ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1647976
Social Media-Driven Behavioral Mechanisms for Sustainable Park Governance: A Analysis of Visitation Intentions
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fuzhou Technology and Business University, Fuzhou, China
- 2Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
- 3Ningde Urban and Rural Planning Institute, Ningde, China
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Social media has emerged as a critical driver of urban park visitation, reshaping public perceptions and behavioral patterns through information dissemination and emotional resonance. This study investigates how social media usage influences recreational visitors' intentions to visit urban parks, integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model. Data were collected via questionnaires distributed to 535 visitors across four mountain parks in Fuzhou, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and Bootstrap methods were employed to analyze the relationships between social media usage intensity, information quality, perceived attractiveness, perceived crowding risk, subjective norms, and visitation intention. Results demonstrated that social media usage intensity (β=0.374, p<0.001) and information quality (β=0.175, p<0.001) directly and significantly influenced visitation intention. Perceptual factors partially mediated these relationships: usage intensity indirectly enhanced behavioral intention by increasing perceived attractiveness and strengthening subjective norms, while information quality optimized decision-making by reducing perceived crowding risk. The findings highlight the dual pathways of rational cognition and emotional drive in shaping visitor behavior, underscoring the importance of balancing ecological protection and visitor experience in smart park management. This framework provides data-driven insights for sustainable park governance.
Keywords: Social media usage, perceived attractiveness, Visitation Intention, Perceived Crowding Risk, Urban park
Received: 18 Jun 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Huang, Miao, Lin and Gao. 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: Rong Chen, Fuzhou Technology and Business University, Fuzhou, China
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