ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. For. Glob. Change
Sec. People and Forests
Understanding How Social Media Shapes Tourists' Pro-Environmental Behavior in Forest Destinations
Shandong Women's University, Jinan, China
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Abstract
The growing influence of social media has transformed the ways tourists access information, form perceptions, and engage with environmental issues. However, limited attention has been paid to the psychological processes through which social media shapes pro-environmental behavior, particularly in forest tourism settings. This study investigates the direct and indirect effects of social media on tourists' pro-environmental behavior through environmental knowledge, environmental attitude, environmental values, and subjective norms. Data were collected from 586 visitors across multiple forest destinations in Shandong Province, China, using a structured questionnaire. The survey instrument underwent expert review, pilot testing, and a translation– back translation procedure to ensure content validity and linguistic equivalence. The proposed model was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that social media significantly influences environmental knowledge, environmental attitude, environmental values, subjective norms, and pro-environmental behavior. Environmental attitude emerged as the strongest predictor of pro-environmental behavior, while environmental values were most strongly affected by social media. Furthermore, all four mediating variables significantly transmitted the influence of social media on pro-environmental behavior, with the combined indirect effect exceeding the direct effect. These findings suggest that social media functions not only as a source of environmental information but also as a mechanism that shapes tourists' environmental values, attitudes, and social perceptions. The study contributes to sustainable tourism research by advancing understanding of the psychological pathways through which digital communication environments encourage environmentally responsible behavior.
Summary
Keywords
Environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, Environmental values, Forest tourism, pro-environmental behavior, Social Media, Subjective norms
Received
02 July 2026
Accepted
17 August 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Menghan. 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: Hou Menghan
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