Environmental awareness as a transfiguring factor of the sustainable behavior of the visitor to the Lachay National Reserve

Abstract

The objective of the research was to understand and explain the relationship between environmental awareness as a factor in transforming the sustainable behavior of visitors to the Lachay National Reserve. The research type is applied, with a mixed research approach and descriptive research method, using a sequential explanatory mixed method and a non-experimental and cross-sectional research design, with a correlational and explanatory scope. The population consisted of 19 326 visitors, with a quantitative method sample of 377 visitors and a qualitative method reaching saturation level in 15 interviews. The applied techniques included observation, document analysis, structured interviews, and surveys. The research resulted in the rejection of the null hypothesis in the quantitative analysis, confirming that environmental awareness is linked to the transformation of sustainable behavior among visitors to the Lachay National Reserve, with a Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient of 0,584, which is statistically significant and moderately positive, with a p-value of 0,000. In the qualitative analysis, environmental awareness transforms sustainable behavior through psychological factors such as environmental-cognitive knowledge, allowing the identification of environmental concerns, and landscape-affective factors. The interaction of cognitive and affective factors enables the generation of pro-environmental behaviors and attitudes.