Tourists’ travel intention: revisiting the TPB model with age and perceived risk as moderator and attitude as mediator
摘要：
Purpose – This study aims to understand tourists’ travel intention during the COVID-19 pandemic by using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with additional causal links and moderators. The three research objectives of this study are to explore basic causality, mediating effects of attitude and moderating effects of age and perceived risk, of the extended TPB model, respectively. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, the survey generated 351 responses. The structural model analysis was performed to test the cause-and-effect relationships in the traditional TPB model and the mediating role of an individual’s attitude regarding travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SmartPLS multi-group analysis procedure was applied to test the moderation effects of age and perceived risk. Findings – It is found that the perceived behavioral control is the main contributor of travel intention for the traditional TPB while attitude partially mediates the relationship between subjective norm and travel intention for the test of mediation. Also, moderation tests confirm that both age and perceived risk show significant moderating effect only on subjective norm to travel intention relationship. Originality/value – The novelty of this research is that this study proposed and verified the mediating influence of attitude and two additional paths, the moderating influence of age and perceived risk, which deepened the understanding of the TPB model and the impact of COVID-19 on travel intention. Because TPB model is context-dependent, using one mediating and two moderating variables allows the study to understand how TPB functions in a different situation.
