Seeking Substitutive Satisfaction: The Influencing Mechanism of Loneliness on Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behavior

Tourists’ pro-environmental behavior matters greatly to the destination. Grounded in the biophilia hypothesis and substitutive satisfaction theory, this study examined how loneliness affects pro-environmental behaviors and suggested that lonely tourists recognize pro-environmental behavior as a key means to establish connections with the outside world. A field experiment in two scenic spots ( N = 332) and a longitudinal online survey in a hotel scenario ( N = 469) revealed that loneliness positively affected tourists’ pro-environmental behaviors, and the mediating roles of the need to search for meaning and the need for nature connectedness are confirmed. These findings highlight the importance of reevaluating loneliness, providing a new pathway to enhance tourists’ well-being, and also contributing to destination managers in targeting tourist segments to improve environmental conservation efforts.