Journal of Hospitality & Tourism

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Theory of Planned Behavior: Potential Travelers from China

Terry Lam and Cathy H. C. Hsu
Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 2004 28: 463
DOI: 10.1177/1096348004267515

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 ARTICLE
10.1177/1096348004267515
Lam, Hsu /OF
JOURNAL THEORY OF PLANNED
HOSPITALITY BEHARESEARCH
& TOURISM VIOR

THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR:

POTENTIAL TRAVELERS FROM CHINA
Terry Lam
Cathy H. C. Hsu
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Tourist behavior theories have been the focus of research in many tourism studies, but how
travelers’ behavioral intention in choosing a travel destination is developed has rarely
been investigated. This study tested the fit of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with po-
tential travelers from Mainland China to Hong Kong as the sample (n = 328). Results
showed that data fitted the TPB model moderately well and explained respondents’travel-
ing intention. Attitude, perceived behavioral control, and past behavior were found to be
related to respondents’ travel intention. Recommendations were provided for government
and tourism bodies to market Hong Kong as a destination for Mainland Chinese travelers.

KEYWORDS: theory of planned behavior; attitude; subjective norm; perceived be-

havioral control; past behavior; China

For decades, the tourism industry has been one of the largest generators of for-
eign exchange and contributed enormously to the social and economic develop-
ment of Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s (HKTB) visi-
tors arrival statistics (HKTB, 2002b), the number of foreign travelers to Hong
Kong reached a record of 16.57 million in 2002, of which more than 6.77 million
(40.9%) were travelers from China. Compared to the 2.59 million visitors in
1998, the number of Chinese travelers increased by more than twofold. In addi-
tion to the sheer numbers, Chinese travelers are big spenders as well. The per
capita spending for Chinese travelers was U.S.$664, ranked number one among
travelers from all countries and territories (HKTB, 2002a). Therefore, the study
of the Chinese travelers’ decision-making process of selecting a vacation destina-
tion will help sustain the development of this important market for Hong Kong.
The behavioral intention of choosing a travel destination is a starting point that
launches the decision-making process. An understanding of such intention, thus,
is essential for developing appropriate strategies to encourage potential Chinese
travelers to Hong Kong.
Tourist behavior theories have been the focus of research in many tourism
studies. Researchers have paid considerable attention to tourist motivation
(Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1981; Uysal & Hagan, 1993); and the study of tourist
motivation based on the concepts of push and pull factors has been generally

Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol. 28, No. 4, November 2004, 463-482
DOI: 10.1177/1096348004267515
© 2004 International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education
463

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464 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

accepted (Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1981; Jamrozy & Uysal, 1994; Zhang & Lam,
1999). However, how these push and pull factors help develop travelers’ attitudes
and how these attitudes lead to behavioral intentions in choosing a travel destina-
tion have rarely been investigated. In fact, the decision-making process leading to
the choice of a travel destination is a complex one, influenced by social (i.e., sub-
jective norm) and psychological (i.e., attitudes) factors. Past behaviors and facili-
tating factors were also found to have a direct impact on consumers’ behavioral
intentions (Quellette & Wood, 1998; Triandis, 1977). The questions then become
as follows: Will travelers’past experience in a destination affect their choice of the
destination again in the future? Are travelers influenced by personal expectations
and experiences? Will expectations of others affect travelers’ choice of a destina-
tion? What is the role of social influence on travelers’ decisions? Will facilitating
or inhibiting factors affect the decisions? The theory of planned behavior (TPB)
(Ajzen, 1988, 1991), an extended version of the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980), offers a framework that could help answer these questions.
The TPB has been employed to predict individuals’ behaviors in hotel market-
ing and social psychology studies (Buttle & Bok, 1996; Conner, Kirk, Cade, &
Barret, 2001), but seldom used in social science research related to international
tourists’ attitudes and behavioral intentions, particularly in the Chinese setting,
even though significant differences between Chinese and Western cultures attrib-
uted to the development of different attitudes and behavioral intentions have been
documented in the literature (Bond & Forgas, 1984; Bond, Leung, & Wan, 1982).
Although a number of studies stated that the TPB might not be accurate in predict-
ing behavioral intentions (Bentler & Speckart, 1979; Shimp & Kavas, 1984) and
questioned the role of the subjective norm component in the model (Pomazal &
Jaccard, 1976), TPB has been successfully applied in a wide variety of behavioral
studies (Buttle & Bok, 1996; Chaiken & Stangor, 1987; Cialdini, Petty, &
Cacioppo, 1981; Cooper & Croyle, 1984).
The current study attempted to test the fit of the TPB model in the tourism con-
text with potential Mainland Chinese travelers to Hong Kong as the sample. Spe-
cifically, the objectives of the study were to (a) investigate how behavioral beliefs
of the push and pull factors and normative beliefs lead to the formation of attitude
and subjective norm, respectively; (b) explore the influence of control beliefs on
perceived behavioral control; and (c) examine the impacts of attitude, subjective
norm, past behavior, and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention.
Contributions of the study included the provision of a platform for researchers to
advance theoretical development of travel behavior formation. Results of the
study also provided practical implications for the tourism industry in terms of
marketing, operations, and human resources management, for Hong Kong as well
as other countries and regions where China is one of their major inbound markets.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

One of the travel motivation models related to travelers’ decision making in

choosing a destination revolves around the concept of push and pull factors (e.g.,
Crompton, 1979; Uysal & Hagan, 1993). These motivational factors describe

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 465

how individuals are pushed by internal motives and pulled or attracted by destina-
tion attributes in making their travel decisions (Uysal & Hagan, 1993). Push fac-
tors are considered to be sociopsychological motivations that predispose individ-
uals to travel, whereas pull factors are those that attract individuals to a specific
destination once the decision to travel has been made. Therefore, the push motiva-
tions have been useful in explaining the desire for travel, whereas the pull motiva-
tions help illustrate the actual destination choice (Christensen, 1983; Crompton,
1979). A variety of push and pull factors were identified in previous studies (e.g.,
Crompton, 1979; Yuan & McDonald, 1990). Zhang and Lam’s (1999) study of
Chinese travelers’ motivation to visit Hong Kong showed that the most important
push factors included “knowledge,” “prestige,” and “enhancement of human rela-
tionship”; whereas the most significant pull factors were “hi-tech image,” “expen-
diture,” and “accessibility.” Although several studies have attempted to investi-
gate tourist motivations, few grounded their research in behavioral theories. The
current study extended existing motivation theories by incorporating TPB with
push and pull factors in the investigation of travel intention.

Theory of Reasoned Action

Fishbein and Ajzen (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1972, 1975)
developed and refined the theory of reasoned action (TRA) over time. This theory
has been utilized by researchers to investigate human behavior in the disciplines
of marketing and social psychology (Armitage & Conner, 2001; Buttle & Bok,
1996; Conner et al., 2001). Sheppard, Hartwick, and Warshaw (1988) investi-
gated the effectiveness of the theory of reasoned action by conducting a meta-
analysis and concluded that the model has strong predictive utility, even when
applied to situations and activities that did not fall within the boundary conditions
originally specified in the model.
Central to the theory of reasoned action is the concept of intention. Intention is
regarded as the motivation necessary to engage in a particular behavior. An indi-
vidual’s intention to perform a specific act, or behavioral intention with respect to
a given stimulus object, in a given situation is a function of the individual’s atti-
tude toward the behavior and his or her subjective norm (Fishbein, 1967a).
Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) stated that a person’s attitude toward an object is
obtained by measuring his or her beliefs of salient attributes that the object has and
his or her evaluation of each attribute. Belief, in this context, is defined as a per-
son’s estimation of probability of attaining an attribute that links to the object.
Therefore, the first determinant of intention, attitude, is conceptualized as the
overall positive or negative evaluation of a behavior and is derived from salient
behavioral beliefs, which are the perceived likelihood of particular outcomes
occurring, weighted by the evaluation of those outcomes. Individuals are more
likely to perform a behavior if they have a positive attitude toward it. The second
determinant of intention, subjective norm (SN), is defined as the perception of
general social pressures to perform or not to perform a particular behavior. Under-
lying subjective norm is normative beliefs that consist of two components
multiplicatively combined (Fishbein, 1967b). The first component is the per-
ceived social pressure from salient referents, or normative beliefs; the second

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466 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

Figure 1
The Theory of Planned Behavior Model

Behavioral Beliefs Attitudes

Normative Beliefs Subjective Norm Intention Behavior

Control Beliefs Perceived Behavioral

Control

Note: Compared to the theory of reasoned action, the theory of planned behavior model in-
cludes the additional measures of control beliefs and perceived behavioral control and the
additional casual relationships between the variables as shown by the dotted arrows.

component is the motivation to comply with those referents. Individuals are,

therefore, more likely to perform a behavior if they perceive the existence of
greater social pressure from salient referents to perform that behavior.

Theory of Planned Behavior

Many studies have provided support for the use of the theory of reasoned
action in the prediction of various social behaviors (e.g., Sheppard, Hartwick, &
Warshaw 1988; van den Putte, 1991). However, Ajzen (1988) conceded that the
theory of reasoned action was developed explicitly to deal with purely volitional
behaviors. An extension of the TRA, known as the theory of planned behavior
(TPB), was then proposed by Ajzen (1988, 1991) designed to predict behaviors
not under complete volitional control. TPB includes the additional measures of
control beliefs and perceived behavioral control (see Figure 1). The proposed
relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention/
behavior is based on two assumptions. First, an increase in perceived behavioral
control will result in an increase in behavioral intention and the likelihood of per-
forming the act. Second, perceived behavioral control will influence behavior
directly to the extent that perceived control reflects actual control (Armitage &
Conner, 2001).
Intention could be defined as an individual’s anticipated or planned future
behavior (Swan, 1981). It represents an individual’s expectancies about a particu-
lar behavior in a given setting and can be operationalized as the likelihood to act
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). According to the TPB, intention to act in a certain way
is the immediate determinant of a behavior (Ajzen, 1985). When there is an
opportunity to act, intention results in behavior; if intention is measured accu-
rately, intention will provide the best predictor of behavior (Fishbein & Ajzen,
1975). In this study, intention was defined as an individual’s anticipation of a
future trip to a destination (i.e., Hong Kong) for leisure or vacation purpose.

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 467

Theory of planned behavior postulates that behavior is predicted by an individ-

ual’s intention to perform the behavior and also by his or her perceived behavioral
control, such as facilitating factors (Triandis, 1977), the context of opportunity
(Sarver, 1983), and available resources (Liska, 1984). The global perception of
behavioral control is the product of control beliefs (the perceived frequency of
occurrence of salient facilitating or inhibiting factors) multiplied by the power of
those factors that facilitate or inhibit the behavior in question. TPB has been used
to examine a wide variety of behaviors (see Ajzen, 1991; Armitage & Conner,
2001; Conner & Sparks, 1996; Sparks, 1994; van den Putte, 1991) and the effi-
cacy of the model has been validated in predicting a wide range of intentions and
behaviors. Therefore, although TRA could adequately predict behavioral inten-
tions that are under volitional control, in circumstances where there are con-
straints for the action, the mere formation of an intention is insufficient to predict
the behavior. The inclusion of perceived behavioral control (PBC) provides infor-
mation about the potential constraints on the action as perceived by the actor.
Thus, TPB postulates that a behavior is directly predicted by the intention to per-
form and indirectly by the perceived behavioral control when the behavior is not
under complete volitional control.
In view of the target behavior and subjects under investigation in this study, the
inclusion of PBC was deemed necessary. Qu and Lam (1997), in a study of travel
demand among Chinese tourists to Hong Kong, concluded that the travel demand
was a function of “disposable income per capita” and “relaxation of visa require-
ments.” According to the Chinese government statistics, Beijing, Shanghai, and
Guangzhou citizens had an average annual personal income of U.S.$1,692,
U.S.$1,798, and U.S.$1,800, respectively (National Bureau of Statistics of China,
2003). Casual observations of package sightseeing tours for Chinese travelers to
Hong Kong showed the prices ranging from U.S.$380 to U.S.$650. Therefore,
travel to Hong Kong can be considered as a luxury activity for most Chinese citi-
zens even though they may have such an intention. Furthermore, Chinese workers
are generally not allowed to take more than one week of holiday at any one time,
although they are officially entitled to approximately two weeks of paid holiday
annually. The short leaves may diminish their intention to travel overseas, includ-
ing Hong Kong. Therefore, perceived behavioral control was expected to have a
significant influence on the target behavior.
Although one advantage of the TPB is its parsimonious account of purposive
behavior, its sufficiency was questioned. For example, researchers proposed addi-
tional components to address self-identity processes (Sparks & Shephard, 1992),
moral norms (Parker, Manstead, & Stradling, 1995), distinction between percep-
tions of control and perceptions of self-efficacy (Armitage & Conner, 1999; Terry
& O’leary, 1995), and anticipated emotions (Parker et al., 1995; Perugini &
Bagozzi, 2001; Richard, van der Pligt, & de Vries, 1995). Others argued that atti-
tude, SN, and PBC provide reasons for an act, but do not explicitly incorporate the
motivational aspect needed to induce an intention to act. Having said that, the TPB
has been widely used in social psychology, and the model has been supported by
many studies (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001).

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468 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

Past Behavior
Ajzen (1991) criticized the use of past behavior on ground that it offers no
explanatory content although he agreed to use past behavior in testing the suffi-
ciency of any model designed to predict future behavior (p. 202). However, previ-
ous empirical tests of the TPB found that past behavior can enhance prediction of
intention and/or future behavior (e.g., Ajzen & Driver, 1992; Bagozzi & Kimmel,
1995; Beck & Ajzen, 1991; Bentler & Speckart, 1979, 1981; Leone, Perugini, &
Ercolani, 1999; Norman & Conner, 1996; Norman & Smith, 1995; Quellette &
Wood, 1998).
Questions have been raised about the type of effects past behavior might repre-
sent. A meta-analysis examined 64 studies that found the frequency of past behav-
ior affected both intentions and future behaviors (Quellette & Wood, 1998).
When a behavior is well practiced in a constant environment, the frequency of
past behavior reflects the habit strength and therefore has a direct effect on future
behavior. However, when a behavior is not well exercised or when it is carried out
in an unstable context, the frequency of past behavior contributes indirectly
through intention because people are likely to form favorable intentions about
acts they have frequently performed in the past (Quellette & Wood, 1998). Thus, it
is reasonable to assume that the frequency of past behavior could guide future
behavior. In this study, it was hypothesized that the frequency of past visits to
Hong Kong can affect future visit intention.

METHOD

Sampling Procedure
The population of the study consisted of citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, and
Guangzhou in China. These three cities were selected because their respec-
tive discretionary income per capita was among the highest in China (National
Bureau of Statistics of China, 2003). These individuals were expected to provide
more pragmatic judgments and opinions in the survey, as their likelihood of travel
to Hong Kong was higher than that of citizens in less developed areas. A self-
administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Potential respondents in
shopping malls where travel agencies were located were approached with no par-
ticular pattern to participate in the study. Once they agreed, potential respondents
were screened by asking if they had heard of Hong Kong and knew where it was.
Only individuals who had some awareness of Hong Kong were invited to com-
plete the questionnaire. A briefing was then given to introduce the purpose of the
study and provide directions for completing the questionnaire. To ensure a high
return and usable rate, the questionnaires were collected onsite and checked for
completeness. A total of 353 questionnaires were received.

Questionnaire Development
Based on the measurement scales of the TPB (Ajzen, 1988, 1991), a question-
naire was developed for obtaining information on the likely outcomes of choosing

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 469

Hong Kong as a travel destination (behavioral beliefs), groups or individuals

whose views might influence respondents’ travel intention (normative beliefs),
and factors that might facilitate or inhibit travel intention (control beliefs). How-
ever, according to Ajzen and Fishbein (1980), new sets of beliefs and salient refer-
ents must be elicited for each new context, population, and behavior. Ajzen and
Fishbein (1980) further recommended that it is critical to include sources of social
norms that are salient to the respondents. Therefore, a focus group of potential
Chinese travelers was conducted in China to solicit new sets of items to be
included to measure behavioral, normative, and control beliefs.
The research instrument was translated into Chinese using a blind translation-
back-translation method as described by Brislin (1976). A pilot study was con-
ducted with 28 Mainland Chinese residents. Feedback was obtained about the
length of the instrument, the format of the scales, content validity, and question
clarity. The instrument was revised and further administered to 20 Chinese travel-
ers in Hong Kong. In the pilot test, the reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha)
for the questionnaire constructs ranged from .78 to .93, which exceeded the rec-
ommended satisfactory level of .70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).

Measurement Design

The behavioral beliefs construct consisted of two components: the perceived

likelihood of the behavior’s outcomes and the evaluation of those outcomes.
The TPB assumes that having a positive/negative attitude toward a behavior is
based upon believing that the behavior will be likely/unlikely to lead to positively/
negatively evaluated outcomes. Thus, the perceived likelihood and the outcome
evaluation are multiplicatively combined (i.e., behavioral beliefs [BB] × outcome
evaluation [OE]). A 14-item measurement was developed with 7-point Likert
scales ranging from strongly agree (7) to strongly disagree (1) for BB statements
and very important (7) to very unimportant (1) for OE statements. Respondents
were asked to indicate the agreement and importance levels for each item. A rep-
resentative statement of the BB was as follows: “Visiting Hong Kong would
enable me to visit a metropolitan city,” and the corresponding phrase used to
measure OE was as follows: “Visiting this metropolitan city is . . . .”
Normative beliefs also had two components: (a) perception of specific refer-
ents’ opinions on whether an individual should or should not perform a behavior,
or normative beliefs (NB), and (b) motivation to comply with the wishes of the
specific referents, or motivation to comply (MC). These two components were
also multiplicatively combined. The referent groups in the study included family,
friends/relatives, and travel agents. A three-item measurement with 7-point Likert
scales was used to examine respondents’ NB, from should (7) to should not (1),
and MC, from extremely likely (7) to extremely unlikely (1).
Control beliefs consisted of two components as well: (a) occurrence frequency
of the facilitators or inhibitors of the behavior, or control beliefs (CB), and (b) per-
ception of the strength of the facilitators or inhibitors, or power (P). The two com-
ponents were multiplied (i.e., CB × P) to obtain the overall level of control beliefs.

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470 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

Nine statements were used to measure control beliefs. A sample CB statement is

“Visiting Hong Kong is expensive,” and the corresponding power statement is
“The cost of travel to Hong Kong would influence my visiting decision.” Two 7-
point Likert scales were used: from strongly agree (7) to strongly disagree (1) for
CB measurement and extremely likely (7) to extremely unlikely (1) for P mea-
surement.
Past behavior was measured with two statements adapted from Quellette and
Wood (1998). Respondents were first asked to indicate whether they had ever vis-
ited Hong Kong before, and the choices were “Yes” and “No.” If the reply was
positive, respondents were then asked of the frequency of their visit(s) with a
question, “How many times have you visited Hong Kong in the past?” Five fre-
quency categories were provided: once, 2 to 3 times, 4 to 5 times, 6 to 10 times,
and more than 10 times. Responses from the two questions were coded into five
categories, never, once, 2 to 3 times, 4 to 10 times, and more than 10 times. Behav-
ioral intention of traveling to Hong Kong for leisure or vacation was measured by
three statements with a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly agree (7) to
strongly disagree (1). A sample statement is as follows: “I want to visit Hong
Kong.”
Attitude was measured by five statements using a 7-point semantic differ-
ential scale: “All things considered, I think visiting Hong Kong would be . . . ”
enjoyable-unenjoyable, positive-negative, fun-boring, pleasant-unpleasant, and
favorable-unfavorable. Three questions were asked to evaluate subjective norm:
“Most people I know would choose Hong Kong as a travel destination”, with 7 =
strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree; “People who are important to me would
think I should/should not visit Hong Kong”, with 7 = should and 1 = should not;
and “People who are important to me would approve/disapprove of my visit to
Hong Kong”, with 7 = approve and 1 = disapprove. Five statements were used to
measure perceived behavioral control. An example of the statements is “There are
factors outside of my control that could prevent me from visiting Hong Kong,”
rated from strongly agree (7) to strongly disagree (1).

Analytical Method
Scale reliability analysis was used to measure the internal consistency of each
construct, and the generally agreed upon lower limit for the Cronbach’s alpha was
set at .70 (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 2002). To reduce the number of vari-
ables in some measurements and to group these variables into key categories, fac-
tor analyses were employed using the principal component method with
VARIMAX orthogonal rotation. Factor loadings greater than .50 were considered
acceptable in the study. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and measures of
correlations were applied to test causal relationships in the model. By using SEM,
important latent constructs can be modeled, while taking into account the unreli-
ability of the indicators. Furthermore, the SEM considers unknown reliability of
the measures and ranks the measures in terms of their importance (Bacon, Bacon,
& Associates, & SPSS Inc., 1998).

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 471

Table 1
Correlation Matrix Between Measuring Variables

BB × OE NB × MC CB × P ATT SN PBC BI PB

BBxOE 1
NBxMC .56** 1
CBxP .41** .24** 1
ATT .55** .46** .17** 1
SN .42** .35** .05 .66** 1
PBC –.10 –.17** .22** .10 –.21** 1
BI .41** .39** .10 .39** .26** –.40** 1
PB –.09 –.05 –.23** –.12* –.06 –.28** .11* 1

Note: BB × OE: behavioral beliefs multiplied by outcome evaluations. NB × MC: normative be-
liefs multiplied by motivation to comply. CB × P: control beliefs multiplied by power. ATT: direct
measure of attitude. SN: direct measure of subjective norm. PBC: direct measure of per-
ceived behavioral control. BI: behavioral intention. PB: past behavior.
*p < .05. **p < .01.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Of the 353 questionnaires received, 328 were complete and usable. Females
represented 45.4% of the respondents. Approximately one half of respondents
were in the age categories of 25 to 34 (25.7%) and 18 to 24 (25.4%). The majority
of respondents were professionals (23.4%), students (19.6%), and white-collar
workers (18.7%). As for travel agency services, 28.0% of the respondents used
them less than once a year; 36.0% used the services once a year; and 21.0% used
such services twice a year.
Cronbach’s alpha for the direct measure of three intention statements was .70,
for the five attitude statements .92, for the three subjective norm statements .83,
and for the five perceived behavioral control statements .82. As for the measures
of behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs in the TPB, they were
considered as formative rather than reflective indicators. Measures of Cronbach’s
alpha were not appropriate for such indicators and were therefore not reported in
the study (Ajzen, 1988).
Table 1 shows the Pearson correlations between the various components of
TPB and the measure of past behavior. The direct measures of attitude, subjective
norm, and perceived behavioral control were positively correlated with their
respective set of beliefs. That is, behavioral beliefs were correlated with attitude,
normative beliefs with subjective norm, and control beliefs with perceived behav-
ioral control. In addition, past behavior was positively correlated with behavioral
intention.
Two factor analyses were used to reduce the 14 attributes of behavioral beliefs
and 9 attributes of control beliefs to smaller sets of uncorrelated factors for subse-
quent use in the SEM analysis. As shown in Tables 2 and 3, two factors each were
extracted from behavioral and control beliefs. In the scale of behavioral beliefs,
the two factors were “Experience” (8 items) and “Shopping and Sightseeing” (5
items). The cumulative percentage of variance extracted by the two factors was
59.19, with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy of .91,

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472 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

Table 2
Factor Analysis of Behavioral Beliefs

Factor % of
Behavioral Beliefs Loadings Eigenvalue Variance Reliability α

F1: experience 6.965 32.44 .9168

Experiencing the capitalist society .858
Experiencing different culture .827
Seeing the city under one-country-
two-systems .817
Visiting the metropolitan city .701
Experiencing the mysterious city .677
Interacting with Hong Kong people .645
Experiencing a new and different lifestyle .601
Fulfilling self-curiosity about Hong Kong .558
F2: shopping and sightseeing 1.322 26.75 .8070
Shopping .781
Visiting Ocean Park .776
Sightseeing .664
Sharing travel experience with friends .649
Seeing movie stars and celebrities .613
Total 59.19 .9212

Note: KMO = .910; Bartlett’s Test = 2,652.483 with significance = .000.

Table 3
Factor Analysis of Control Beliefs

Factor % of
Behavioral Beliefs Loadings Eigenvalue Variance Reliability α

F1: barriers 4.177 32.28 .8109

Expensive .782
Short vacation leave .753
Problem with getting a visa .740
Rare promotion by travel agents .665
No companionship .606
F2: safety 1.351 29.15 .7694
High crime rate .895
Personal safety in question .895
Mandatory arrangement by travel agents .564
Communication problems .527
Total 61.43 .8518

Note: KMO = .816; Bartlett’s Test = 1,307.631 with significance = .000.

which was higher than the recommended index of .60 (Garson, 2001). The Barlett
Test of Sphericity was 2,652.48 (p = .000). The Cronbach’s alpha of the total scale
was .92.
In the scale of control beliefs, the two factors were “Barriers” (5 items) and
“Safety” (4 items). The cumulative percentage of variance explained was 61.43,
with KMO of .82. The Barlett Test of Sphericity was 1,307.63 (p = .000) and the
Cronbach’s alpha of the total scale was .85.

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 473

Table 4
Fit Indices for the Revised Measurement Model

Fit Indices Recommended Value Measurement Model

Goodness-of-fit (GFI) 0.90 0.896

Adjusted goodness-of-fit (AGFI) 0.80 0.852
Normed fit index (NFI) 0.90 0.896
Comparative fit index (CFI) 0.90 0.939
Root-mean-square error of approximation
(RMSEA) < 0.05 0.062

Model Testing
SEM was performed to investigate relationships between the criterion variable
of behavioral intention and the respective predictor variables of attitude, subjec-
tive norm, perceived behavioral control, and past behavior. Five common model-
fit measures were used to assess the model’s overall goodness of fit: goodness-of-
fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI), norm fit index (NFI),
comparative fit index (CFI), and root-mean-square error of approximation
(RMSEA). The path coefficients were reviewed to see if any of the paths in the ini-
tial model should be deleted; if an attribute loaded with an absolute t value of
lower than 1.96 (p > .05), it would be eliminated from the model (Hatcher, 1994).
Furthermore, if the fit of the initial model was not adequate, modification indices
for each fixed parameter were used as indicators for model modification, by add-
ing parameters to improve the fit. The value of a given modification index was the
minimum amount that the chi-square statistic was expected to decrease if the cor-
responding parameter was freed. When a parameter was freed at each step, it pro-
duced the largest improvement in fit; this process was continued until an adequate
fit was reached.
In the first SEM procedure, the initial hypothetical model showed that the four
indices (GFI = 0.83, AGFI = 0.77, NFI = 0.84, and CFI = 0.88) were below their
respective common acceptance levels suggested by previous research (e.g.,
Browne & Cudeck, 1993), and RMSEA reached .085. In addition, the path coeffi-
cient between subjective norm and behavioral intention was not significant (p <
.05). Thus, the initial model was not acceptable and required modification. A
revised model was developed with the path between subjective norm and behav-
ioral intention removed. The modification indices also suggested the need to add
to three covariances among behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control
beliefs. As shown in Table 4, all the model-fit indices became close to or over their
respective common acceptance levels as suggested by previous research (e.g.,
Browne & Cudeck, 1993) in the revised model, thus demonstrating that the model
was improved, and responses from potential Chinese travelers in the study fitted
the revised model relatively well.
To measure the convergent and discriminant validities of the underlying con-
structs, the covariance structure analysis was utilized (Anderson & Gerbing,
1988; Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Under the covariance struc-
ture analysis, the magnitudes and significance levels associated with factor load-

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474 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

ing estimates were assessed to determine the degree of convergence of each attrib-
ute to the underlying construct (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). t values greater than
2.0 indicate that the associated factor loading is statistically significant. Further-
more, average variance extracted by an underlying construct from its indicators is
used as an index of convergent validity. An average variance extracted in excess of
0.50 provides evidence of convergent validity. To assess the discriminant validity
of the underlying constructs, shared variances between constructs (i.e., the
squared correlation between two constructs) were computed. For the evidence of
discriminant validity, shared variances between constructs should be smaller than
the “average variance extracted” by each construct (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
As shown in Table 5, all indicators of constructs in the study had factor load-
ings greater than 0.50 and their t values exceeded 2.0. The average variances
extracted were greater than 0.50 in six of the seven constructs, with the construct
of perceived behavioral control having an average variance of 0.50. Table 5 also
shows that all shared variances were smaller than the respective average variance
extracted. Thus, these results provided support for the convergent and discrim-
inant validities of the measures used in the study.
As shown in Figure 2, the correlation between the latent behavioral intention
indicator and I2(.19) was relatively low. The other observed variables were satis-
factorily related to their respective latent unobserved indicators with the squared
multiple correlations ranging from .23 (Z3) to .87 (Z2). By examining the stan-
dardized path coefficients between latent variables, the overall explanation of
behavioral intention by attitude, perceived behavioral control, and past behavior
was 43% (.43). Correlations between behavioral intention and perceived behav-
ioral control, attitude, and past behavior were –.55, .50, and .11, respectively. The
absolute magnitude of the estimated standardized path coefficients revealed that
PBC had the greatest impact in determining Chinese travelers’ behavioral inten-
tion. This indicates that the higher the degree of travel barriers is perceived by
Chinese travelers, the lower the intention of traveling to the destination will
become among them. A possible reason for such a phenomenon may be of the var-
ious constraints affecting Chinese tourists when they choose a travel destination.
As identified in Table 3, these constraints included high expenses, short vacation
leaves, visa application procedures, and safety issues. If any of the constraints
existed, their travel intention would be weakened even if they had a positive atti-
tude toward the destination. Furthermore, PBC was found to be negatively corre-
lated with behavioral intention. Obviously, the higher the degree of perceived
behavioral control (constraints) was for Chinese travelers in visiting Hong Kong,
the lower the extent was of their intention to choose this city as a travel
destination.
Past behavior had a positive causal relationship with behavioral intention,
although the correlation was weak (.11). That is, the intention of revisiting Hong
Kong by Chinese travelers became stronger with an increase in the number of
prior visits to the city. To a certain extent, these results were consistent with
Ajzen’s (1991) argument that when people deliberately form conscious inten-
tions, past behaviors are likely to be a contributing factor. Hong Kong could serve
as a magnetic pull for Chinese travelers who have experienced Hong Kong—a

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 475

Table 5
Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Instrument

Factor Average Shared

Variable Loading t-value Variance Variance

Control belief
CB1 0.62 8.73 0.75 CB/NM 0.08
CB2 0.79 5.12 CB/BB 0.20
CB/PBC 0.03
CB/SN 0.01
CB/ATT 0.05
CB/BI 0.02
Normative belief
NB1 0.84 13.10 0.65 NB/BB 0.52
NB2 0.88 13.73 NB/PBC 0.06
NB3 0.70 9.52 NB/SN 0.10
NB/ATT 0.12
NB/BI 0.07
Behavioral belief
BB1 0.80 11.84 0.68 BB/PBC 0.02
BB2 0.85 14.84 BB/SN 0.05
BB/ATT 0.23
BB/BI 0.07
Perceived behavioral control
PBC1 0.75 7.27 0.50 PBC/SN 0.01
PBC2 0.93 8.55 PBC/ATT 0.01
PBC3 0.89 6.48 PBC/BI 0.32
PBC4 0.70 7.51
PBC5 0.51 10.66
Subjective norm
SN1 0.70 11.23 0.61 SN/ATT 0.33
SN2 0.84 12.84 SN/BI 0.03
SN3 0.80 12.09
Attitude
ATT1 0.80 12.31 0.65 ATT/BI 0.13
ATT2 0.68 16.35
ATT3 0.82 18.30
ATT4 0.90 20.66
ATT5 0.83 18.62
Behavioral intention
BI1 0.83 6.01 0.56
BI2 0.57 4.88
BI3 0.81 12.88

capitalist city full of fun, pleasure, and good experiences, and a place for shopping
and sightseeing. The relatively weak correlation, however, could be a reflection of
the variety of destinations available to Chinese travelers who might want to
explore new destinations before returning to Hong Kong as repeat visitors.
No correlation between subjective norm and behavioral intention was found in
the study; therefore, respondents’intention of visiting Hong Kong was not associ-
ated with perceived social pressure from important referents. The finding was

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476 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

Figure 2
Causal Relationships Between Predictor Variables and Behavioral Intention

Note: BB1OE1 for belief “Experience.” BB2OE2 for belief “Shopping and Sightseeing.” NB1MC1
for referent “Family.” NB2MC2 for referent “Friend/Relative.” NB3MC3 for referent “Travel Agent.”
CB1P1 for belief “Barriers.” CB2P2 for belief “Safety.” PB for past behavior. X1 – X5 for direct mea-
sure of attitude (ATT). Y1 – Y3 for direct measure of subjective norm (SN). Z1 – Z5 for direct
measure of perceived behavioral control (PBC). I1 – I3 for direct measure of behavioral inten-
tion (BI). # Value fixed at 1.0 for computational purposes. All stated estimated standardized
regression coefficients were significant at p = .05, ** p < .01.

inconsistent with previous studies depicting that Chinese rated self-monitoring

highly and strived to change their behaviors in accordance with the situation and
people surrounding them (e.g., Yang, 1992). Such inconsistency could be a
reflection of the nature of the study sample. Overseas travel has been a relatively
new phenomenon in China and can only be afforded by affluent members of the
society. These individuals can be viewed as innovators and early adopters whose
opinions are valued by others. However, these individuals are not likely to use oth-
ers’ opinions as sources of information when making decisions (Kotler, 2003).
Last, covariances among the belief components of TPB (i.e., ΣBBiOEi,
ΣNBjMCj, and ΣCBkPk) were significant. There have been debates on whether
there are interactions or crossing effects among behavioral beliefs, normative

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 477

beliefs, and control beliefs in the literature (e.g., Shimp & Kavas, 1984; Taylor &
Todd, 1995). In this study, such crossing effects seemed to be significant in the
Chinese sample under investigation.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This article investigated the applicability of the TPB in a Chinese setting and
identified relationships among various components of TPB and past behavior
among potential Chinese outbound travelers. Overall, the TPB model explained
Chinese’ travel intention moderately well. Attitude, perceived behavioral control,
and past behavior were found to be related to the intention of choosing Hong
Kong as a travel destination. Congruent with this, analysis of the standardized
path coefficients indicated that the influence of past behavior on intention was
weaker than that of attitude and perceived behavioral control. Although research-
ers have suggested that past behavior should be added to the theory of a planned
behavior model in predicting intention and behavior (e.g., Quellette & Wood,
1998), no studies were found to investigate this potential predictor in social sci-
ence research related to international tourists. The current study filled this gap by
incorporating past behavior into the TPB, and found it as a significant predictor of
travelers’ intention of choosing a destination. However, the weak correlation
between past behavior and intention may suggest that more studies are required to
investigate this variable in other settings.
Based on findings of the study, a number of salient implications can be derived.
First, “experience” and “shopping and sightseeing” were beliefs that attributed to
the forming of attitude, and attitude can have an impact on respondents’ travel
intentions. Chinese travelers chose Hong Kong as a destination because they
wanted to experience this capitalist society, a world-renowned city, under the one-
country-two-systems management practice. Shopping and sightseeing tours have
become essential activities during their visit. The Hong Kong government can
increase its inbound tourism from the China market by capitalizing on Hong
Kong’s image as Asia’s premier international and cosmopolitan city with its
unique “East meets West” lifestyle. This message should be communicated to
potential Chinese travelers through various media. To enhance visitors’ shopping
experience, consumer protection laws should be strictly implemented to protect
shoppers’ rights. Code of ethics for hospitality, tourism, and retail operators
should also be stressed to ensure Chinese visitors of a “safe” travel environment.
The government could consider working with private sectors and public bodies to
develop more urban tourism products to further reinforce Chinese travelers’ atti-
tude toward Hong Kong. For other countries and regions where China is a major
inbound market, development of unique tourism products and services would be
helpful to build up the “experience” component for Chinese travelers. Some of the
examples of existing unique tourism products may include the traditional Korean
music, court dances or folk dances; the mountains and hill-tribes of Chiang Mai,
and beaches and marine life of Phuket in Thailand; and the authentic museums
and architectural buildings in Europe and North America. Governments of those
countries and regions could focus efforts in promoting tourism products to

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478 JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

potential Chinese travelers by emphasizing the unique experience they will obtain
from the visit.
Second, through an examination of the estimated standardized regression
coefficients, certain constraints affected Chinese travelers’ intention of visiting
Hong Kong. Barriers identified included both controllable and uncontrollable
factors to the Hong Kong tourism industry. For example, compared to mainland
China, the standard of living in Hong Kong is much higher—a fact that cannot be
controlled by the tourism industry. The way Chinese government regulates work-
ers’ leave is also uncontrollable. However, obtaining a visa is something that the
Hong Kong tourism industry could try to influence through lobbying efforts. The
Hong Kong government’s recent agreement with the Chinese government regard-
ing the relaxation and streamlining of visa issuance to allow more Chinese resi-
dents to visit Hong Kong is a step to facilitate travel. This issue should also be con-
sidered by other countries and regions where travel visa is still necessary for
Chinese tourists. The Hong Kong travel trade could also work with China’s out-
bound travel agencies on promoting Hong Kong as a destination. The safety and
security of Hong Kong may be highlighted in the promotional materials. The fact
that most guest contact employees in the tourism and retail industries can speak
Mandarin should also be communicated to Mainland Chinese tourists to alleviate
their concern about communication problems.
Third, as the number of previous visits by Chinese travelers increased, their
intention of revisiting Hong Kong became stronger. It is important for marketers
to treasure this group of potential repeat visitors who may not only revisit, but also
spread positive word-of-mouth about Hong Kong when they return home. To
encourage future visits and positive word-of-mouth, it is important to enhance
Chinese visitors’ satisfaction during their visit. Civic education for Hong Kong
residents to be hospitable, courteous, and helpful to tourists, particularly Chinese
visitors, could be provided by the Hong Kong government via school curricula
and/or public media campaigns. Government and civil bodies in wishing to attract
Chinese tourists may orient the public about Mainland Chinese culture and tourist
characteristics to prepare residents to be good hosts.
Limitations of the study included the sampling frame, which only had three cit-
ies, and the convenience sampling method used to select subjects. Therefore, the
population from which the sample was drawn might not be representative of the
general Chinese population, and the results cannot be generalized to other Chi-
nese travelers. Future studies may include a larger sample size with greater geo-
graphic representation of China’s various regions. Data can also be collected in
Hong Kong to examine actual visitors’travel behavior formation process. In addi-
tion, perceived behavioral control, attitude, and past behavior only explained 43%
of respondents’ behavioral intention indicating that other factors not included in
this study may also condition behavioral intention. In future research, a broader
variety of factors may be included to ensure the comprehensiveness of the predic-
tion model. Additional variables that may be investigated include emotional fac-
tors, prior visit satisfaction, competition from other destinations, and respon-
dents’ personal characteristics. The nature of past visits to Hong Kong, such as
their purpose, satisfaction level, duration, patterns (time laps between visits),

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 Lam, Hsu / THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR 479

package tour versus free individual travel, and travel arrangement could be
incorporated into the extended model.

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Submitted September 1, 2003

First Revision Submitted February 18, 2004
Final Revision Submitted May 4, 2004
Accepted May 14, 2004
Refereed Anonymously

Terry Lam, Ph.D. (e-mail: hmterry@polyu.edu.hk), is an associate professor in the

School of Hotel & Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong
Kong, PRC). Cathy H. C. Hsu (e-mail: hmhsu@polyu.edu.hk) is professor and associate
head, and the graduate programs director in the School of Hotel & Tourism Management at
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong, PRC).

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