A structural relationship between place attachment and intention to conserve landscapes–a case study of Harz National Park in Germany

• Published in: Journal of mountain science Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 998 - 1007
• Main Authors: Lee, Dukjae, Lee, Ju-Hyoung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Science Press 01.05.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Appraisals; Attachment; Case studies; Conservation; Dependence; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecology; Emotions; Environment; Geography; Landscape preservation; Landscape protection; Mathematical models; Modelling; Motivation; National parks; Statistical analysis; Structural equation modeling; Surveying; Germany; Sense of place; Mountain forests; Structural Equation Model; Landscape preference; Place attachment
• ISSN: 1672-6316; 1993-0321; 1008-2786
• DOI: 10.1007/s11629-017-4366-3

Place attachment is an important motivation for people to spend more time outdoors and to protect landscapes.This study explores visitors＇ intention to conserve natural landscapes based on the relationship with their place attachment to National Park landscape. Structural equation modelling（SEM） was used to determine the relationship between landscape conservation and place attachment. A survey with a structured questionnaire was administered to visitors to the seven designated hiking courses of Harz National Park in Germany. The path coefficient of 0.77 revealed that place dependence positively and significantly affected place attachment, whereas place identity did not. Place attachment had a significant effect on both affective appraisals and visiting satisfaction. Higher place attachment led to higher emotional reaction to landscapes on site and higher satisfaction of visiting the park. Among the variables, visiting satisfaction, but not affective appraisals, played a statistically significant mediating role between place attachment and conservation intention. With a path coefficient of 0.86, conservation intention was highly affected by visiting satisfaction. These results suggest that the managers of National Parks should focus on increasing visiting satisfaction based on how visitors are emotionally bonded with their visiting places, in order to enhance the intentions to conserve the landscape of the visitors to National Parks.