Validating a tourism development theory with structural equation modeling

doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(00)00062-5

Tourism Management

Volume 22, Issue 4, August 2001, Pages 363-372

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(00)00062-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study attempts to examine the structural effects of four tourism-impact factors on total impact and on local residents’ support for tourism development. To achieve the above goal, five research hypotheses are proposed. Three hundred and four questionnaires from a mail survey of randomly selected residents from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News area were analyzed. A confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling procedure were performed, respectively, by utilizing the LISREL procedure. Four exogenous constructs dealing with economic, social, cultural, and the environmental impacts and two endogenous constructs, including the variable of total impacts and support for tourism development were analyzed with structural equation modeling procedures. In the resulting structural equation model, five hypotheses are supported. The implications for tourism practitioners and academicians are discussed.

Introduction

Understanding local residents’ reactions towards tourism development and the factors that may influence their reactions is essential in achieving a host community's support for tourism development. Therefore, residents’ reactions towards tourism have been studied extensively by tourism researchers (Akis, Peristianis, & Warner, 1996; Ap, 1992; Belisle & Hoy, 1980; Chen, 2000; Getz, 1994; Hernandez, Cohen, & Garcia, 1996; Jurowski, Uysal, & Williams, 1997; King, Pizam, & Milman, 1993; Lankford, 1994; Lankford & Howard, 1994; Liu & Var, 1986; Long, Perdue, & Allen, 1990; McCool & Martin, 1994). These resident attitude studies frequently suggest that local residents’ support for community tourism business affects their perception of tourism impacts including economic (Davis, Allen, & Consenza, 1988; Getz, 1986; Perdue, Long, & Allen, 1990), environmental, social, and cultural elements (Fesenmaier, O’Leary, & Uysal, 1996; Gee, Mackens, & Choy, 1989; Gunn, 1988; McIntosh & Goeldner, 1990; Murphy, 1985).

Although tourism researchers agree that residents’ support is tied to economic, social, cultural, and environmental consequences, the structural effects of tourism impacts on local residents’ support for tourism business have not been rigorously investigated. This research uses an integrated approach mirrored from disciplines (e.g., marketing and education) other than tourism management to profile the structural effects of tourism impact on local residents’ support for tourism development. The tenet stipulated in this study is that perceived total tourism impact has four impact factors, and each impact factor influences the perception of other impact factors and the perceived total impact in varying degrees and different directions. Therefore, each impact factor has varying effects on local residents’ support for tourism development and these effects are mediated by perceived total impact. In order to examine the structural relationship between the perceived total impact of tourism and the local residents’ support for tourism development, a hypothetical model is proposed by using data collected from residents of the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News area in 1998.

Section snippets

The hypothetical model

Fig. 1 displays the hypothetical model. Each component of the model is selected based on the literature review. Past research discloses that residents’ support for future tourism is influenced by their perceived impacts of tourism. The above causal relationships between residents’ support and tourism impacts are referred to as tourism development theory. In this study, the hypothetical model breaks down the perceived impact of tourism development into four areas: economic, social, cultural, and

Tourism impact studies

Several researchers have investigated the host community's reactions towards tourism development in the context of social exchange theory (Turner, 1986) by examining how residents assess the expected cost and benefits of tourism (Lindberg & Johnson (1990), Ap (1992); Lindberg & Johnson, 1997; Perdue et al., 1990; Yoon, 1998). In the tourism context, social exchange theory suggests that local residents are likely to participate in exchange (support tourism development) as long as the perceived

Study sites and population

The Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News area is the research site based on its offering of fine multi-faceted tourism attractions, such as historical and cultural sites, theme parks, and beaches. The study population is the household members of Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News MSA (metropolitan statistical area). Specifically, this target population consists of residents who are over 18 years old in the communities of Gloucester, York, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Virginia

Results

Out of 2400 questionnaires mailed, 321 questionnaires were returned, yielding a 13.4 per cent response rate. Five questionnaires were excluded due to a large percentage of missing values. Prior to LISREL analyses, distribution of all measured variables was investigated by the review of the skewness and kurtosis of data. Zero-order Pearson correlations were calculated, and missing observations were managed by a listwise procedure. Correlation matrices and standard deviations were utilized to

Discussion and implications

The objective of this research is to model the local residents’ support for future tourism development according to critical factors that are proven to influence the host community's reaction towards tourism development. Based on current impact literature, a tourism support model with six paths was proposed. Using data obtained from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News area, the hypothesized paths were tested with a two-stage structural equation modeling approach. After the measurement model

Recommendations for future research

One of the purposes of this study is to develop a refined model of host community's support for tourism development. Findings of this study indicate that the developed tourism supports model fit was acceptable and the model explained an acceptable percentage of variance in host community support for tourism development. However, more rigorous testing of the model is required with different samples. In addition, researchers should further identify and examine other factors that may influence

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Muzaffer Uysal for initial knowledge and research direction as well as anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

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