PERSONAL VALUES, LIFESTYLE AND SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOR: A STUDY WITH TOURISTS IN JERICOACOARA, CEARÁ, BRAZIL

Abstract:

In the context of sustainability, personal values and lifestyle seem to be relevant factors to predict individual behaviors. Analyzing the tourists’ sustainable behavior is an important indicator to understand the individual-society-environment dynamics and its short, medium, and long-term impacts. Furthermore, this information is relevant for stakeholders and public policy makers to sustainably manage natural landscapes, as well as the products and services involved in this activity. In this context, this study analyzes the role of personal values and lifestyle in forming the tourist's sustainable behavior. Therefore, a survey was carried out with 118 tourists in Jericoacoara, Ceará, Brazil. To analyze the data, descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used. The results show that a favorable attitude towards a more sustainable experience in tourism is influenced by the personal value of universalism and by the ecological lifestyle. Furthermore, the consistency of the Theory of Rational Action was verified to predict the tourist's sustainable behavior, since the behavior regarding the payment of the sustainable tourism tax was influenced by the behavioral intention, which, in turn, was influenced by the attitude and the subjective norm. In general, the study provides a better understanding of tourist behavior in relation to the payment of the Sustainable Tourism Tax, as well as the elements associated with this behavior, helping public managers in the formulation of effective and more transparent fiscal policies.

Key-words:
sustainable behavior; personal values; lifestyle; Jericoacoara; Theory of Reasoned Action