Studying the Effect of Artificial Intelligence-Based Virtual Tourism on Tourists' Pro-Environmental Behavior with the Mediating Role of Green Innovation in Kashan City

The aim of the present study is to study the effect of artificial intelligence-based virtual tourism on tourists' pro-environmental behavior with the mediating role of green innovation in Kashan city. The type of research was applied in terms of its purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of its nature of the method. The statistical population was all tourists who had entered Kashan city. For sampling, simple random sampling method was used and to determine the sample size, the Cochran formula was used. Considering the unlimited size of the statistical population, the sample size was determined to be 384 people. Data collection was carried out using three standard questionnaires; artificial intelligence-based virtual tourism with 11 items, tourists' pro-environmental behavior with 7 items, and green innovation with 9 items. Validity was examined by confirmatory factor analysis and reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha (0.797). Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling using two statistical software SPSS 26 and Smart PLS 3. The results showed that AI-based virtual tourism has an impact on pro-environmental behavior with an impact coefficient of 0.876 and a T value of 6.044, AI-based virtual tourism has an impact on green innovation with an impact coefficient of 0.889 and a T value of 8.398, and green innovation has an impact on pro-environmental behavior with an impact coefficient of 0.273 and a T value of 4.938. Also, the results of the Sobel test showed that AI-based virtual tourism has an impact on pro-environmental behavior with a mediating role of green innovation with a T value of 8.037.