ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. For. Glob. Change
Sec. Forest Management
Differential Pathways in Teachers' Sustainable Ecotourism Perceptions: A Multiple Group Structural Equation Modelling Approach
1. Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Milli Egitim Bakanligi, Ankara, Türkiye
2. Duzce University, Ankara, Türkiye
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract
This study investigates teachers' perceptions of sustainable ecotourism in Düzce Province, Türkiye, with particular attention to how environmental perceptions shape evaluations of economic and socio-cultural benefits. Drawing on survey data collected from 320 teachers, the study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to validate a multidimensional perception framework and to examine the structural relationships among its components. Following confirmatory factor analyses, Multiple Group SEM is applied to assess whether these relationships differ across key socio-demographic groups. The results indicate that perceptions of the environmental dimension of ecotourism constitute the strongest predictor of both perceived economic and socio-cultural benefits. Moreover, the magnitude of these relationships varies systematically by gender, marital status, and teaching level, with female and married teachers exhibiting stronger perception–benefit linkages. These findings underscore the importance of socio-demographic context in shaping sustainability-related attitudes and highlight teachers as influential educational and social intermediaries in the diffusion of ecotourism awareness. By integrating environmental perception theory with Multiple Group SEM, the study contributes to the ecotourism and sustainability education literature and offers policy-relevant insights for the design of education-oriented ecotourism governance, sustainable forest management and planning strategies.
Summary
Keywords
educational stakeholders, Environmental Literacy, Nature-based activities, pedagogical engagement, sustainable travel behaviour
Received
23 December 2025
Accepted
17 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Zeybek and Gültekin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Yasar Selman Gültekin
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.