Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

The satisfaction–place attachment relationship: Potential mediators

and moderators
Haywantee Ramkissoon a,c,⁎, Felix T. Mavondo b,1
a
School of Marketing, Curtin Business School, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
b
Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business & Economics, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
c
Behaviorworks Australia, Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University, 8 Scenic Boulevard, VIC 3800, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Researchers use place satisfaction as a dependent variable extensively since place has implications for a range of
Received 16 May 2014 performance measures. This study reverses the relationships suggesting place satisfaction as a useful antecedent
Received in revised form 6 May 2015 to place attachment. Place satisfaction, measured as visitors' summative evaluation of their experience is likely to
Accepted 6 May 2015
be more positively associated with place dependence, identity, affect, and social bonding. The findings of this
Available online 23 May 2015
study support this contention and establish that one of the principal mechanisms linking place satisfaction to
Keywords:
place attachment is pro-environmental behavioral intention (PEB). The study further finds that gender moder-
Satisfaction ates the relationship between PEB and place attachment. The conditional indirect effect of place satisfaction on
Pro-environmental behavior place attachment is significant only for male visitors. The article closes with implications of the study for aca-
Place attachment demics and practitioners.
Moderated mediation © 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc.

1. Introduction moderators influence the strength and direction of relationships

Research on satisfaction exhibits different conceptualizations with
some using satisfaction as the dependent variable (Hosany & Prayag,
2013; Song, van der Veen, Li, & Chen, 2012; Williams & Soutar, 2009;
Yeh, 2013) while others view satisfaction as an antecedent (Mittal &
Kamakura, 2001; Tudoran, Olsen, & Dopico, 2012). The two uses lead
to potentially contradictory findings. In either conceptualization there
are also inconsistent findings (Prayag & Ryan, 2012; Ramkissoon,
Smith, & Weiler, 2013a). Several reasons occur for these inconsistent
findings of which the following may be important. First, those using sat-
isfaction as a dependent variable assume it is related to such outcomes
as business performance. This may be a stretch given the differences
in the unit of analysis. Second, only a limited number of studies have
specifically suggested the mechanisms that link place attachment and
satisfaction and vice versa (Ramkissoon, Smith, & Weiler, 2013b;
Veasna, Wu, & Huang, 2013). Studies that explain the possible existence
of mediators and moderators in these relationships have additional
limitations. The investigation of mediators moves studies beyond
the idea of direct relationships, allowing a more accurate description
of the relationship between predictors and outcome variables (Nunkoo,
Ramkissoon, & Gursoy, 2013; Wu & Zumbo, 2008). While mediators
explain the mechanism that links predictors to dependent variables,
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 449534097.
E-mail addresses: Haywantee.Ramkissoon@curtin.edu.au,
Haywantee.Ramkissoon@monash.edu (H. Ramkissoon), Felix.Mavondo@monash.edu
(F.T. Mavondo).
1
Tel.: +61 399059249.
(Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes, 2007). Developing and testing a moder-
ated mediation model will allow the refining of the theoretical relation-
ships among the constructs and hence contribute to further theory
development.
Visitor satisfaction is a concept widely studied in nature-based tour-
ism. It has an assumed impact on visitor behavior depending on the
strength with which they are satisfied with the (tourism) product
(Tudoran et al., 2012). Given that satisfying experiences predict future
intention (Lee, Kyle, & Scott, 2012; Oliver, 2010), it is important to
understand the extent to which visitor satisfaction contributes to emo-
tional ties with natural settings (e.g., national parks) to encourage
future visitations. These emotional ties are commonly referred to as
place attachment in the environmental psychology and tourism litera-
ture (Lai, Hsu, & Nepal, 2013; Mowatt & Chancellor, 2011; Rackić &
Chambers, 2012). Rooted in developmental psychology, the attachment
theory (Bowlby, 1969) provides a framework for investigating place at-
tachment in nature-based settings. The attachment theory has expand-
ed over the last 30 years to include other social ties (Wiles, Allen,
Palmer, Hayman, Keeling, & Kerse, 2009) binding individuals to specific
settings along with their place-related actions (Low & Altman, 1992).
Recent studies have called for further clarifications of the inconclusive
findings on the association between place satisfaction and place attach-
ment in nature-based settings (Lee et al., 2012; Prayag & Ryan, 2012).
This study seeks to close these gaps and make the following contri-
butions: first, the study seeks to establish the relationship between
place satisfaction and place attachment by measuring the variables on
the same unit of analysis (the individual visitor). This keeps the findings
consistent. Second, in this study we propose that pro-environmental

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.05.002
0148-2963/© 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc.
2594 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602
behavioral intention is one of the key mediators in the relationship be-
tween place satisfaction and place attachment. This provides an expla-
nation as to how and why place satisfaction and place attachment are
linked. Finally, the study provides boundary conditions for the relation-
ships by examining gender as a moderator. This conceptualization should
lead to further theorizing by emphasizing simultaneously mediation and
moderation and providing a deeper lens to examine the relationship
embedded in our model.
2. Literature review
2.1. Place satisfaction
From a marketing perspective, satisfaction is a critical element in
measuring customer experience with a product (Tudoran et al., 2012;
Tzokas, Hultink, & Hart, 2004). In the consumer behavior literature,
the satisfaction construct is defined as the consumer's response to
attitudes including judgments following a purchase or a series of
consumer–product interactions (Lovelock & Wirthz, 2007). Due to its
known effect in predicting customer behavior (but not emotions), satis-
faction has been associated with many desirable characteristics in tour-
ism marketing research (Wang & Davidson, 2010). These desirable
outcomes include revisit intention, superior business performance, pos-
itive word-of-mouth recommendation, and willingness to stay longer at
the tourist destination (Lam & Ozorio, 2012; Nam, Yuksel, & Whyatt,
2011; Theodorakis, Alexandris, Tsigilis, & Karvounis, 2013; Zboja &
Vourhees, 2006).
In the tourism literature, Ramkissoon, Weiler, and Smith (2012)
define place satisfaction as the perceived quality of a setting, meeting
the visitor's needs for the physical attributes and services. Tourism
scholars have attempted to identify place attachment as an antecedent
of place satisfaction in natural settings (e.g., Hwang, Lee, & Chen,
2005; Ramkissoon et al., 2013a). Individuals who are more place at-
tached to a natural setting, are more likely to experience satisfaction
with the place (Prayag & Ryan, 2012; Ramkissoon et al., 2013b). Place
satisfaction and place attachment are perceived as central to the success
of nature-based attractions in today's competitive market (Tonge,
Moore, & Taplin, 2011). Yet, few studies have examined the association
between these two constructs as proposed in this study with findings
being far from conclusive. Some researchers report a positive relation-
ship between place attachment and satisfaction (Ramkissoon et al.,
2013a,2013b; Yuksel, Yuksel, & Bilim, 2010). However, ambiguities
exist as to whether place satisfaction is an antecedent of place attachment
or vice versa (Prayag & Ryan, 2012; Stedman, 2002). In Ramkissoon et al.
(2013a) study, four dimensions of place attachment (dependence, iden-
tity, affect, social bonding) had a significant positive influence on visi-
tors' level of place satisfaction with a national park in Australia. Place
dependence and identity were important antecedents of place satisfac-
tion in Taiwan's national parks (Hwang et al., 2005). Further, Yuksel
et al. (2010) suggest that place attachment is an antecedent of visitor
satisfaction. Likewise, Veasna et al. (2013) suggest that destination
attachment is an antecedent of destination satisfaction.
Others argue that attachment with a place is predicted by past visi-
tation (George & George, 2004) and overall level of satisfaction with
the setting (e.g., Petrick, Backman, & Bixler, 1999). This assumes that
the visitor is making a repeat visit or has received positive word-of-
mouth recommendation (Nikolova & Hassan, 2013). Lee et al. (2012)
observed that festival satisfaction had a direct positive effect on festival
attendees' place dependence and identity/social bonding. However, the
mechanism that links satisfaction with place attachment is missing in
their study. Some researchers argue that satisfaction with one's neigh-
borhood is closely related to an individual's place identity (Stedman,
2002). In examining the relationship in a national park context,
Halpenny (2006) concluded that an individual's level of satisfaction
with the settings had a positive effect on overall place attachment. Like-
wise, George and George (2004) argue that satisfactory tourist
experiences led to higher levels of place attachment. Yet, other re-
searchers (e.g., Lee & Allen, 1999; Mesch & Manor, 1998) found no sig-
nificant relationship between place attachment and place satisfaction.
Lee and Allen (1999) observed that visitor satisfaction was not direct-
ly related to attachment to coastal destinations in South Carolina, in
the United States. This suggests there may be mediators that were
omitted in prior studies. We propose one of these missing links is
pro-environmental behavior.
2.2. Place attachment
A plethora of terms describing the relationship between people and
spatial settings exists in the literature across sub-disciplines in the
humanities such as place marketing, geography and environmental
psychology. The continuing debate on the conceptualization and
operationalization of the term has been challenging for leisure and tour-
ism researchers to assimilate the multiple place attachment terms used
in literature (Ramkissoon et al., 2012; Tussyadiah & Zach, 2012). Place
attachment reflects the intensity of the human-place bond through an
understanding of dimensions of dependence, identity, affect and social
bonding (Ramkissoon et al., 2013b; Wynween, Kyle, & Sutton, 2012).
While place attachment is most commonly conceptualized as place
dependence (Williams, Patterson, Roggenbuck, & Watson, 1992) and
place identity (Prohansky, 1978), at least two additional dimensions,
place affect (Halpenny, 2010; Wynween et al., 2012) and place social
bonding (Hidalgo & Hernández, 2001; Kyle, Graefe, & Manning, 2005)
are also being used to operationalize the term. Applying these dimen-
sions in a national park context, Ramkissoon et al. (2013a) identify the
relevance of these additional dimensions of place attachment in
predicting visitors' pro-environmental behavior and place satisfaction.
Place dependence depicts how well a setting's resources facilitate
users' enjoyment of activities (Lopez-Mosquera & Sanchez, 2011; Lee
et al., 2012) in meeting their functional goals (Lai et al., 2013; Moore
& Graefe, 1994) or serve instrumental values (George & George,
2004). Some contradictions in literature exist as to whether place
dependence is an antecedent of place satisfaction or vice versa. George
and George (2004) and Lee and Allen (1999) remarked that place
dependence was predicted by satisfactory experiences of visitors.
Place dependence was not a significant predictor of visitor satisfaction
in other studies (e.g., Kyle, Graefe, & Manning, 2010; Yuksel et al.,
2010). There remains a paucity of research exploring the associations
between place satisfaction and place dependence.
Place identity refers to the cognitive connection (Wynween et al.,
2012) depicting the symbolic link between a person and a place
(Williams & Vaske, 2003). Place identity emerges through an accu-
mulation of experience with a place (Budruk, Thomas, & Tyrrell,
2009; Cheng, Wu, & Huang, 2012). The physical and social attributes
at natural attractions may give rise to a strong sense of place identity
(Gu & Ryan, 2008) involving not only localized experiences but also
specific memories about how others feel about the place (Therkelsen,
Halkier, & Jensen, 2010). In considering the associations between
place identity and satisfaction, some researchers (e.g., Hwang et al.,
2005; Kyle et al., 2010; Yuksel et al., 2010) established a significant
and positive influence of the former on the latter. On the other hand,
research also suggests that the greater the satisfaction, the stronger
the place identity (Lalli, 1992; Uzzell, Pol, & Badenas, 2002). This sug-
gests that there is a need for more clarifications of the direction of the
association between satisfaction and place attachment.
Other researchers have explored the affective dimension of place
attachment (Ramkissoon et al., 2013b; Tonge, Valesini, Moore, Beckley,
& Ryan, 2013). This emotive dimension of place attachment, conceptu-
alized as place affect allows individuals to build their sentiments
about a place and giving meaning to it (Tuan, 1977). Strong emotional
attachment to a product leads to higher levels of satisfaction (Esch,
Langner, Smitt, & Geus, 2006; Hosany, Ekinci, & Uysal, 2006). Place
affect gains special meanings in natural settings generating a sense of
 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602
psychological well-being (Korpela, Ylen, Tyrvainen, & Silvennoinen,
2008), hence enhancing levels of satisfaction (De Rojas & Camarero,
2008). Repeat visitations may suggest high levels of satisfaction with
the national park. High satisfaction could increase positive emotions
among visitors and lead to high levels of place affect.
Place social bonding is the other dimension of place attachment
focusing on people's experiences derived from social interactions at a
particular place (Scannell & Gifford, 2010). Social bonds are also
drawn from the “informal social control” as an explanation of persis-
tence and change (Sampson & Laub, 1993). Some researchers note
that positive bonds connecting humans can be stronger than attach-
ments with the physical attributes of a place (Hidalgo & Hernández,
2001). Place social bonding was found to be a significant predictor of
place satisfaction (Hendrickson et al., 2011; Ramkissoon et al., 2013a)
in nature-based settings. Surprisingly, little empirical work has been
conducted on the reverse i.e. the effect of place satisfaction on place
social bonding.
2.3. Mediating role of pro-environmental behavioral intention
Research on the mediating effect of pro-environmental behavior
on the relationship between place satisfaction and place attachment
is still in its infancy in both the environmental psychology and tour-
ism literature. Some scholars have recognized the associations
between place attachment, pro-environmental behavior and place sat-
isfaction (e.g., Halpenny, 2010; Ramkissoon et al., 2013a; Vaske &
Kobrin, 2001). The findings of these studies suggest that place
dependence (e.g. Prayag & Ryan, 2012; Veasna et al., 2013) and
pro-environmental behavior (Vaske & Kobrin, 2001) are anteced-
ents of place satisfaction. The mediation concepts hypothesize that
visitors' pro-environmental behavioral intention may be one of
the important mechanisms linking visitor satisfaction with levels
of place attachment (dependence, identity, affect, social bonding).
It is argued that visitors who tend to be more environmentally
responsible would engage in park-specific pro-environmental behav-
iors. Thus, the impact of visitors' place satisfaction levels on place
dependence would be enhanced by pro-environmental behavioral
intention.
Theoretically the link between place identity and pro-environmental
behavior builds on the notion that exposure to physical and symbolic
attributes of natural settings often generates a sense of identity to the
place, which could lead to positive environmental behaviors (Hinds &
Sparks, 2008; Walker & Ryan, 2008). Place identity has also been seen
to be significantly associated with customer satisfaction (Yuksel et al.,
2010). Engaging in behaviors to protect the park's unique and distinc-
tive features may be one of the mechanisms linking visitors' levels of
satisfaction with their sense of identity with the park.
A body of research in national park settings shows that individuals
with high levels of place affect and place satisfaction may be willing to
participate in actions to protect a park's resources (Halpenny, 2010;
Ramkissoon et al., 2013b). Thus, customer satisfaction together with
pro-environmental behavior may arouse positive emotions giving spe-
cial meanings to the national park, and bringing a sense of psychological
well-being to visitors (Hartmann & Apaolaza Ibánez, 2012; Hinds &
Sparks, 2008; Korpela et al., 2008).
Natural environments set the context for social relationships
(Raymond, Brown, & Robinson, 2011) where individuals tend to con-
form to others sharing values, beliefs, and behaviors of the social groups
they belong to (Christensen, Rothgerber, Wood, & Matz, 2004; Nye &
Hargreaves, 2009; Oluyinka, 2011). This conformity often allows mean-
ings of pro-environmental behaviors to be constructed in outdoor
recreation settings (Hammitt, 2000) and shows up as commitment
to work collectively to protect the environment (Husted, Russo,
Meza, & Tilleman, 2014; Saegert, 1989). Working collectively sug-
gests visitors who are environmentally conscious engage in stronger
pro-environmental behaviors (Cho, Thyroff, Rapert, Park, & Lee, 2013).
2595
Such visitors exhibit higher levels of place satisfaction and may engage
into conscious efforts to safeguard the park's resources. This may in turn
lead to higher levels of place social bonding in the park. Testing the
mediating effect of pro-environmental behavioral intention (Oreg &
Katz-Gerro, 2006) on the relationship between visitors' place satisfaction
and their social bonds with the national park attempts to fill an im-
portant gap in literature. Based on the above review, the following
three relations are hypothesized.
H1. Visitors' place satisfaction is positively related to their pro-
environmental behavioral intention.
H2. Visitors' pro-environmental behavioral intention is positively asso-
ciated with (a) place dependence (b) place identity (c) place affect and
(d) place social bonding.
H3. Visitors' pro-environmental behavioral intention mediates the
relationship between place satisfaction and (a) place dependence
(b) place identity (c) place affect and (d) place social bonding.
2.4. Gender and pro-environmental behavioral intention
Gender may moderate the relationship between place satisfaction
and place attachment (place dependence, identity, affect and social
bonding). Gender may play an important role in place attachment
(Hidalgo & Hernández, 2001; Rollero & De Picolli, 2010). Regarding gen-
der differences in spatial settings, males are seen to have greater depen-
dence on landmarks than females (Lin et al., 2012). Some evidence
supports a relationship between gender and place identity. While
gender had no effect on residents' local identity, interestingly men
were found to have higher levels of national identity than women
(Bonaiuto, Breakwell, & Cano, 1996). Gender was also a significant pre-
dictor of place identity (Cuba & Hummon, 1993) in a study conducted
in three small towns in the United States.
Females exhibit stronger affective ties to places (Hidalgo & Hernández,
2001; Mesch & Manor, 1998). Tartaglia (2006) further notes that social
ties are stronger among women than men, which may be attributed
to their social role in the household (e.g., childcare, taking care of the
family). A similar finding is shared by Pretty, Chipuer, and Bramston
(2003) suggesting that social engagement was higher among women
than men. The role of gender demands further investigation (Nunkoo
& Gursoy, 2012; Ramkissoon & Nunkoo, 2012) in place attachment
and pro-environmental behavior research. We propose to test the fol-
lowing hypotheses.
H4. Gender moderates the relationship between visitors' pro-
environmental behavioral intention and (a) place dependence,
(b) place identity, (c) place affect, and (d) place social bonding.
H5. Gender moderates the positive and indirect relationships between
visitors' place satisfaction and (a) place dependence, (b) place identity,
(c) place affect, and (d) place social bonding. Specifically, visitors' pro-
environmental behavioral intention moderates these relationships for
male visitors but not for female visitors.
3. Method
3.1. Study location and sample
The sample of this study was drawn from data collected from 339
repeat visitors to the Dandenong Ranges National Park (DRNP), situated
in the state of Victoria, in Australia, located about 35 km east of the cen-
ter of Melbourne city. DRNP attracts over one million visitors annually
due to its free entrance, recreational facilities (e.g., bushwalking;
cycling; picnicking; photography) and its easy accessibility (Parks
Victoria, 2010). Increased visitation has put severe pressure on
2596 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602

Table 1
Psychometric properties of the variables.

Constructs and scale items Factor Composite Sq root average variance

loadings reliability extracted

Place dependence 0.79 0.81

PD1 For what I like to do, I could not imagine anything better than the settings and facilities provided by this national park 0.78
PD2 For the activities I enjoy the most, the settings and facilities provided by this national park are the best 0.83

Place identity 0.86 0.82

PI1 I identify strongly with this park 0.89
PI2 I feel this national park is part of me 0.83
PI3 Visiting this national park says a lot about who I am 0.75

Place affect 0.90 0.86

PA1 I am very attached to this park 0.88
PA2 I feel a strong sense of belonging to this national park and its settings/facilities 0.85
PA3 This national park means a lot to me 0.85

Place social bonding 0.77 0.63

PSB1 If I were to stop visiting this park, I would lose contact with a number of friends 0.64
PSB2 My friends/family would be disappointed if I were to start visiting other settings and facilities 0.55

Place satisfaction 0.83 0.79

SAT1 I believe I did the right thing when I chose to visit this national park 0.68
SAT2 Overall, I am satisfied with my decision to visit this national park 0.84
SAT3 I am happy about my decision to visit this national park 0.83

Pro-environmental behavioral intention 0.73 0.64

PEB1 Pay increased park fees if they were introduced for this national park's programs 0.50
PEB2 Sign petitions in support of this national park 0.72
PEB3 Learn about this national park's natural environment 0.66

resources, requiring Parks Victoria, the managing authority, to find
ways to manage visitor impacts and protect the park's resources.
Parks Victoria has introduced a number of volunteering opportunities
to assist in the protection of DRNP's rich flora and fauna. The fieldwork
was conducted in the months of June to September 2011 at four high
use sites, identified by Parks Victoria within the national park. They
were namely the Grants Picnic Ground, Ferntree Gully Picnic Ground,
Thousand Steps, and a children's playground. Visitors were surveyed
with a self-administered questionnaire in peak and off-peak times dur-
ing weekdays, weekends and school holidays. Visitors were approached
during their visit increasing the chances of participation as opposed to
exit points, where they were often in a hurry to leave. The majority of
respondents were between 25–34 years old (around 29%). They repre-
sented more females (54%) than males (46%). The vast majority of the
sample was from Australia (98.5%). Participants represented different
education levels with the majority having completed university studies
(70%) followed by secondary education (24.5%).
4. Data analyses
AMOS (V.20) structural equation modeling software was utilized to
determine the overall fit of the measurement and structural models
using the Maximum Likelihood Method of estimation (Anderson &
Gerbing, 1988). The chi-square was used as the first fit index. How-
ever, due to its sensitivity to sample size (Byrne, 2010) other fit indi-
ces were included in the study. Values for goodness-of-fit (GFI),
adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), comparative fit index (CFI),
and Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) range from 0 to 1, with values closer
to 1.00 indicating a good model fit (Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson,
2010; Mulaik, James, Alstine, Bennett, Lind, & Stilwell, 1989). The
factor loadings, composite reliability and average variance extracted
of the measurement model appear in Table 1. As shown in Table 1,
the composite reliabilities were higher than the acceptable value of
.70 (Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2012). The correlation matrix (with
square roots of average variance extracted) appears in Table 2. The
square roots of average variance extracted (AVE) were higher than

3.2. Measures

Table 2
Place satisfaction was measured using three items borrowed from
Correlation and square root of AVE, internal consistency.
Yuksel et al. (2010) measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly
disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The internal consistency estimate for Place Place Place Place Visitor PEB
dependence identity affect social satisfaction
place satisfaction was .83. Place attachment was captured through the
bonding
instrument developed from Kyle, Graefe, Manning, and Bacon (2004)
and Yuksel et al. (2010). Ten items were used to assess four dimensions Place dependence .81a
Place identity .48⁎⁎ .82
of the place attachment construct: place dependence (two items), place
Place affect .44⁎⁎ .81⁎⁎ .86
identity (three items), place affect (three items) and place social bond- Place social .25⁎⁎ .38⁎⁎ .35⁎⁎ .63
ing (two items) measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly dis- bonding
agree, 5 = strongly agree). The internal consistency estimates were: Visitor satisfaction .39⁎⁎ .45⁎⁎ .48⁎⁎ .04 .79
PEB .26⁎⁎ .31⁎⁎ .35⁎⁎ .06 .31⁎⁎ .64
place dependence (.80), place identity (.86), place affect (.89), and
Composite .79 .86 .90 .77 .83 .73
place social bonding (.70). Pro-environmental behavioral intention Reliability
was captured using three items from Halpenny (2010) asking visitors
**p b 0.01 level (2-tailed).
about their park-specific pro-environmental intention. A sample item PEB = Pro-environmental behavioral intentions.
is “pay increased park fees if they were introduced for this national Off-diagonal entries are two-tail correlations.
park's programs”. The internal consistency estimate was .70. a
= Figures on the diagonal are the square root of AVE.
 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602 2597

Table 3
Results with mediated effects.

Hypothesis Direct effects Indirect effects Support/

no support

H1: Visitor satisfaction is positively related to PEB .556*** Supported

H2a — Visitor satisfaction–PEB–place dependence .267* Supported
H2b — Visitor satisfaction–PEB–place identity .947*** Supported
H2c — Visitor satisfaction–PEB–place affect .961*** Supported
H2d — Visitor satisfaction–PEB–place social bonding .590** Supported

Model fit: χ2 = 195.48; df = 94; CMin/df = 1.86; RMSEA = .05; GFI = .94, AGFI = .92; TLI = .96; CFI = .97. This model fits the data well. Place dependence and place social bonding show
partial mediation. The others show total mediation. All hypotheses for mediation are supported. ***p b 0.001 level (2-tailed); **p b 0.01 level (2-tailed); *p b 0.05 level (2-tailed).

the correlations among the corresponding latent variables (Fornell &
Larckner, 1981) providing evidence of discriminant validity.
To test the moderated mediation relationships suggested in
hypotheses H4 and H5, Preacher and Hayes (2008) bootstrapping
approach was used. It is noted that moderated mediation receives
scant attention in tourism research, so additional explanations are
provided. Bootstrapping is one of the most popular techniques to
gauge the extent and significance of indirect effects (Preacher et al.,
2007). Bootstrapping takes a large number of samples from the original
data, sampling with replacement and computes the standard error of
the indirect effect (ab) (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). The reason for
bootstrapping is to compute the best estimate of standard errors since
it is known that the interaction term (ab) does not follow a normal dis-
tribution. Bootstrapping is employed since it does not make any
assumptions about the distribution of the interaction term (Preacher
et al., 2007). Moderated mediation analysis involves formal significant
tests of the indirect relationship between the predictor variable and
the outcome variable as transmitted through the mediator, at different
values of the moderator (Menges, Walter, Vogel, & Bruch, 2011). In this
study, 5000 bootstrap samples were used to obtain estimates for the
conditional indirect relationships.
4.1. Steps in data analysis, results and discussion
4.1.1. Step 1
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test for model fit for both
the measurement and structural models. The estimates for the direct
and indirect effects were provided for the structural equation model
(Table 3) to address hypotheses concerning the relationship between
place satisfaction and pro-environmental behavioral intention (H1)
and the association between pro-environmental behavioral intention
and dimensions of place attachment (H2) and the mediated relation-
ships through pro-environmental behavioral intention between
place satisfaction and the dimensions of place attachment (H3).
The model showed acceptable fit to the data (Model fit: χ2 = 195.48;
df = 94; CMin/df = 1.86; RMSEA = .05; GFI = .94, AGFI = .92;
TLI = .96; CFI = .97). H1 which hypothesized that place satisfaction is
positively related to pro-environmental behavioral intention was sup-
ported (β = .556, t = 3.658; p b .001). This finding is consistent with
Jabarin and Damhoureyeh (2006) and Lopez-Mosquera and Sanchez
(2011). This implies that satisfied visitors are likely to engage in pro-
environmental behavior. H2 tests the effect of pro-environmental
behavioral intention on place dependence, place identity, place
affect and place social bonding. All the hypotheses are supported
(see Table 3). The findings indicate that visitors' pro-environmental
behavioral intention is a significant determinant of place dependence
(H2a) (β = .371, t = 3.235; p b .001); place identity (H2b) (β = .954,
t = 3.857; p b .001); place affect (H2c) (β = .951, t = 3.882; p b .001)
and place social bonding (H2d) (β = .591, t = 3.556; p b .001). The
relationships established using structural equation modeling repli-
cate closely in Table 4 by the results using regression analysis. This
provides a triangulation of the findings. The results in Table 4 take
into account the control variables age, gender and level of education
that were seen as potential antecedents to place attachment. Results
in Table 4 indicate that visitors' pro-environmental behavioral inten-
tion is positively associated with place dependence (p b .001); place
identity (p b .001) and place affect (p b .001). Findings indicate a
non-significant relationship between pro-environmental behavioral
intention and place social bonding. Overall these findings suggest
that visitors' pro-environmental behavioral intention has a strong
direct association with place attachment.
H3 assumes total mediation between place satisfaction and place
attachment (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Results indicate that H3a receives
partial support (p b .01). The relationship was not fully mediated by
pro-environmental behavioral intention since the direct relationship
remained significant (p b .001). This suggests pro-environmental
behavioral intention is not the only mediator of this relationship
(Zhao, Lynch, & Chen, 2010). Similarly the relationship between
place satisfaction and place social bonding shows partial mediation
supporting H3b (p b .01). Interestingly, the direct relationship was
negative and significant (β = − .354, t = − 4.873; p b .001). This
suggests that visitors' pro-environmental behavioral intention
leads to a positive indirect relationship between place satisfaction
and place social bonding in spite of the direct effect being negative.
This finding may help to reconcile inconsistent findings in prior stud-
ies (Halpenny, 2010; Ramkissoon et al., 2013a) by demonstrating the
critical role of pro-environmental behavior as one of the key mecha-
nisms linking place satisfaction to place social bonding. The results

Table 4
Moderated regression analyses on visitor satisfaction–place attachment.

Place dependence Place identity Place affect Place social bonding

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6 Model 7 Model 8

Constant 3.636*** 4.114*** 3.019*** 3.767*** 2.848*** 3.732*** 2.586*** 2.543***
Age .010 .011 .054 .054 .042 .043 .032 .032
Education −.158* −.161* −.195* −.201* −.111 −.118 −.081 −.085
PEB .144*** .143*** .211*** .209*** .238*** .235*** −.009 −.010
Gender −.100 −.099 −.064 −.062 .014 .015 −.059 −.056
PEB .144*** .143*** .211*** .209*** .238*** .235*** −.009 −.010
PEB ∗ gender .121 .278** .335*** .185
R2 .047 .052 .070 .091 .065 .092 .005 .015
R2 .005 .021 .027 .010
ΔF-ratio 1.886 ns 7.599** 9.875*** 3.285 ns

PEB = Pro-environmental behavioral intention. ***p b 0.001 level (2-tailed); **p b 0.01 level (2-tailed); *p b 0.05 level (2-tailed).
2598 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602

Gender

Place
Dependence

Visitor Pro-
Satisfaction environmental Place Identity
Behavioral
Intention

Place Affect

Place Social
Bonding

Fig. 1. The conceptual model of moderated mediation.

support the full mediation of pro-environmental behavioral inten- 4.1.2. Step 2

tion for the relationship between place satisfaction and place identity
(p b .001) and for place affect (p b .001). Thus all the hypotheses sug-
gesting mediation are supported.
These findings suggest that park managers can proactively stimulate
visitors' pro-environmental behavior by encouraging responsible
consumption of the parks' resources and protection of biodiversity.
Efforts made to increase visitor satisfaction will also lead to increased
pro-environmental behavioral intentions and visitors' levels of place at-
tachment. Park managers can engage visitors in specific activities such
as cleaning up weeds, picking up litter and communicating appropriate
and appealing pro-environmental messages.
Hypothesis H4 testing for the moderating effects of gender on the
relationship between visitors' pro-environmental behavioral intention
and dimensions of place attachment (dependence, identity, affect, social
bonding) was undertaken using PROCESS (the script developed by
Hayes, 2012). Model 14 was used to estimate the significance of the in-
teraction terms. This was then followed by using ModProb (a freely
available script developed by Preacher & Hayes, 2008). ModProb allows
for probing interactions (Aiken & West, 1991) through generating data
for graphical presentation. The results are presented in Table 4 and the
graphical presentations are shown in Figs. 3–5. The results indicate that
gender is a moderator in the relationships between pro-environmental

Note: *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; *p<0.05

Fig. 2. Structural model with standardized regression coefficients. Note: ***p b 0.001; **p b 0.01; *p b 0.05.
 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602 2599

behavioral intention and place identity (b = .278; p b .01) and for place
affect (b = .355, p b .001) and only significant at less than p b .10 for
place dependence. Gender does not moderate the relationship between
pro-environmental behavioral intention and place social bonding. This
later finding is not consistent with Tartaglia (2006) and Pretty et al.
(2003) who indicate that social bonding was stronger for females.

4.1.3. Step 3
The results of the moderated mediation analyses testing Hypothesis
H5 are presented in Table 5. To test for the significance of conditional in-
direct effects of place satisfaction through pro-environmental behavior-
al intention on place attachment, we used boot estimates from the 5000
bootstrap samples using PROCESS. The findings suggest that the con-
ditional indirect relationship of place satisfaction with place depen-
dence (through PEB) was not significant for females (boot indirect
effect = .0274; p = .179 NS) but was significant for males (boot indirect
effect = .0987; p b .01). Results also indicate insignificant results for
place identity for females (boot indirect effect = .0371; p = .161, NS)
while significant results were noted for males (boot indirect effect =
.140; p b .001). With respect to place affect, the conditional indirect
effects for both females (boot indirect effect = .0603; p b .05) and Fig. 4. Interactive effects of pro-environmental behavioral intention and gender on place
males (boot indirect effect = .1614; p b .001) were significant. For affect.
place social bonding, the conditional indirect effects were not signifi-
cant for both females (boot indirect effect = − .021; p = .29 NS) and
males (boot indirect effect = .0279; p = .267 NS). Thus, overall H5a,
H5b and H5c receive support. H5d does not receive support. especially given previous studies (Ramkissoon et al., 2013b; Veasna
et al., 2013). While this limitation is unresolvable through statistical
4.2. Alternative models tests, the possibility to provide greater confidence in the plausibility
of our model predictions is worth exploring. The implication is that
Although the results of this study support the proposed moderated place satisfaction may both influence and be influenced by pro-
regression model (Fig. 2), we examined the potential utility of several environmental behavioral intention pointing towards a reciprocal
alternative models in an effort to corroborate our findings. As can be causation. It can be argued that pro-environmental behavioral inten-
seen from Table 4, gender has no significant main effects on any of the tion affects satisfaction which may in turn influence place attachment.
dimensions of place attachment. Also, gender did not moderate any of Alternative models however, indicate that place satisfaction does not
the relationships between place satisfaction and place attachment. mediate the interactive relationship of pro-environmental behavioral
Further, we tested whether there might be a three-way interaction intention and gender with any of the measures of place attachment
between place satisfaction, pro-environmental behavioral intention and that gender does not mediate the relationship between place satis-
and gender on place dependence, place identity, place affect and place faction and the measure of place attachment. As compared to the alter-
social bonding. None of these three-way interactions approached any native models, the conceptual model (see Fig. 1) appears a superior fit
level of significance. to the data.
Finally given the correlational and cross-sectional nature of the data,
causal ordering other than the proposed model remains a possibility

Fig. 3. Interactive effects of pro-environmental behavioral intention and gender on place Fig. 5. Interactive effects of pro-environmental behavioral intention and gender on place
identity. social bonding.
2600 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602
Table 5
Conditional indirect effects of visitor satisfaction on place attachment through positive effect of pro-environmental behavioral intention for different gender groups.
Place dependence Place identity
Boot indirect. effect Boot se Boot p Boot indirect. effect
Females .0274 .0303 .179 .0371
Males 0.0987 .0383 .005 .1400
5. Conclusion
This study seeks to understand the place attachment linkages of
place satisfaction and the associated mechanisms and boundary condi-
tions through hypothesizing that place satisfaction is positively related
to pro-environmental behavioral intention which in turn leads to
place dependence, place identity, place affect, and place social bonding
with gender as a moderator. This study confirms the moderated media-
tion relationship between pro-environmental behavior intentions and
place dependence, place identity and place affect but not for place social
bonding. Overall, this study makes several contributions. First, this
study is one of the first in the tourism research stream to look at a com-
prehensive model involving both mediation and moderated regression.
The findings highlight that the relationships examined in this study are
complex but can be effectively investigated using the lens of moderated
mediation. This advances theory development beyond the simple direct
relationships between independent variables and dependent variables.
Thus, this study explains the mechanism that links place satisfaction
to place attachment. In addition the examination of gender as a mod-
erator explores the conditional effects of the indirect effects of place
satisfaction on place attachment. The choice of gender as a potential
moderator is important as it has implications for theory and for
managerial practice. Thus, the study is one of the first in tourism to pro-
vide a holistic investigation of place attachment. Second, the findings
reveal that pro-environmental behavioral intention is a critical media-
tor between place satisfaction and place attachment since it totally
mediates the relationships between place satisfaction and place affect
and place identity.
However the results indicate that an omitted mediator leads to sig-
nificant direct effects on place social bonding and place dependence
(Zhao et al., 2010). Fun may be such omitted mediator (Tews, Michel,
& Stafford, 2013); perceived customer orientation of the employees
(Seilov, 2015) among many other possibilities. The context of the
study (national park) motivated the choice of PEB as a mediator. Visitors
to national parks are likely to have a positive predisposition for the
environment. Additionally, this is a variable that could be manipu-
lated by undertaking such activities as providing descriptions of im-
portant species of plants and their role in the environment, by
taking care of the presentation of the park and by employees showing
enthusiasm for conservation and preservation of biodiversity. This sug-
gests that if park managers can work to deliver customer satisfaction for
visitors, this will enhance visitors' pro-environmental behavioral inten-
tion which in turn translates into place dependence, place identity,
place affect and place social bonding. Finally, our research contributes
to the under-research domain of gender association with place attach-
ment. Our results suggest that there is a need to consider gender appro-
priateness in delivering communication messages to support pro-
environmental behavior. Thus, place dependence, identity, affect, and
social bonding for females may be enhanced by other potential media-
tors that deserve further investigation.
5.1. Practical/managerial implications
Our findings have implications for managers in that they have two
levers to manipulate to increase place attachment. The primary lever
is delivering superior customer satisfaction since this has a positive
direct effect on PEB. On the other hand, enhancing PEB directly will
Place affect Place social bonding
Boot se Boot p Boot indirect. effect Boot se Boot p Boot indirect. effect Boot se Boot p
.0372 .161 .0603 .0349 .038 − .0210 .0380 .291
.0464 .001 .1614 .0479 .001 .0279 .0447 .267
have significant positive effects on place identity, place affect, place
dependence and place social bonding. The very high variance explained
in these dimensions of place attachment suggests PEB is a critical mech-
anism linking place satisfaction and place attachment. The power of our
model lies in its emphasis on the issues park managers could imple-
ment, for example, enhancing visitor satisfaction and promoting pro-
environmental behavior. Our results further suggest that place satisfac-
tion has both direct and indirect effects on place attachment indicating
its critical role in developing place attachment. Finally, our results sug-
gest that there are significant differences between the genders that
merit further investigation since this is associated with PEB and has
implications in framing the communication and marketing.
Park authorities need to adopt strategies that are likely to increase
place satisfaction and pro-environmental behavioral intentions of
park visitors through effective communication of how visitors' pro-
environmental behavior would safeguard the park's resources and
benefit visitors and the society in general. Visitors need to be made
aware of the negative impacts resulting from inappropriate activi-
ties at the national park and how engaging in park-specific pro-
environmental behaviors would help address these threats. Enhanc-
ing PEB has implications for sustainability of national parks' biodiversity
and strengthening the relationship between people and spaces thus
contributing to the societal enjoyment and education.
5.2. Limitations and research implications
In spite of the methodological strengths, there are limitations to the
present study that call for attention in interpreting the findings. The first
and obvious weakness is that the study used cross-sectional data. Thus,
causality cannot be unambiguously established. However, we hold that
the directions of causality assumed in this study are very likely. Also, we
demonstrated through investigating alternative models that our model
is more viable than some alternative models. However, one cannot rule
out other potential alternatives (Ramkissoon et al., 2013a; 2013b). It
may be fruitful for future research to address this important issue
through (quasi) experiment or a longitudinal study design.
The generalizability of the findings may be limited because data
were collected at one site in Australia. The findings might follow differ-
ent patterns in different contexts. While the issues investigated are gen-
eral and have been studied in diverse contexts, we concede there could
be cultural and other factors that could affect the pattern of relation-
ships. Future research should use samples with diverse nationalities,
cultures and tourism experiences. Another concern is that the control
variables used in this study explained a very small proportion of the
variance in the dependent variables (dimensions of place attachment).
Perhaps inclusion of other variables (e.g., visitor density) which may
impact visitor perceptions would enrich the model. The findings may
also have been influenced by our selection of repeat visitors. There
were no significant differences in the level of satisfaction between first
time visitors and repeat visitors but the relationships under investiga-
tion were more relevant to repeat visitors.
Finally, we used self-reported outcome variables. Self-reports are
the most appropriate measures since we were investigating personal
opinions and attitudes that are inaccessible by most other means.
Because researchers were not associated with the site, the problem of
social desirability did not arise and since no investigator interference
occurred, the data are not contaminated with these considerations.
 H. Ramkissoon, F.T. Mavondo / Journal of Business Research 68 (2015) 2593–2602
Beyond looking at the limitations, we see the possibility of extending
this study. Additional “performance measures” could be included to
link to business performance. These measures include likelihood of
revisiting, enjoyment of the experience, and positive word-of-mouth.
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