Transforming tourists’ intentions through destination engagement: insights from transformative learning theory

Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework: Is the Perceived Outstanding Universal Value Attractiveness of Tourists Beneficial to World Heritage Site Conservation?

Tourists have been attracted to world heritage sites (WHSs) by their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). In view of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and the theory of attitude and behavior, by employing 563 tourist samples from Mount Sanqingshan National Park, and using structural equation modeling, we examine tourist behavioral intention for heritage conservation, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) the S-O-R theory revealed the behavioral intentions of tourists to protect WHSs; (2) as a stimulus, tourists' value perception and destination attachment were positively affected by the OUV attractiveness, and their perceived value had a positive influence on heritage conservation, although the hypothesis of destination attachment to heritage conservation was not supported; (3) heritage-conservation education and knowledge positively influenced tourists' behavioral intentions towards heritage protection, and tourists' heritage protection attitude had a positive influence on their behavioral intention; and (4) a framework of the influence mechanism for tourists' heritage conservation based on the S-O-R theory was proposed, while tourists' cognitive and affective attitudes impacted on heritage protection intention which, in turn, further enhanced the tourists' perception of the OUV. Conclusively, the measures and implications were proposed for improving conservation and management of WHSs, in particular to achieve the sustainable development of the tourist industry and world heritage sites.