TITLE:
Study Tour Tourist Behavior Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior Influencing Factors Study
AUTHORS:
Jiaping Ruan
KEYWORDS:
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Study Tours, Behavioral Intentions, Shaoxing
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.12,
December
24,
2025
ABSTRACT: With the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry and the reform of quality education, study tours have become a research hotspot for scholars. A literature review reveals that few domestic academic studies focus on tourists as the primary research subject to analyze the influencing factors on their destination selection behavior. This paper takes middle school students in Shaoxing City as the research object, employing a research method combining theoretical research and empirical analysis. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, it identifies the influencing factors of study tour participants’ behavior. Different from adult tourists, middle school students have limited independence and economic autonomy. “Self-compliance” and “behavioral feasibility” are proposed as critical extensions to adapt the TPB framework to this specific demographic. Based on the mature theory of planned behavior, a conceptual model influencing tourists’ behavioral decisions is constructed through appropriate theoretical extensions, and empirical tests are conducted using correlation analysis and descriptive analysis. The study concludes that the influencing factors on the study tour behavior decisions of middle school students in Shaoxing City mainly include five aspects: travel motivation, destination imagery, related groups, self-compliance, and behavioral feasibility. Among these, travel motivation and destination imagery have a significant impact on the intention to choose a destination, while self-compliance and behavioral feasibility directly affect actual behavior. Based on the empirical research, targeted suggestions are proposed for the development of study tours in China.