasoolimanesh SM; Seyfi S; Rastegar R; Hall CM
This study investigates the effects of cognitive destination image shaped by media during the COVID-19 pandemic on willingness to support and post-pandemic travel intention. Drawing upon the concept of cognitive destination image and through an online self-administered survey, the effects of four factors including trust, crisis management, healthcare system, and solidarity on travel behavioral intention are compared based on tourists’ prior experience of a given destination. To achieve this aim, ten countries with different coping strategies, numbers of positive cases and mortality rate were studied. A total number of 518 useable questionnaires were collected from the prospect international tourists who followed news related to COVID-19 for one of the selected countries and plan to travel in the future. Partial least squares – structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis were used to test the model and hypotheses. The results showed the high predictive power of the model on post COVID-19 travel behavioral intention. The findings revealed the strong and positive effects of trust and healthcare system on behavioral intention of respondents without past experience to visit a destination, whereas the effect of solidarity on behavioral intention was identified much stronger for the prospect tourists with past experience of visiting a destination. This research provides unique theoretical contributions by investigating the effects of trust, crisis management, healthcare system, and solidarity shaped by media during COVID-19 outbreak as the components of cognitive destination image on future behavioral intention across past experience of visiting a destination. This study also provides insights on post-crisis recovery factors affecting travel behavioral intention and demand.
Destination Restaurants’ Practices and the Production of Locality: The Case of Michelin Restaurants in China
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-06-12) Huang Y; Hall CM; Chen NC; Prinyawiwatkul W
Dining plays a pivotal role in the travel experience, with numerous studies identifying the significant impacts of restaurant attributes on tourists’ destination experiences and their sense of place. The identified attributes include the origin of food produce, menu design, the physical and social servicescape, and restaurant reputation, all of which have the potential to enhance customers’ sense of place. Therefore, based on theories of the production of locality, this study explores how destination restaurants “put place on the plate” and identifies how destination restaurants promote place. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the representatives of seventeen Michelin (one star, two stars, three stars, and Bib Gourmand)-awarded restaurants across Mainland China. The results reveal three primary strategies employed by destination restaurants in promoting place: forging partnerships with the local community to produce, present, and reproduce localities; leveraging local knowledge embedded in the local produce, recipes, cooking techniques, and local culture; and practicing translocality to introduce a regional cuisine to diverse and cosmopolitan consumers. This research provides a comprehensive understanding of the way in which notions of locality and place are used by destination restaurants and the way in which this may promote not only restaurants but also regional culinary cultures and destination attractiveness.
Destination transitions and resilience following trigger events and transformative moments
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-04-28) Hall CM; Prayag G; Fang SE
Disasters and crises are increasingly seen as opportunities for transformation of the tourism system at various scales. From a resilience perspective, crises and disasters may act as trigger events for system change, sometimes described as the “disaster-reform hypothesis”. An integrative framework informed by different fields is used to analyse the destination development pathways following the Kaikōura earthquake in New Zealand. In addition to policy documents and media, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 21 business owners and managers in the Kaikōura region, an internationally recognised ecotourism destination. The findings show pathway competition, experimentation, scale effects and lock-in influencing transitions. The research identifies interactions between different actors at different levels of governance in shaping destination pathways post-disaster, with external political and economic actors having the most influence. Multiple levels of resilience chart a potentially more resilient destination. The study concludes that the range of potential destination pathways is constrained by decision-making at other scales, e.g. national policy settings and insurance coverage, that affect tourism businesses and destination decision-making. As a result, the notion of transformation should be understood as an essentially contested concept both within a destination and between destination stakeholders and those that operate at a national scale.
Dissecting destination boycotts: Unpacking ethical dilemmas in politicized tourism
(Elsevier Ltd, 2024-12-01) Seyfi S; Siyamiyan Gorji A; Kuhzady S; Hall CM; Senbeto DL
Informed by political consumerism theory and employing a multi-case approach, this study examines the different factors influencing tourists' decisions to participate in or abstain from destination boycotts. Through an analysis of online narratives, the study identifies and discusses key manifestations of ethical dilemmas in tourists' boycott decisions, reflecting both the transformative potential of boycotts and doubts about their effectiveness. The findings indicate that participation in boycotts is driven by perceived egregiousness, the empowerment of change through tourism, and ethical and moral considerations. Conversely, rejection of boycotts often stems from the contentious nature of certain boycotts, skepticism about their effectiveness, concerns about local welfare, the desire to avoid collective punishment, and the double standard dilemma. By introducing the concept of ‘politicized tourism consumerism’, this study highlights tourism's potential to drive social change and offers novel theoretical insights into tourists' politicized tourism practices and their implications. These insights can help tourism stakeholders, including policymakers and businesses, develop strategies to address ethical concerns and boycott impacts, leading to more ethical and responsible tourism.
Does Entrepreneurs’ Darwinian Social Identity Contribute to Business Performance via Corporate Social Responsibility in China? The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Well-Being
(Frontiers Media S A, 2021-12-14) Chen J; Chen NC; Yu K; Hall CM; Zhou W
Although the impact of entrepreneurs’ social identity on successful entrepreneurship has attracted much scholarly attention, it is often to evaluate successful entrepreneurship through direct channel to financial performance. Recently, there is a growing body of researches beginning to pay attention to the impact of entrepreneurs’ social identity on corporate social responsibility (CSR) regarded as indirect social aspect channel to successful entrepreneurship. However, little is known regarding how entrepreneurs’ Darwinian social identity affects CSR, which in turn, affects business performance. This study addresses this issue by combining stakeholder theory with social identity theory, to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurs’ Darwinian social identity and business performance via CSR. In addition, the moderating effect of entrepreneur’s well-being is further examined to uncover the interaction effect of the individual psychological resource on business performance. The empirical results indicate that entrepreneurs’ Darwinian social identity contributes positively to CSR, so as further to business performance. In addition, this relationship is further found to be significantly moderated by entrepreneurs’ well-being. The results indicate that entrepreneurs can achieve business success via CSR, by which entrepreneurs can further acquire successful entrepreneurship through caring more about their well-being.
Does International Travel Frequency Affect COVID-19 Biosecurity Behavior in the United States?
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-04-13) Kim MJ; Hall CM; Bonn M; Tchounwou P
High-quality biosecurity practices are critical to restarting international tourism. Effective market segmentation improves the communication and efficacy of health advice. Travel frequency is an important basis for health-related consumer segmentation, as it is closely related to risk of greater exposure to infectious diseases. Theoretically grounded studies of tourist biosecurity behavior and travel frequency have largely been neglected, although insights into practices and attitudes are especially relevant for coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19 (coronavirus disease of 2019) health responses. Therefore, this research constructed and tested a conceptual model applying Value–Attitude–Behavior theory to US travelers to see whether the frequency of international travel affected tourist COVID-19 related biosecurity behavior. US respondents were drawn from a panel using a quota sampling technique according to the age and gender of American outbound tourists. An online survey was administered in September 2020. The responses (n = 395) of those who traveled internationally within five years were analyzed utilizing partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with multi-group analysis. Travel frequency significantly affects biosecurity behavior. High travel frequency (≥8 trips) has the strongest effect of value on biosecurity attitudes, personal norms, social norms, and biosecurity social norms, leading to biosecurity behaviors. Biose-curity behaviors pertaining to medium travel frequency (4–7 trips) are significantly influenced by personal norms. At low travel frequency (1–3 trips) levels, biosecurity behaviors are stimulated by biosecurity attitudes and social norms, showing the highest predictive power among the three groups. This work provides insights into international travel consumer biosecurity practices and behavior. From a market segmentation perspective, the levels of international travel frequency have various influences on biosecurity values, attitudes, personal norms, social norms, and behaviors. The biosecurity behaviors of low-frequency travelers are found to be the most significant of the three groups, suggesting that individuals who travel less frequently are more likely to practice responsible COVID-19 biosecurity behavior.
Ecolodge Tourism Dynamics: A Village-Level Analysis of Marketing and Policy Indicators in Iran’s Hawraman Region
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-06-14) Pourtaheri M; Torabi Z-A; Khavarian-Garmsir AR; Sajadi S; Hall CM; Álvarez-García J; Ramón-Cardona J; Sánchez-Fernández MD
Despite growing interest in community-based ecotourism as a pathway to sustainable development, there is a critical lack of research on how localized configurations of marketing and policy factors shape ecolodge performance at the village level. This study addresses this gap by pioneering a comprehensive, contextually grounded analysis of the availability and desirability of key marketing and policy indicators across 25 rural villages in Iran’s culturally and ecologically rich Hawraman region. By employing an innovative mixed-methods approach blending statistical analysis, GIS spatial modeling, surveys, and interviews, the research reveals striking heterogeneity in ecolodge constraints and opportunities, even within a localized setting. Spatial analysis uncovers distance decay effects, with peripheral villages facing exacerbated accessibility deficits compared to centrally located ones. Substantial variations in marketing effectiveness and governance capacities underscore the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all tourism planning. The findings make a novel contribution by demonstrating the imperative for transitioning from monolithic interventions to hyper-localized, place-based strategies tailored to each village’s unique barrier and asset profiles. Embracing this paradigm shift promises to enhance the equity and sustainability of ecolodge tourism in rural contexts globally. The study provides an original methodological blueprint for harnessing multi-modal diagnostics to unpack complex tourism dynamics and catalyze transformative, community-centric solutions.
Environmental Concerns and Water Conservation Behavior in Desert Tourism: Applying the Extended Norm Activation Theory for Gen Z Tourists
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2025-03-12) Torabi Z-A; Hall CM; Azarniou N; Borzu G; Álvarez- García J; Ramón-Cardona J; Sánchez-Fernández MD
This study examines the influence of environmental concerns on water conservation behaviors among Gen Z tourists in Iranian desert regions by extending the Norm Activation Theory (NAT). Adopting a quantitative approach, data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 330 Gen Z tourists (born between 1997 and 2012) who visited four Iranian desert villages (Qale Bala, Mesr, Abyaneh, and Rezaabad) between April and July 2023. Using systematic sampling, every fifth Gen Z tourist was selected. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results show that environmental concerns, situational responsibility, and personal norms positively impact water conservation behaviors, while denial of responsibility negatively affects them. Personal norms positively influence pride and guilt emotions, which in turn promote water conservation behaviors. The extended model, incorporating environmental concerns, demonstrated improved explanatory power over the original NAT. This research contributes to sustainable tourism literature by integrating environmental concerns and moral emotions into the NAT framework, offering insights into psychological mechanisms driving pro-environmental behaviors among Gen Z tourists in desert environments.