A Study on the Intention of Shanghai Residents to Travel Abroad in the Post-Pandemic Era Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

This study has adopted the theory of planned behavior as a framework to examine the relationship among subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived policy orientation, perceived pandemic response capabilities, attitudes, and behavioral intentions towards outbound travel in a post-pandemic society. Specifically, a total of 895 valid questionnaires were employed to test the 9 hypotheses proposed in this study. The results of the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis show that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and perceived policy orientation positively impact residents’ intention to travel abroad. Furthermore, attitude partially mediates the relationship between subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived policy orientation, and residents’ intention to travel abroad. However, the study indicates that the impact of perceived pandemic response capabilities on residents’ intention to travel abroad is not significant. This study’s conclusions emphasize that external policy factors can significantly influence tourists’ intention to travel abroad, contributing to the theoretical research on consumer outbound tourism behavior. Moreover, the study provides important implications for the policy formulation of outbound tourism enterprises and destination governments.