At the end of 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time recognized a COVID-19 case in China and deemed it as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. “Over the past two weeks, the number of cases outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has increased 3-fold,” said WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( Dzulfaroh 2021).

To limit the spread of COVID-19, all governments globally were taking drastic measures by locking down entire countries or most affected cities and towns and banning outsiders from entering their countries ( Fotiadis et al. 2021). As a result, patterns of social, economic, and human behavior alter quickly and dramatically ( Cooke et al. 2021). This behavior change has resulted in reduced greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, noise pollution, and waste which makes beaches in different countries cleaner ( Ming et al. 2020; Bao and Zhang 2020; Dantas et al. 2020; Maji et al. 2021; El-Sayed et al. 2021; Rahman et al. 2021). However, it has also resulted in weakly enforced regulations and environmental law handling ( Corlett et al. 2020). Comparing the same period in 2019 to all tropical areas, deforestation increased by 63% to 136% ( Brancalion et al. 2020). In Gundaki Province, Nepal, COVID-19 has suspended all types of forestry and ecotourism-based businesses, research, and monitoring activities. It has also led to a drastic increase in illegal logging and poaching both inside and outside protected areas, a drastic reduction in the income of the middle and lower classes, and an increase in rural and urban poverty ( Laudari et al. 2021). Besides that, extensive protective measures such as mask and glove use have increased organic and inorganic waste in the environment ( Zambrano-Monserrate et al. 2020).

In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo and Minister of Health Terawan announced the Covid 19 case at a press conference at the Presidential Palace on March 2, 2020. Two patients with Covid 19 were confirmed. Patient 1 is a 31-year-old woman while Patient 2 was a 64-year-old woman. They are a mother and daughter who live in one house in Depok, West Java. Even though at the beginning of the pandemic the Government received much criticism from the public, on May 25, 2022, at the 7th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 in Bali, Indonesia was highly appreciated by the President of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, in his remarks at the event ( BNPB 2022).

Tourism is the backbone of the economy in Bali. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the impact was very significant. In the Bali Economic and Investment Forum on April 8, 2021, the Head of the Bali Tourism Office stated, “Three thousand employees were laid off and consequently increased the unemployment in Bali. While usually, it has the lowest rate nationally, it is now in 18th position” ( CNN 2021). The open unemployment rate in February 2020 was 1.25%, which increased to 5.42% in February 2021 and fell slightly to 5.37% in February 2022. The poverty rate increased, in March 2020 it was 165.19 (3.78%) while in March 2021, it was 201.97 (4.53%) ( BPS 2022). Like in other countries the laid-off employees generally returned to their hometowns and were involved in work.

Previous researchers (i.e., Pramana et al. 2022; Khalid et al. 2021; Zenker and Kock 2020; Higgins-Desbiolles 2020; Guridno and Guridno 2020; Baum and Hai 2020; Qiu et al. 2020; Nicola et al. 2020; Foo et al. 2021; Qiu et al. 2021; Škare et al. 2021; Abbas et al. 2021; Zhang et al. 2021; Fotiadis et al. 2021; Bae and Chang 2021) have studied the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on tourism. Reviewing these literatures, we found that (1) most of the studies were based on assumptions (useful for scenario analysis) and generally, they used secondary data or online survey, instead of the actual data taken in the field; (2) most of these studies did not focus on migrants affected by layoffs and acceptance of the hometown of the returning migrants; and (3) families of migrant workers who have laid of were affected by both internal factor (biological, psychological, and social) and external factor (assistance from the central and local governments).

This study aims to fill that gap. First, this study focuses on the hometown of the migrants by focusing on behavior of migrant-receiving families (especially managers of customary forests land and village forests). Second, this study collects field data. Third, this study examines internal factors using the planned behavior theory (TPB) to understand behavior of migrant receiving families. Gao et al. (2017) stated that although TPB has been widely used in predicting individual pro-environmental behavior, there are 2 limitations. The limitation is that TPB is a theory of self-interest and all variables in TPB are rational predictors ( Bertoldo and Castro 2016). In other words, TPB assumes that human behavior is simple, so that people make decisions using rational thinking; in fact human behavior is very complex ( Ajzen 1991; Petty and Cacioppo 1986). Thus, to improve the ability of TPB in explaining and predicting intentions and pro-environmental behavior, it is necessary to consider other variables to be included in the model ( Conner and Armitage 1998). This study has expanded the TPB framework by including THK (as a value) construct to measure the impact on behavior of customary forest and village forest managers.

TPB is the most frequently cited theory to explain human behavior ( Sussman and Gifford 2019). Numerous empirical studies have examined and validated this theory, which has been found to be an effective explanation for a range of pro-environmental behaviors ( Sarkis 2017; Du and Pan 2021). This theory is a development of the theory of reasoned action and was first proposed by Icek Ajzen in 1985. This theory states that human behavior is guided by 3 kinds of considerations, namely behavioral belief, normative belief, and control belief, which in turn produce certain results such as attitudes on behavior, subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) ( Yadav and Pathak 2017).

Values influence behavior when they are relevant to the context and important to the individual ( Schwartz 1992). Individuals hold a relatively stable set of values that are internalized from the early stages of life and change little later ( Schwartz 1994). In other words, values are used to characterize cultural groups, characterize society, and characterize individuals, to explain the motivational basis of attitudes and behavior ( Schwartz 2012). Schwartz’s approach is crucial for social-psychological study for various reasons. First, it directly deals with theory, and its fundamental components are included into early social scientific research ( Desender et al. 2011; Ahmad et al. 2020). Second, the framework makes use of value dimensions measurements that are consistent across cultures ( Burgess and Steenkamp 2006; Schwartz 2006; Ahmad et al. 2020).

Stern et al. (1993) proposed three value orientations that were pertinent to consumers’ environmental concerns as an early application of Schwartz’s value theory: self-interest, altruism toward other humans, and altruism toward other species and the biosphere. Later, Stern and Dietz (1994) asserted that a person’s perspective about themselves (egoistic value orientation), other people (altruistic value orientation), or plants and animals (biospheric value orientation) will determine how important they view environmental issues.

The term THK derives from the words “Tri” which means three, “Hita” which means happiness. and “Karana” which means cause. Therefore, lexically the term means three causes of happiness creation ( Yhani and Supastri 2020). Some examples of the implementation of our gratitude to God are (1) with sradha (belief or trust) and bhakti (activity of getting closer to God) giving yadnya (divine service) and praying to God. Doing Punia (offerings) without any strings attached, doing tirtta yatra (holy journey) to places that can lead to their sacred values; (2) Caring for others, especially to a relative (fellow) hit by a disaster. As role model that illuminates others, at least we must be a torch for ourselves first by diligently talking of virtue while doing a real action; (3) The natural surroundings or our environment is our closest mirror of caring for nature. The environment looks beautiful, clean, and neatly arranged, which means that we can realize one of the THK. In the Bhagawadgita it is said that “ Satatam kirtayatom mam. Yatantas ca drsha vrtatah. Namasyantas ca mam bhatya. Ni tyayuktah upsate” (IX.14) (Always exclusively praise Me and do the duty of service uninterruptedly. You who worship me unceasingly and with eternal devotion are close to Me) ( Budiastika 2022).

Thus, aim of this study is to improve understanding of the behavior of migrant receivers. In other words, this study aims to answer the question of the insignificant impact of the damage on customary forests and village forests management in Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study proposes 2 questions. They are (1) what internal factors significantly influence the behavior of customary/village forest managers; and (2) how these factors shape the behavior of the managers of customary forests and/or village forests.

This article illustrates the process as follows. The second section describes context, sample, measurement, and analysis of data. We present results and discussion in the third section. Finally, conclusions, limitations, and suggestions are presented in the fourth section.

The results of this study differ from the findings of research conducted by Yazdanpanah et al (2014) who examined water conservation-related behavior intentions across the Middle East and North Africa; Knussen et al. (2004) who examined intention to recycle household waste in Glasgow, Scotland; Ofoegbu and Speranza (2017) who examine at South Africa’s intention to adopt practical management and sustainable forest usage; where the three reported that at least one of the 3 predictors of behavioral intention in TPB (Attitude, SN and PBC) did not have a significant effect. Accordingly, the results of this study confirmed that the 3 predictors had a positive and significant effect. The findings of this study are consistent with the study conducted by Ajzen (2011) who states that ideally, the 3 predictors have a positive and significant statistical effect; Borges and Lansink (2016) who predicted cattle ranchers’ intentions in Brazil to adopt better natural pastures.

This study used the TPB model to understand, explain, and predict the behavior of families who receive the arrival of migrants in their areas. It identifies the reason for their willingness to cultivate forests sustainably. This study model includes the THK construct in the TPB model to understand, explain, and predict the behavior of land cultivators due to the impact of COVID-19. When COVID-19 hit, many company workers were laid off so they returned to their hometowns, which consequently more or less put pressure on the families who received their return.

The TPB model developed in this study shows that social psychological factors (attitudes, SN, and PBC) can explain and predict the intentions and behavior of forest managers. The THK variable included in the TPB model can explain and predict attitudes, SN, and PBC positively and significantly. Adopted values are defined as ideals and guiding principles in human life ( Rokeach 1973; Schwartz 1992). Likewise with THK are the values adhered to by the Balinese Hindu community and become the basis for displaying behavior.

Attitudes have a strong impact on people’s perceptions toward the attitude object and thus have an impact on behavior ( Fazio 1986). Attitudes can be positive or negative and contain moral beliefs, namely individual beliefs that something is moral or immoral ( Eagly and Chaiken 1993; Krosnick and Petty 1995; Skitka et al. 2005). Attitudes have a strong influence on the way humans perceive and understand the world ( Fazio 2000; Maio et al. 2019).

Because values are guiding principles and they are considered to guide our behavior ( Sagiv and Roccas 2017) through a series of variables including attitudes ( Homer and Kahle 1988), then, the values espoused will influence human feelings towards certain objects or people, which in turn will influence action ( Thorne et al. 2020). In this study, the values of THK adhered to by migrant-receiving families can shape their attitudes toward the sustainable forest management. They adhere to the values of THK principles that produce positive manifestations reflected in the continuous management forests sustainably even though they have migrants arriving.

Furthermore, espoused values may vary between individuals depending on their personality, needs, and circumstances ( Sheth et al. 1991). Adhered values are felt by individuals and can be shaped and influenced by others as many research results show that individuals are influenced by friends, relatives, co-workers, business partners, or other parties around them ( Paul et al. 2016). The results of this study indicate that the perception of migrant-arriving families to THK values is positive. This in turn forms the SN. The family feels that the THK values around them can influence their perception of SN. In this case, the reference group agrees or advises them to continuously carry out sustainable forest management. In other words, the reference group also adheres to THK values and may also sustainably manage forests.

PBC refers to a person’s beliefs about how easy or difficult or possible or impossible it is to perform a particular behavior ( Ajzen 1991). Many previous studies often used PBC as an antecedent of various behaviors related to environmental sustainability ( Fishbein and Ajzen 2010; Yuriev et al. 2020). PBC contains belief power which is an individual’s belief in the existence of factors that support him to behave. This belief is a consequence of the values held by the individual. The THK values adhered to by migrant-receiving families control their behavior concerning the sustainable forest management. The espoused value is an individual’s belief in the existence of factors that support him to manage forests sustainably. Thus, the espoused THK values can influence attitudes, SN, and PBC, which in turn influence the intention of cultivating forest land sustainably.