La interpretación ambiental gamificada como estrategia para mejorar el capital de marca de un destino turístico y el comportamiento proambiental de los turistas.El papel moderador de la distancia psicológica

Abstract

Tourism has been characterized in the literature as a sector in continuous growth (UNWTO, 2020), giving rise to economic and social benefits for tourist destinations (Blancas et al., 2010) but, at the same time, causing multiple detrimental effects for their environment (Juvan & Dolnicar, 2017). This reality, together with society’s evolving environmental awareness and the policies of different countries that are increasingly oriented toward the urgent need to protect the environment (Becken et al., 2020), has led destinations to seek solutions that reconcile tourism activity and environmental conservation—an approach that, in the long term, serves to protect and guarantee that tourism activity (Blancas et al., 2015). Against this backdrop, environmental interpretation is one educational tool frequently employed by public institutions and professionals in the sector to deliver messages about environmental sustainability, as it contributes to improving proenvironmental attitudes and behaviours (Ballantyne et al., 2018; Coghlan & Kim, 2012) while also being a satisfying and fun experience for participants (Kuo et al., 2016; Powell & Ham, 2008). The effect of environmental interpretation can be improved by incorporating gamification, according to studies suggesting that gamification can be effective in promoting pro-environmental behaviour (Ouariachi et al., 2020) and that it can directly enhance the tourist experience (Xu et al., 2017). In addition, it has been found that certain characteristics of the tourist-participants themselves have an important influence on the outcomes of environmental interpretation experiences (Powell et al., 2009). On that premise, and given the international nature of the tourism market, it is relevant to study the effects of tourists’ psychological distance (relative to the destination) on such experiences. The primary aim of this thesis is therefore to examine the effectiveness of gamified environmental interpretation delivered via information and communication technologies (ICTs), as a strategy for achieving the environmental sustainability of tourist destinations and contributing to their competitiveness. A scale is developed and validated that includes the experience of participation in a gamification (a gameful experience) applied to environmental interpretation. Once the gameful experience scale is validated, as a consequence of participation in a gamified environmental interpretation, the effects on key variables of consumer behaviour (destination perceived value, destination brand equity, and tourist proenvironmental behaviour) are verified, taking into account one of the characteristics of tourists: psychological distance of the destination. Due to the structure of the thesis-by-publication, the fulfilment of the proposed objectives, the results, and the contributions made in this research can be found in three articles published in high-impact scientific journals, along with a fourth article that is currently under review with another high-impact journal, as indicated below: Artícle 1: “Influence of gamification on perceived self-efficacy: Gender and age moderator effect” published in International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. Artícle 2: “Gamified environmental interpretation as a strategy for improving destination perceived value”, currently under review with Tourism & Management Studies. Artícle 3: “The use of gamification in environmental interpretation and its effect on customer-based destination brand equity: The moderating role of psychological distance” published in Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. Artícle 4: “Gamified environmental interpretation as a strategy for improving tourist behaviour in support of sustainable tourism: The moderating role of psychological distance” published in Tourism Management.