Behavioural intention of tourists towards volunteer tourism: A developing country perspective

Khan, Shahzar Ali; Khan, Verda; Khan, Mohd Asif Article — Published Version Behavioural intention of tourists towards volunteer tourism: A developing country perspective Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing Suggested Citation: Khan, Shahzar Ali; Khan, Verda; Khan, Mohd Asif (2023) : Behavioural intention of tourists towards volunteer tourism: A developing country perspective, Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing, ISSN 2529-1947, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 37-47, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8054815 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272337 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2023, pp. 37-47 37 C Copyrigh t © 200 © 2023 Authors. Published by International Hellenic University ISSN: 2529-1947. UDC: 658.8+338.48+339.1+640(05) http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8054815 Published online: 10 June 2023 www.jthsm.grpyright © 200 Some rights reserved. Except otherwise noted, this work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 Behavioural intention of tourists towards volunteer tourism: A developing country perspective Shahzar Ali Khan Aligarh Muslim University, India Verda Khan Aligarh Muslim University, India Mohd Asif Khan Aligarh Muslim University, India Abstract: Purpose: Although volunteer tourism has been studied via several theoretical lenses, little is known about the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists from developing nations. This study aimed to identify the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists and the factors motivating them. This study extends the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to identify the potential volunteer tourists’ behavioural intentions by adding four motivations: altruism, personal development, escape, and travel. Methods: A total of 272 valid responses were collected through an online survey. SmartPLS 3.0 was used to test the hypotheses. Results: The findings indicate that attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, escape, and personal development positively influences potential volunteer tourists’ intention to take part in volunteer tourism programs. However, altruism and travel do not influence the potential volunteer tourists’ intention to take part in volunteer tourism programs. Implications: Volunteer tourism organisers will get help from the present study’s findings to design or improve volunteer tourism programs and activities accordingly, resulting in improved volunteer tourism experiences and, ultimately, impacting the tourists’ intention to take part in volunteer tourism programs. Keywords: Volunteer tourism, Theory of planned behaviour, Motivations, Potential volunteer tourists, Behavioural intention JEL Classification: L83, L52, E7 Biographical note: Shahzar Ali Khan ([email protected]) is a Ph.D. Scholar in the Department of Commerce at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. His research interest is in volunteer tourism, sustainable tourism, entrepreneurship, and consumer behavior. He is currently working on various aspects of consumer and tourist behavior. He holds a Master of Tourism and Travel Management from Aligarh Muslim University. Verda Khan is a Ph.D. Scholar in the Department of Commerce at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Her research interest is tourism entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intention, and behavioral intention. She holds a Master of Tourism and Travel Management from Aligarh Muslim University. Dr. Mohd. Asif Khan ([email protected]) is working as an associate professor in the Department of Commerce at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. His academic career has been meritorious. His academic areas of interest are marketing management, entrepreneurship & international business. He has published many research papers in leading journals. He has teaching and research experience of over thirty years. Corresponding author: Shahzar Ali Khan ([email protected]). 1 INTRODUCTION Volunteer tourism is an alternative form of tourism that integrates leisure travel and volunteer activity together (Han et al., 2020). Volunteer tourism is viewed as a type of tourism that offers unique and authentic travel experiences while also promoting the long-term development of local communities (Meng et al., 2020; Shekhar, 2022). Hence, the concept of volunteer tourism and sustainable tourism is considered to be strongly associated with one another (Raymond & Hall, 2008). Sustainable tourism is a tourism form that incorporates sustainable development in the tourism industry (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018). It entails using tourism resources to serve the present demand of host communities, 38 Shahzar Ali Khan, Verda Khan & Mohd Asif Khan environment and visitors without jeopardising the future demand (Fodness, 2017; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018; Chouhan, 2022). Volunteer tourism brings financial, social, and ecological benefits to the host community and, hence, reflects the principles of sustainable tourism (Pompurová et al., 2020; Manosso & Domareski Ruiz, 2021). Tourists’ preference for a sustainable form of tourism has gained momentum after the recent global pandemic (Khan et al., 2022). Volunteer tourism has also experienced substantial growth globally in recent years (Proyrungroj, 2020). Volunteer tourism has gained popularity due to several factors, such as lesser travel restrictions, tourists’ desire to take unique tourism experiences (Wearing & McGehee, 2013), and general awareness about destituteness and other issues in developing nations (Callanan & Thomas, 2005). The spectacular development and increased attractiveness of volunteer tourism have prompted more researchers to study this topic, especially from developed countries. The prior studies on volunteer tourists have concentrated chiefly on tourists from high-income countries who serve in lowincome countries, with little emphasis paid to tourists from developing countries who volunteer within their own country (Benali & Kravets, 2022; Bone & Bone, 2018; Gilbertson et al., 2021; Kontogeorgopoulos, 2017; Nadeau & Lord, 2017; Proyrungroj, 2020; Del Chiappa et al., 2021). Only a few studies (Mertens, 2022; Pompurová et al., 2020; Rattan et al., 2012) have focused on domestic volunteer tourism, i.e. volunteering within the country. Furthermore, there are limited studies on this form of tourism in developing countries like India compared to other tourism types such as cultural tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism, and rural tourism. Moreover, research on volunteer tourism in India is in its early stages. Studies in India have focused on neo-colonialism (Gilbertson et al., 2021), host community (Frilund, 2015; Guttentag, 2011), international volunteerism (Yea et al., 2018), motivations of international volunteers (Bone & Bone, 2018; Schuhbert & Thees, 2020), and volunteer tourism and religion (Bandyopadhyay, 2018). Therefore, the researchers believe that more studies on volunteer tourism in India should be done, as the findings of these studies could provide more understanding about this type of tourism and could also provide insight into how to improve and stimulate volunteer tourism in a more sustainable manner. In order to persuade potential volunteer tourists to join volunteer tourism programs, it is crucial to understand the factors motivating them to participate in such programs. For this purpose, the research has adopted the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to study tourists’ behavioural intentions for participating in volunteer tourism. Nonetheless, some researchers have questioned whether the model alone is adequate for predicting individual behaviours. It is, therefore, regarded as necessary to extend the TPB model by confirming appropriate variables that are important in a particular situation (Ajzen, 1991). Volunteer tourists are generally believed to have altruistic motives and egoistic motives (Haslebacher et al., 2019), including personal development and growth (Han et al., 2019, 2020; Lee & Yen, 2015; Lo & Lee, 2011; Proyrungroj, 2017a, 2020), crosscultural understanding (Benson & Seibert, 2009; Chen & Chen, 2011; Fotiadis & Williams, 2018; Han et al., 2020; Lo & Lee, 2011; Proyrungroj, 2017a, 2020), escapism (Benson & Seibert, 2009; Han et al., 2019, 2020; Lee & Yen, 2015; Lo & Lee, 2011), exploration and education (Benson & Seibert, 2009; Brown, 2005; Chatzigeorgiou et al., 2019; Han et al., 2019; Lo & Lee, 2011; Proyrungroj, 2020), travelling (Chen & Chen, 2011; Leonard & Onyx, 2009; Proyrungroj, 2020), and relaxation (Benson & Seibert, 2009). However, few studies (Andereck et al., 2012; Knollenberg et al., 2014; Taylor, 2008) have explored these motivations from the perspective of potential volunteer tourists from a developing country. Andereck et al. (2012) revealed that potential volunteer tourists have varying expectations related to information for the trip, engagement with locals, and the difficulty of the work involved. Taylor (2008) indicated that possibilities for transformative learning among potential volunteer tourists might be revealed through elements of selfreflection, conversation, and intercultural encounters (Sigala et al., 2002; Knollenberg et al., 2014; Christou & Nella, 2016). The relative significance of these relevant factors would help researchers gain a more exhaustive understanding of potential volunteer tourists’ behavioural intentions. In this way, our proposed model would extend the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) regarding volunteer tourism by adding required variables and would also provide practical suggestions to persuade potential volunteer tourists to take part in volunteer tourism programs. As little is known about the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists from developing countries (Andereck et al., 2012; Knollenberg et al., 2014; Taylor, 2008), this study is designed to bridge the gap in the current research work on volunteer tourism. The objectives of the current study are to (i) identify the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists towards volunteer tourism in India and (ii) identify the factors motivating potential volunteer tourists to involve in volunteer tourism programs in the country. 2 LITERATURE 2.1 Volunteer tourism Volunteer tourism has turned out to be one of the rapidly growing and most popular types of alternative tourism (Proyrungroj, 2020; Raymond & Hall, 2008; Wang, 2022; Wearing & McGehee, 2013). It is a combination of leisure travel and volunteering activities (Han et al., 2020; Proyrungroj, 2020). Various researchers have attempted to define volunteer tourism. Brown (2005) explained volunteer tourism as a practice whereby a volunteer tourism organisation provides tourists with the chance to involve in an extra trip which includes both a volunteer element and a chance to interact with the locals. Brown has highlighted the phenomenon of benefiting the locals while practising volunteering activities and has also focused on cultural exchange. (Gajdošík et al., 2022) According to the existing studies (Aquino & Andereck 2022; Broad, 2003; Everingham et al., 2022; Gajdošík et al., 2022; Lee, 2022; Nella & Christou, 2021; Lee, 2020; McIntosh & Zahra, 2007; Park et al., 2022; Proyrungroj, 2015, 2017b; Raymond & Hall, 2008; Wearing, 2001; Wright, 2013), volunteer tourism is supposed to be equally beneficial for volunteer tourists and the locals. The benefits received by the host community through volunteer tourism can be grouped into three broad categories: financial, social, and ecological BEHAVIOURAL INTENTION OF TOURISTS TOWARDS VOLUNTEER TOURISM 39 benefits. The financial benefits that the host community receives through volunteer tourism programs include monetary support, local employment opportunities, improved infrastructure, and other facilities (Lee, 2020; Proyrungroj, 2017b). As for the social benefit, volunteer tourism helps in the betterment of the host community by providing funds (McIntosh & Zahra, 2007; Wearing, 2001) and also offer opportunities for education to the host community (Gajdošík et al., 2022; Lee, 2021; Wright, 2013) and stimulate native cultures and beliefs (Weaing, 2001). Regarding allied environmental advantages, volunteering in environmental projects can help restore and conserve the environment at the destination (Broad, 2003; Gajdošík et al., 2022; Park et al., 2022; Wearing, 2001; Wright, 2013). Many existing works of literature (Broad, 2003; Harlow & Pomfret, 2007; Lo & Lee, 2011; McIntosh & Zahra, 2007; Müller et al., 2020; Pompurová et al., 2020; Proyrungroj, 2017a, 2017b; Wearing, 2001) have also highlighted the advantages of volunteer tourism programs for the volunteer tourists such as developing communication skills, crosscultural understanding, language learning, making new contacts, environmental knowledge, gaining new experience, and learning more working skill. Although many researchers have focused on the positive impact of volunteer tourism, some studies (Guttentang, 2009; Lee, 2021; Lee, 2020; Proyrungroj, 2017b; Wright, 2013) have also highlighted the other side of volunteer tourism and its impact on the locals. Guttentag (2009) analysed the outcomes of several studies and summarised the negative impact of volunteer tourism on local community into five categories which include ignoring the community needs, obstruction of job progress and completion of subpar work, lowered demand for labour and a rise in dependency, poverty justifications and conceptualisations of the other, and adaptation in culture. Lo and Lee (2011) found out that the hosts feel a sense of inferiority while interacting with volunteer tourists from more affluent nations. Raymond and Hall (2008) have highlighted the importance of volunteer tourism organisations in reducing the harmful effects of volunteer tourism by helping volunteers find work which both fits the requirements of volunteers and those of their hosts. Some studies (Mertens, 2022; Pompurová et al., 2020; Rattan et al., 2012) have also pointed out that domestic volunteer tourism would be beneficial in reducing the harmful impacts of international volunteering on host communities. Although several studies have focused on the motives of volunteer tourists who have completed volunteer tourism programs, only a few studies, as indicated by Andereck et al. (2012), have focused on the potential volunteer tourists, an area that is extensively researched in various other forms of tourism. By understanding the behavioural intention and factors motivating potential volunteer tourists, volunteer tourism organisations can design or improve volunteer tourism programs and activities accordingly and sustainably promote volunteer tourism. 2.2 Behavioural intention Behavioural intention indicates a person’s expected behaviour in the near future when it comes to buying products or services (Dean & Suhartanto, 2019). Correia et al. (2007) defined intention as a person’s likelihood of adopting or not adopting a specific behaviour. Behavioural intention is an individual’s motivation to execute the actions (Conner & Armitage, 1998). It is believed that intention captures the motivational factors that influence the behaviour; it expresses the effort an individual is eager to put forth to perform the conduct. (Ajzen, 1991). Ajzen (1991) stated that an action is more likely to be performed if there is a strong desire to do so. Behavioural intention for volunteer tourism could be described as tourists’ likelihood of taking part in volunteer tourism activities. 2.3 Theory of planned behaviour The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) is a psychological theory commonly used to describe and forecast an individual’s behaviour. TPB is one of the most extensively used theoretic models for describing tourists’ intentions and behaviour in tourism activities and destinations (Lam & Hsu, 2006; Quintal et al., 2015). According to the TPB, the intention is followed by action and is affected by attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control (Korol & Spyridou, 2020; Nuryyev et al, 2021; Papana & Spyridou, 2020; Samitas et al, 2020; Spyridou et al, 2023). Individuals’ actions and behaviour are allied with their attitudes, and that attitude depends on how they are impacted by the behaviour (Krueger et al., 2000). Ajzen (1991) stated that the subjective norm is a variable impacted by the attitudes of those persons who are significant to the individual, like family members and friends. Usually, individuals have a tendency to follow the behaviour suitable and accepted by their social circle (Stephan & Uhlaner, 2010). Perceived behavioural control is the degree that an individual thinks about being able to carry out or not carry out a specific behaviour and having control over it. Accordingly, the more a person believes that he/she can execute the specific behaviour, the chances of him/her behaving in that way are also higher (Engle et al., 2010). As all the three components of TPB, suggested by Ajzen (1991), are found to be positively related to behavioural intention (Ajzen, 1991), the subsequent hypotheses are developed: H1: There is a positive relationship between attitude and behavioural intention. H2: There is a positive relationship between subjective norm and behavioural intention. H3: There is a positive relationship between perceived behavioural control and behavioural intention. Figure 1: Proposed model 40 Shahzar Ali Khan, Verda Khan & Mohd Asif Khan In this research, we extended the TPB model by adding four motivations: altruism, personal development, travel, and escape. The proposed model is presented in Figure 1. 2.4 Volunteer tourism motivations The term volunteer tourism motivation is multifaceted, which is a force that propels volunteer tourists to look for volunteer tourism opportunities and commit them to help others while also sustaining their volunteer involvement (Han et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2014). There are different ways in which volunteer tourism motivations have been categorised. Grimm and Needham (2012) have employed a push/pull approach for categorising volunteer tourism motivations in which push motivations are the desire to help others or to better oneself, and pull motivations are related to destination attributes. Callanan and Thomas (2005) used another approach of ‘shallow’ and ‘deep’ volunteer tourists, whereby ‘shallow volunteer tourists’ are focused primarily on their selfdevelopment while ‘deep volunteer tourists’ are concerned with utilising formerly acquired skills in helping the host community. Volunteer tourism motivations include culture, altruism, relationships, personal development, and escape (Knollenberg et al., 2014) Lo and Lee (2011) identified five chief motives of volunteer tourists: learning, altruism, education, religion, and escapism. According to Lee et al. (2013), ego enhancement, altruistic value, community concern, personal development, and social adjustment are some of the motivations of volunteer tourists. Brown (2005) has identified that cultural immersion, camaraderie, giving back, and educational and bonding opportunities motivate volunteer tourists to participate in volunteer tourism programs. Han et al. (2019) also identified five primary motivations of volunteer tourists: personal development, altruistic community concern, ego enhancement, escapism, and education. It is essential to note that only a little research has been done on potential volunteer tourists’ motivations (Knollenberg et al., 2014) from developing countries. Given the significance of these volunteer tourism motivations, the present study has focused on four motivations: altruism, personal development, travel, and escape. 2.5 Altruism Altruism is selfless behaviour that benefits others (Meng, et al., 2020). According to Hoffman (1981), altruism motivation includes activities that advance the well-being of others without consciously considering self-benefits. Therefore, volunteer tourists having altruistic values try to give communities their love and caring as well as practical support (Wymer et al., 2010). Volunteer tourists assist the local community not only by providing financial and material support but also help through teaching and encouragement (Lo & Lee, 2011). As many studies (Knollenberg et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2013; Lo & Lee, 2011; Meng et al., 2020; Park et al., 2022; Wymer et al., 2010) found that volunteer tourists have altruistic motives, subsequent hypotheses are developed: H4: There is a positive relationship between altruism motive and behavioural intention. H5: There is a positive relationship between altruism motive and attitude. 2.6 Personal development Wang (2004) defined personal development as a desire of volunteers to gain benefits that are directed toward their own development and acquisition of new abilities. It involves the development of skills such as self-confidence and improved interpersonal skills (Jones, 2005), self-reflecting and selfevaluating (Broad, 2003; McIntosh & Zahra, 2007), careerbuilding (Broad, 2003; Brown, 2005; Lo & Lee, 2011), and gaining global perspective (Jones, 2005). As personal development is found to be a key motivating factor in many studies (Han et al., 2019, 2020; Lo & Lee, 2011; Proyrungroj, 2020), the subsequent hypotheses are developed: H6: There is a positive relationship between personal development and behavioural intention. H7: There is a positive relationship between personal development and attitude. 2.7 Travel Travelling alone can be a wonderful experience, allowing people to do what they want and how they want to do it. People often travel to visit ancient monuments and places, shop for local handicrafts and other local products, learn about the local environment, and meet and know the locals. This interest seems to reflect the social motivation and the motivation to learn more about the local community (Leonard & Onyx, 2009). Many prior studies on volunteer tourism motivations have found that social motivation is one of the motives of volunteer tourists to join volunteer tourism programs (Bryen & Madden, 2006; Leonard & Onyx, 2009). As travel is a significant motivating factor for volunteer tourists (Chen & Chen, 2011; Leonard & Onyx, 2009), the subsequent hypotheses are developed: H8: There is a positive relationship between travel and behavioural intention. H9: There is a positive relationship between travel and attitude. 2.8 Escape Volunteer tourists are encouraged to join volunteer tourism programs since it gives them a chance to escape their everyday lives (Han et al., 2019). Lo and Lee (2011) found that volunteer trips allow tourists busy with daily work to relax and reflect on themselves. As many studies (An et al., 2022; Benson & Seibert, 2009; Han et al., 2019, 2020; Lo & Lee, 2011) found that volunteer tourists have escapism motives, the subsequent hypotheses are developed: H10: There is a positive relationship between escape and behavioural intention. H11: There is a positive relationship between escape and attitude. 3 METHODS In this study, the researchers have focused on identifying the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists and the factors motivating them to participate in volunteer tourism programs. An online survey generated with google forms was used for this study. From February 2022 to August 2022, the BEHAVIOURAL INTENTION OF TOURISTS TOWARDS VOLUNTEER TOURISM 41 URL of the questionnaire was shared on many social media platforms. Two screening questions regarding respondents’ nationality and prior volunteer tourism experience were used to determine whether or not the respondents were suitable for this study. First, to ensure that only Indians should take part in the survey, only those respondents who indicated “Indian” nationality were directed to the next section of the questionnaire. Second, to ensure only participants with no prior volunteer tourism experience should take part in the survey, only those respondents who indicated “no” prior experience were directed to fill out the questionnaire. In order to increase the number of responses, the survey link was shared multiple times through the social media platform of various volunteer tourism organisations operating in India. Within this period, a total of 593 responses were collected, out of which 285 respondents were Indian nationals with no prior volunteer tourism experience. Before conducting the final analysis of collected data, data screening and cleaning was done. Firstly, the data was visually inspected to weed out poorly filled and unengaged responses. As the data was collected through google forms, all the questions were marked as compulsory. So, there was no issue of missing value in the collected data. The data is also checked for accuracy by looking for outliers. As a result, 13 responses were deleted due to unengaged responses and outliers, resulting in 272 valid responses. The researchers also carried out a pilot study on 68 potential volunteer tourists prior to the final survey. The convenience sampling technique was utilised for the final survey as it has been extensively used in various volunteer tourism research (Han et al., 2020; Knollenberg et al., 2014). SmartPLS 3.0 was used to test the hypotheses. 3.1 Measurement instrument A self-structured questionnaire was developed using the construct scales from pertinent volunteer tourism literature on a five-point Likert scale. In particular, four items for altruism, four items for personal development, and two items for escape were adopted from Knollenberg et al. (2014). In addition, four tems to measure travel were adopted from Leonard and Onyx (2009). Further, three items for behavioural intention, three items for attitude, three items for subjective norm, and three items for perceived behavioural control were adopted from Manosuthi et al. (2020), Meng et al. (2020), Meng et al. (2020). These measurement items, together with the brief introduction about the ongoing research and questions related to demographic data, were all included in the survey questionnaire. 3.2 Sample profile Out of 272 respondents, approximately 72.8% (n=198) were male, and 27.2% (n=74) were females. Regarding age, 69.5% (n=189) of all respondents were between 21 and 30 years old, 12.1% (n=33) were between 31 and 40 years old, 7.4% (n=20) were between 41 and 50 years old, 5.9% (n=16) were above 50 years old, and 5.1% (n=14) were below 20 years old. Regarding education level, 47.4% (n=129) indicated that they were undergraduates, 32.7% (n=89) were postgraduated, 15.8% (n=43) had a doctoral degree, 2.9% (n=8) had an intermediate degree, and 1.1% (n=3) had high school degree. Regarding economic status, 51.8% (n=141) were employed, 30.1% (n=82) were students, 9.9% (n=27) were self-employed, 6.6% (n=18) were unemployed, and 1.5% (n=4) were retired. 4 RESULTS 4.1 Data analysis: Outer model When assessing the outer model, the construct measures' validity and reliability are taken into consideration. Firstly, the convergent validity was measured through the factor loadings and average variance extracted (AVE) (Bagozzi & Heatherton, 1994). The results showed that the loading of each item exceeded 0.70 (Hair et al., 2006). Strong support has been provided for the constructs’ convergent validity, as the bootstrapping critical ratios of all the indicators were statistically significant at p < .05, and all average variance extracted (AVEs) were more than 0.50 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The findings are presented in Table I. The discriminant validity was checked through three different approaches (Hair et al., 2013; Henseler et al., 2015). To assess the discriminant validity of our analysis, we first used the recently created heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) (Henseler et al., 2015). The results showed that none of the constructs indicated discriminant validity issues for inter-construct correlations. Secondly, the cross-loadings of the indicators were examined (Hair et al., 2011). The results showed that all the indicators have higher cross-loading on their construct than on others (Hair et al., 2013). Thirdly, we compared the square root of constructs’ AVE with the inter-construct correlations. As the square root of constructs’ AVE was more than the inter-construct correlations in all cases, it provides strong support for the discriminant validity (Chin, 1998; Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The findings are presented in Table 2. Internal consistency and indication reliability were used to evaluate the construct reliability (Hair et al., 2013). DillonGoldstein’s (or Joreskog’s) rho, which disclaims the idea that each manifest variable contributes equally to the latent variable, was used to evaluate internal consistency (Chin, 1998). This estimation is often interpreted in a manner similar to Cronbach’s alpha. For reliability, all factors reached the acceptable threshold of 0.70 or higher (Hair et al., 2006), as shown in Table 1. Table 3 shows the constructs’ reliability and validity. The evaluation of the outer model with these tests showed the validity and reliability of the measurement scales for assessing the proposed model. 4.2 Inner model The coefficient of determination R2, bootstrap critical ratios, f2 effect size, path coefficients between exogenous (independent) and endogenous (dependent) variables, and predictive relevance Q2 were examined to assess the proposed inner model (Hair et al., 2013). The findings are presented in Table 4. First, we assessed the significance of the anticipated correlations among the constructs. A onetailed test is advised if the relationship between variables is directional when assessing associations in PLS-PM (Kock, 2015); therefore, we used a one-tailed test for analysis and calculated the t-values and p-values on the basis of bootstrapping. The analysis result indicated that 8 paths were supported in the model at α = 0.05 where attitude (β = 0.29, t 42 Shahzar Ali Khan, Verda Khan & Mohd Asif Khan = 5.72, p = 0.000), escape (β = 0.24, t = 4.33, p = 0.000), perceived behavioural control (β = 0.10, t = 2.07, p = 0.020), personal development (β = 0.17, t = 3.16, p = 0.001), and subjective norm (β = 0.31, t = 6.16, p = 0.000) significantly predicted behavioural intentions, resulting in the acceptance of H1, H2, H3, H6, and H10. In addition, altruism (β = 0.28, t = 4.46, p = 0.000), escape (β = 0.25, t = 4.24, p = 0.000), and personal development (β = 0.16, t = 2.09, p = 0.019) are significantly related to attitude, resulting in the acceptance of H5, H7, and H11. Table 1: Results of outer model Note: Results were based on bootstrapping with 272 samples Table 2: Fornell-Larcker criterion-based discriminant validity analysis Note: The square root of the variance shared by the constructs and their measurements is shown by the bolded diagonal elements. The correlations between the structures make up the off-diagonal elements. R2 is the most crucial criterion for evaluating the goodness of a model (Ringle et al., 2010). According to Cohen (1988), the R2 value of the endogenous variable should be greater than 0.26 for the good predictive power of the model. The R2 value is 0.308 for attitude and 0.661 for behavioural intention. The R2 value is shown in Figure 3. Cohen (1988) recommended f2 effect sizes of 0.02 as small, 0.15 as a medium, and 0.35 as large effects. The results indicated that the effect sizes of all significant exogenous (independent) variables range from small to large, as shown in Table IV. Lastly, we calculated Stone-Geisser’s Q2 value for crossvalidated predictive relevance (Geisser, 1974; Stone, 1974). The Q2 value greater than zero means that the paired relationship between the exogenous and endogenous constructs has a predictive relevance (Hair et al., 2013). The analysis result showed that the Q2 value for attitude and behavioural intention were 0.196 and 0.519, respectively. Overall, the findings validated the proposed model’s structural soundness. PLS-SEM structural model analysis is shown in Figure 2. The results of the hypotheses testing are presented in Figure 3. Table 3: Constructs reliability and validity 5 DISCUSSION 5.1 Summary of the findings This study is a male-dominated study which is different from other studies (Holmes & Smith, 2009; Wearing, 2001), stating that females are more involved in volunteer tourism. However, the result of this survey is similar to the study of (Pompurová et al., 2020), which shows that males mostly attend domestic volunteer tourism. The survey shows that young people within the age group of 21-30 have more participation intention, and as the age increases, the intention to participate in volunteer programs decreases. The same is with the education level, most of the respondents were undergraduates, and as the qualification increases, the intention to participate in volunteer tourism programs decreases. The current study has identified the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists by expanding the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). In our proposed model, eight hypotheses were supported. All three components of TPB were found to have a significant positive relationship with behavioural intention. Regarding attitude, the finding was similar to the prior tourism research examining the association between attitude and behavioural intention (Brown, 1999; Lam & Hsu, 2004, 2006; Lee & Moscardo, 2005). This study also supports the findings of volunteer tourism research that found that behavioural intention is directly influenced by attitude (Lee & Kim, 2018; Meng et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020). BEHAVIOURAL INTENTION OF TOURISTS TOWARDS VOLUNTEER TOURISM 43 Table 4: Results of inner model Note: Results were based on bootstrapping, all estimates were based on a one-tailed test with 95% confidence interval. N.A = f2 values were not provided for indirect effects. Concerning the relationship between subjective norm and behavioural intention, the finding supported the previous tourism research that found that subjective norm positively impacts the behavioural intention of tourists (Lam & Hsu, 2006; Oh & Hsu, 2001). Similarly, research on volunteer tourism has indicated that subjective norm has a significant positive impact on the behavioural intention of volunteer tourists (Lee & Kim, 2018; Manosuthi et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020). It is believed that volunteer tourists’ participation decision in volunteer tourism programs is influenced by their close family members, friends, and colleagues. Figure 2: PLS-SEM bootstrapping Similarly, the volunteer tourism research also supported the finding that a positive relationship exists between perceived behavioural control and behavioural intention (Manosuthi et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020). So, the likelihood of someone behaving in a certain way is also increased by how strongly they feel they can carry out that activity. Regarding the motivations, the influence of altruism motive on volunteer tourists’ participation intention was found to be statistically non-significant. This finding contradicts previous studies' findings, which state that domestic volunteers have altruistic motives (Pompurová et al., 2020; Rattan et al., 2012). The reason could be that respondents were from a country where most people prefer to help and support those in the local community. The same reason could be given for the non-significant relationship between travel motive and behavioural intention to participate in volunteer tourism programs. On the other hand, personal development significantly impacted volunteer tourists’ participation intention. In this way, our findings supported the dichotomy between altruism and self-development, as found in earlier studies (Broad, 2003; Callanan & Thomas, 2005). Escape was also found to be a significant motivating factor for potential volunteer tourists to take part in volunteer tourism programs, as found in previous research (Knollenberg et al., 2014). 5.2 theoretical implications Our proposed conceptual model has provided a thorough understanding of the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists from a developing country. Although previous research has applied the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (Lee & Kim, 2018; Manosuthi et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020), our study has identified how these three components of TPB, viz. attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, affect potential volunteer tourists’ behavioural intention for participating in volunteer tourism programs. Figure 3: Results of the inner model Significant path is represented by solid lines, non-significant path is represented by dotted lines. Moreover, this study extends Ajzen's (1991) TPB model to identify the potential volunteer tourists’ behavioural intentions by adding four motivations: altruism, personal development, escape, and travel. Even though past research (Benson & Seibert, 2009; Brown, 2005; Chen & Chen, 2011; Han et al., 2019, 2020; Knollenberg et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2013; Leonard & Onyx, 2009; Lo & Lee, 2011; Meng et al., 2020; Proyrungroj, 2020; Wymer et al., 2010) has identified the factors motivating volunteer tourist, but as far as the 44 Shahzar Ali Khan, Verda Khan & Mohd Asif Khan authors are aware, none of the earlier studies has extended the TPB by adding altruism, personal development, escape, and travel to identify the participating intention of potential volunteer tourists from a developing country. Furthermore, this study is the first to empirically verified the relationship between motivations (altruism, personal development, escape, and travel) and the attitude of potential volunteer tourists. Although the connection between attitudes and behavioural intentions is well established (Ajzen, 1991), our results showed that attitude mediated the effects of various motivating factors on behavioural intention: altruism, personal development, escape, and travel. In particular, altruism had no direct impact on behavioural intention but is still indirectly related to behavioural intention, as shown in Table IV. As a result, the present study adds to the behavioural research in the area of volunteer tourism by identifying the factors motivating potential volunteer tourists. 5.3 Practical implications The findings indicated that subjective norm was the most influential factor, followed by attitude. However, the perceived behavioural control had a significant but minor impact on the intention to take part in the volunteer tourism programs. So, volunteer tourism organisers should make efforts to identify potential tourists who already have positive attitudes toward volunteering. As social pressure groups also play a significant role in shaping volunteer tourists’ intentions, practitioners should try to persuade them to participate in volunteer tourism programs via subjective norms. The volunteer tourism organisers must have a better understanding of different factors motivating potential volunteer tourists; our study has provided them with some knowledge regarding various motivating factors. Among four motivational factors, only two motivations, escape and personal development, significantly impacted the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists. So, volunteer tourism organisers should make packages in such a way that would allow volunteer tourists to relax and escape from their daily routine and would also give them opportunities for personal development like career development opportunities, skills development opportunities, and language learning opportunities. In this way, volunteer tourism organisers will get help from the present study’s findings to design or improve volunteer tourism programs and activities accordingly, resulting in improved volunteer tourism experiences and, ultimately, impacting the tourists’ intention to take part in volunteer tourism programs. Making locals participate in their programs as volunteers increase awareness among the local people, which may impact those directly involved in policymaking (Rattan et al., 2012). International volunteers have shown several negative impacts on the host community (Guttentag, 2009; Lo & Lee, 2011); as a result, some researchers (Guttentag, 2009; Lo & Lee, 2011; Mertens, 2022) have explained the benefits of developing domestic volunteer tourism. So it would be beneficial for the countries to know the behavioural intention of potential volunteer tourists towards volunteer tourism programs within the country to improve and stimulate volunteer tourism more sustainably. As can be seen from the study’s findings, Indian citizens have a positive attitude towards participation in volunteer tourism programs in the country, and most of the respondents were from the age group of 21-30 years, which shows the interest of Indian youth in volunteer tourism. Even though there can be a difference between what people say and do, it can be said that there is still room for the development of domestic volunteer tourism in India. So, policymakers and tourism planners in India should take the necessary steps to promote domestic volunteer tourism to encourage people of all ages to participate in volunteer tourism programs. Government play an essential role in setting the stage and enacting stimulus measures to make tourism more developed and sustainable, with the ultimate goal of local’s empowerment. The government of India should organise events related to volunteer tourism programs to create more awareness by providing information related to the benefits of domestic volunteer tourism for the host community and the volunteers. Such events will not only raise awareness but will also help in preserving the host community’s unique culture and heritage and will also promote sustainable development. Educational volunteer programs should be encouraged as such programs have long-term impacts on the host community, eventually enabling the local population to escape poverty (Sin, 2010). It can also be made compulsory for educational institutes to organise programs to educate and train students on how to be responsible volunteers. It is far more effective to teach local youngsters since they will be the ones to implement changes on the ground and in the political and social spheres that will last for a long time (Mertens, 2022). 5.4 Limitations and future research The study has focused on potential volunteer tourists from India. Therefore, findings cannot be generalised to an overall population. Future research may focus on volunteer tourists in general. Secondly, as mentioned in the methodology section, this study used an online survey. The use of online surveys may not be the most effective method for reaching the general public, who may be interested in participating but cannot use the internet. So future research can use other techniques for data collection. Thirdly, the impact of demographic factors was not considered. Future research should also examine the differences across demographic characteristics. Fourth, the present study has considered only four motivations: altruism, personal development, escape, and travel. Some other motivations like exploration, education, and relaxation may also be considered for future research. REFERENCES Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T Andereck, K., McGehee, N. G., Lee, S., & Clemmons, D. (2012). Experience Expectations of Prospective Volunteer Tourists. Journal of Travel Research, 51(2), 130–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287511400610 Bagozzi, R. P., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). A general approach to representing multifaceted personality constructs: Application to state self‐esteem. Structural Equation Modeling: A