{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,18]],"date-time":"2026-04-18T07:13:20Z","timestamp":1776496400538,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,16]],"date-time":"2024-02-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1708041600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"General Research Fund (GRF) of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong","award":["54218611919"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["54218611919"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study utilised divers\u2019 demographic characteristics, diving experience, and attitudes to analyse the association between these factors and divers\u2019 responsible underwater behaviour among Chinese scuba divers in Hong Kong. More innovatively, the measurement construct of diving attitude was further employed as a mediator to investigate its influence on the relationship between divers\u2019 diving experience and responsible underwater behaviours based on the conceptual framework of previous works in the literature. The questionnaire data for this study were collected at four of the most popular dive sites among the marine protected areas in Hong Kong, with 398 valid samples after eliminating incomplete questionnaires. Regression results demonstrated that divers\u2019 demographic characteristics could significantly predict their responsible underwater behaviour, with age (b = 0.10, p &lt; 0.05) and education (b = 0.15, p &lt; 0.05) being found to be positively associated with their diving behaviour. In addition, path analysis demonstrated that divers\u2019 diving experience and attitude could explain 13.6% and 22.6% of the variance in predicting their responsible diving behaviour, respectively. However, no mediation effect was found on the relationship between diving experience and responsible underwater behaviour relative to diving attitude, given the absence of statistical effects regarding the positive impact of divers\u2019 diving experience on their attitude (\u03b2 = 0.024, se = 0.022, t = 1.085, p = 0.279). Based on the research findings, theoretical and practical implications were discussed correspondingly, which are believed to be beneficial in promoting marine conservation and the sustainable development of marine-based nature tourism in Hong Kong.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs14020141","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,16]],"date-time":"2024-02-16T06:00:25Z","timestamp":1708063225000},"page":"141","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Exploring the Role of Determinants Affecting Responsible Underwater Behaviour of Marine-Based Tourists"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4619-896X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ke","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1619-0473","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lewis T. O.","family":"Cheung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"York Business School, York St. John University, Lord Mayor\u2019s Walk, York YO31 7EX, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Theresa W. L.","family":"Lam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Burnley Campus, 5500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anson T. H.","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, 141 Linnaeus Way, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6467-4985","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lincoln","family":"Fok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2017.03.030","article-title":"Determining the variables that influence SCUBA diving impacts in eastern Australian marine parks","volume":"142","author":"Hammerton","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. 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