Development of A Tool for Assessing the Reputation of Zoos: The Zoo Ethical Reputation Survey (ZERS)

Autor: Maria Michela Spiriti, Francesco Maria Melchiori, Paul Wilhelm Dierkes, Linda Ferrante, Francesca Bandoli, Pierfrancesco Biasetti, Barbara de Mori
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Animals, Vol 12, Iss 20, p 2802 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2076-2615
DOI: 10.3390/ani12202802
Popis: Nowadays, most zoos have taken prominent and active positions in endangered species conservation and educating visitors about the value of biodiversity. However, to be effective and trusted in their mission, they must act ethically and have a good reputation. Yet, the drivers that can influence their reputation are still little investigated, and there are still few studies focused on assessing the reputation of these institutions. In the present work, we report the development of a tool, the Zoo Ethical Reputation Survey (ZERS), and its pilot application to assess the opinions of the visitors of two zoos, one in Italy and one in Germany, on drivers that may influence the ethical reputation of zoos. Preliminary results based on the answers of 274 respondents show that visitors’ opinions on zoos acting with ethical responsibility are correlated with emotional appeal and familiarity with these institutions. The application of ZERS can help zoos identify weaknesses in their reputation and develop new strategies to improve people’s attitudes towards them, bringing many benefits to the individual zoo and zoological institutions in general.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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