The power of respect for authority and empathy - Leveraging non-cognitive theoretical constructs to trigger environmentally sustainable tourist behaviour

Behavioural change research for environmental sustainability is currently guided almost exclusively by a cognitive paradigm, which assumes that cognitive constructs drive behaviour and must be influenced to change it. This study challenges this dominant paradigm and tests two non-cognitive theoretical constructs - respect for authority and empathy - in the context of reducing buffet plate waste. Respect for authority (in contrast to empathy) passes the manipulation check and significantly reduces plate waste in a quasi-experimental field study in a Chinese hotel, providing proof of concept for a new, urgently needed, re-orientation in behavioural change intervention design. The intervention tested in this study can immediately be deployed by tourism and hospitality businesses who want to make their buffets more costeffective and environmentally sustainable. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY