Civilized tourism behavior is supreme in improving destination image and promoting the tourism industry by encouraging citizens and overseas diaspora. The civilized or uncivilized tourist behavior of overseas Pakistanis has resulted to portray the positive/negative image of the country on global standing. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap through empirical evidence on this subject. This study investigates several determinants for tourism marketers by analyzing civilized tourism behavioral intention. This study used the national identity that compels tourists to behave in a civilized manner and developed a hypothesized model with three competing models to identify how national image affects civilized tourism behavior. The data were collected through a face-to-face survey from (N=508) Pakistanis, staying in Korea. For data analysis, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used. Results indicated a positive relationship among all constructs: national characteristics, national identity, virtue of patriotism, psychological ownership, and civilized tourist behaviors. Indirect effects showed that psychological ownership mediated the relationship between national characteristics and civilized tourist behavior, and virtue of patriotism and civilized tourist behavior. However, SEM results predicted the national identity model as the best fit model to the hypothesized model as compared to the national characteristics model and virtue of patriotism model. This study contributes that psychological ownership varies among Pakistani people who live abroad depending on long-term or short-term stay and accordingly influence the civilized tourist behavior to promote the country’s image.
Keywords: Behavior intention, Image, National identity, Patriotism, Tourist