Protect the natural environment at nature park: self-congruity theory approach to influence tourists’ environmental responsible behavior

Purpose Environmental protection has gained significance in tourism literature. The sustainability of a destination’s environment depends on tourists' responsible behavior. This research aims to examine how self-congruity influences tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) using signaling theory. Additionally, perceived destination trust (PDT) is included as a mediator and destination social responsibility (DSR) is incorporated to explain the relationship between self-congruity and tourists' ERB. Design/methodology/approach One thousand tourists visiting five selected nature parks across various regions of Pakistan were approached using a multi-stage sampling technique. Out of these, 874 completed surveys were analyzed. Findings The study’s results indicated that actual and social self-congruence significantly affects tourists' ERB, while results were insignificant for ideal self-congruence. Mediation results showed significant results for actual and social self-congruence, while the result for ideal self-congruence is not significant. Finally, DSR has significantly moderated the relationship for actual and social self-congruence. Research limitations/implications The study is among the few that consider tourists’ behavior in achieving a sustainable natural environment for a tourist destination. Theoretically, the study uniquely considers destination brand equity by explaining signaling theory to influence tourists’ ERB. Further study has several theoretical and managerial implications. Originality/value This study is one of the few that applies self-congruity theory to understand tourists’ ERB. Theoretically, it uniquely examines social, actual and ideal self-congruence in relation to the destination through the lens of signaling theory and its impact on tourists’ ERB. By including PDT as a mediator and DSR as a moderator in the framework, this research enhances the understanding of tourists’ ERB. Research has proposed a comprehensive framework for protecting the natural environment of destinations.