Encouraging Respectful Wildlife Viewing Among Tourists: Roles for Social Marketing, Regulatory Information, Symbolic Barriers, and Enforcement
Project (PRJ) | Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:68859 | Updated: January 17, 2023 | Published / External
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Summary
Background: The practice of viewing animals in captivity is losing popularity among tourists, who would rather observe wildlife in their natural environments. A laudable sustainability goal is to provide enjoyable viewing possibilities while also protecting wildlife. Focus of the Article: This study contrasted a social marketing campaign that promoted replacement behaviors to regulatory signage in persuading individuals to respect the viewing distance guideline for Hawaiian green sea turtles. The characteristics of one of the study sites also offered the opportunity to study the impacts of symbolic barriers and enforcement from authority-like figures on people's compliance. Research Question: The study addresses three research questions: (1) Can a social marketing-based approach encourage respectful wildlife viewing? (2) How does the approach compare to one providing simplistic information about the behavior and associated laws? (3) How do symbolic barriers and enforcement by authority-like figures add impact to influencing respectful wildlife viewing? Program Design/Approach: The Amazing from Afar campaign was designed with insights from federal natural resource managers, existing literature on tourists' psychology and goals, and key informant interviews with local residents. The campaign promoted replacement behaviors of taking forced perspective photos of sea turtles and was evaluated alongside other techniques to encourage respectful viewing. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: This article demonstrates the added impact on people's adherence to wildlife viewing distances achievable through social marketing relative to stating rules/laws and putting up symbolic barriers. Plus, it illustrates how symbolic barriers and enforcement can enhance impact. Methods: Research took place over two studies on Oahu (n = 1,437) and the Island of Hawaii (n = 10,217) using a quasi-experimental design where the control conditions reflected existing efforts at the site. Using naturalistic observation, we categorized and counted people at various distances from basking sea turtles before and during the social marketing campaign. Results: Findings showed regulatory information signs located near the sea turtles positively impacted people's compliance with the viewing distance guideline, and the social marketing campaign improved compliance even further. The symbolic barrier could help or hurt compliance depending on how close sea turtles got to its edges, but compliance was over 90% with the social marketing campaign in place. Recommendations: Natural resource managers and conservationists should carefully consider how regulations/enforcement, environmental design, and marketing can work together to achieve wildlife protection while preserving fulfilling viewing opportunities. Limitations: The field research relying on observations of people's behavior did not allow for assurances of exposure to signage, and in some cases, the symbolic barriers could have been overlooked as well. Instead, there could have been descriptive normative cues from others as it was common for multiple parties to be viewing at once.
Contact Information
Point of Contact
Justin D Hospital
justin.hospital@noaa.gov
(808)725-5399
Metadata Contact
Justin D Hospital
justin.hospital@noaa.gov
(808)725-5399
Extents
2020-03-04 - 2020-03-21
Item Identification
Title: | Encouraging Respectful Wildlife Viewing Among Tourists: Roles for Social Marketing, Regulatory Information, Symbolic Barriers, and Enforcement |
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Status: | In Work |
Abstract: |
Background: The practice of viewing animals in captivity is losing popularity among tourists, who would rather observe wildlife in their natural environments. A laudable sustainability goal is to provide enjoyable viewing possibilities while also protecting wildlife. Focus of the Article: This study contrasted a social marketing campaign that promoted replacement behaviors to regulatory signage in persuading individuals to respect the viewing distance guideline for Hawaiian green sea turtles. The characteristics of one of the study sites also offered the opportunity to study the impacts of symbolic barriers and enforcement from authority-like figures on people's compliance. Research Question: The study addresses three research questions: (1) Can a social marketing-based approach encourage respectful wildlife viewing? (2) How does the approach compare to one providing simplistic information about the behavior and associated laws? (3) How do symbolic barriers and enforcement by authority-like figures add impact to influencing respectful wildlife viewing? Program Design/Approach: The Amazing from Afar campaign was designed with insights from federal natural resource managers, existing literature on tourists' psychology and goals, and key informant interviews with local residents. The campaign promoted replacement behaviors of taking forced perspective photos of sea turtles and was evaluated alongside other techniques to encourage respectful viewing. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: This article demonstrates the added impact on people's adherence to wildlife viewing distances achievable through social marketing relative to stating rules/laws and putting up symbolic barriers. Plus, it illustrates how symbolic barriers and enforcement can enhance impact. Methods: Research took place over two studies on Oahu (n = 1,437) and the Island of Hawaii (n = 10,217) using a quasi-experimental design where the control conditions reflected existing efforts at the site. Using naturalistic observation, we categorized and counted people at various distances from basking sea turtles before and during the social marketing campaign. Results: Findings showed regulatory information signs located near the sea turtles positively impacted people's compliance with the viewing distance guideline, and the social marketing campaign improved compliance even further. The symbolic barrier could help or hurt compliance depending on how close sea turtles got to its edges, but compliance was over 90% with the social marketing campaign in place. Recommendations: Natural resource managers and conservationists should carefully consider how regulations/enforcement, environmental design, and marketing can work together to achieve wildlife protection while preserving fulfilling viewing opportunities. Limitations: The field research relying on observations of people's behavior did not allow for assurances of exposure to signage, and in some cases, the symbolic barriers could have been overlooked as well. Instead, there could have been descriptive normative cues from others as it was common for multiple parties to be viewing at once. |
Keywords
Theme Keywords
Thesaurus | Keyword |
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UNCONTROLLED | |
None | behavior change |
None | conservation marketing |
None | green sea turtle |
None | natural resource management |
None | replacement behaviors |
None | wildlife tourism |
Physical Location
Organization: | Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center |
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City: | Honolulu |
State/Province: | HI |
Country: | USA |
Support Roles
Data Steward
Date Effective From: | 2023 |
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Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Person): | Leong, Kirsten M |
Address: |
1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96818 USA |
Email Address: | kirsten.leong@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (808)725-5398 |
Distributor
Date Effective From: | 2023 |
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Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Organization): | Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) |
Address: |
1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96818 USA |
Email Address: | pifsc.info@noaa.gov |
Phone: | 808-725-5360 |
URL: | https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov |
Business Hours: | 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. |
Contact Instructions: |
email Justin.Hospital@noaa.gov |
Metadata Contact
Date Effective From: | 2023 |
---|---|
Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Person): | Hospital, Justin D |
Address: |
1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96818 USA |
Email Address: | justin.hospital@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (808)725-5399 |
Point of Contact
Date Effective From: | 2023 |
---|---|
Date Effective To: | |
Contact (Person): | Hospital, Justin D |
Address: |
1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96818 USA |
Email Address: | justin.hospital@noaa.gov |
Phone: | (808)725-5399 |
Extents
Extent Group 1
Extent Description: |
Alii Beach, Oahu Island |
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Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1
Time Frame Type: | Range |
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Start: | 2020-03-04 |
End: | 2020-03-21 |
Extent Group 2
Extent Description: |
Punaluu Beach, Hawaii Island |
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Extent Group 2 / Time Frame 1
Time Frame Type: | Range |
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Start: | 2021-11-22 |
End: | 2021-12-28 |
Access Information
Security Class: | Unclassified |
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Data Access Policy: |
see manuscript for links to data utilized in analysis |
Data Access Procedure: |
see dataset for access to data |
Data Access Constraints: |
see dataset for access to data |
Data Use Constraints: |
see dataset for access to data |
Data Quality
Representativeness: |
We collected primary data through observations of people's interactions on beaches with basking sea turtles. Behavior of all individuals within 25 feet of turtles during the observation period were recorded. |
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Accuracy: |
not applicable |
Analytical Accuracy: |
not applicable |
Horizontal Positional Accuracy: |
not applicable |
Vertical Positional Accuracy: |
not applicable |
Quantitation Limits: |
not applicable |
Bias: |
not applicable |
Comparability: |
not applicable |
Completeness Measure: |
not applicable |
Precision: |
not applicable |
Analytical Precision: |
not applicable |
Field Precision: |
not applicable |
Sensitivity: |
not applicable |
Detection Limit: |
not applicable |
Completeness Report: |
not applicable |
Conceptual Consistency: |
not applicable |
Quality Control Procedures Employed: |
multiple observers recorded data and were trained on protocols and inter-observer reliability |
Child Items
Rubric scores updated every 15m
Type | Title | |
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Data Set | Encouraging Respectful Wildlife Viewing Among Tourists: Roles for Social Marketing, Regulatory Information, Symbolic Barriers, and Enforcement |
Catalog Details
Catalog Item ID: | 68859 |
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GUID: | gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:68859 |
Metadata Record Created By: | Kirsten M Leong |
Metadata Record Created: | 2022-12-19 22:26+0000 |
Metadata Record Last Modified By: | Kirsten M Leong |
Metadata Record Last Modified: | 2023-01-17 19:12+0000 |
Metadata Record Published: | 2023-01-17 |
Owner Org: | PIFSC |
Metadata Publication Status: | Published Externally |
Do Not Publish?: | N |
Metadata Last Review Date: | 2023-01-13 |
Metadata Review Frequency: | 1 Year |
Metadata Next Review Date: | 2024-01-13 |