A Study On The Cognitive Appraisal Process Of Tourists Under The Phenomena Of Cultural Heritage Looting

With the gradual rise of cultural and tourism integration,the importance of cultural heritage tourism is increasingly prominent,and a growing number of scholars focused on the phenomena of cultural heritage looting.Nevertheless,the discussion on the formation mechanism of tourist coping behavior is still insufficient because most of the previous literature about these phenomena were attracted to sustainable tourism.In order to explore the impact of cultural heritage looting on tourist coping behavior,this study constructs a study model after reviewing relevant literature,based on the cognitive appraisal theory,combined with the characteristics of cultural heritage looting.According to the cognitive appraisal theory,tourists will have different emotions by different cognition to the same or different stimulates;And these different emotions will lead to different coping behaviors.In this study,motivation is used as internal stimulates,tourists will have positive emotions and positive-negative emotions when they appraise their motivations by goal relevance and goal congruence.And then for tourists,both of the above emotions will further lead to national identity which is used as psychological coping and willingness to protect which is used as behavioral coping.At first,in order to determine the motivation of tourists,this study interviewed 20 tourists who had visited the phenomena of cultural heritage looting including the National Museum,the Old Summer Palace and the Mo Kao Grotto at Dunhuang.Finally,six dimensions were found mainly including to seek self-development,to educate the next generation,to seek memorable experience,interest in history and culture,to seek aesthetic,and to seek entertainment.A total of 407 visitors who experienced the phenomena of cultural heritage looting were targeted and their responses were collected by surveys.This study uses SPSS 26.0software for empirical analysis,including the exploratory factor analysis,regression analysis,and mediating effects.The empirical results show that tourists’ motivations of experiencing the phenomena of cultural heritage looting are significant antecedents of their cognition appraisals which induce their emotional experiences.Then,tourists’ emotional experiences significantly form coping behaviors which include national identity and willingness to protect.In addition,the mediation effect of tourists’ national identities are also identified as significant between their emotional experiences and willingness to protect.Theoretically,this study verifies tourists’ motivations of experiencing cultural heritage looting and expands the motivation theory to looting contexts.Then,this study develops the research model based on cognitive appraisal theory,which enriches the cognitive appraisal theory and expands the research on the formation mechanism of national identity and willingness to protect.Practically,based on the relationship between tourists’ emotional experiences,national identities and willingness to protect,as well as the mediation effect of national identity,this study puts forward relevant inspirations,which provides effective strategies for destinations to enhance tourists’ national identities and willingness to protect.