Which Construct is Better at Explaining Residents' Involvement in Tourism; Emotional Solidarity or Empowerment?
Keywords
emotional closeness; EQS; Orlando; residents' empowerment; structural equation modelling; sympathetic understanding; Welcoming nature
Abstract
Though residents' involvement is extremely important to foster sustainable tourism, explanations as to why locals become involved are rather scant. This research explores the role that emotional solidarity and empowerment play in explaining residents' involvement in planning for tourism. We collected a sample of 415 residents residing in three counties highly impacted from tourism in Central Florida – Orange, Osceola, and Seminole. Using structural equation modelling, we found that constructs tested in the model, including welcoming nature, sympathetic understanding, social empowerment, and political empowerment, explained 54% of the variance in residents' involvement in tourism planning. Furthermore, two relationships including the effect of resident emotional closeness on their involvement in tourism planning and the effect of resident psychological empowerment on their involvement in tourism planning were not significant. Interestingly, standardized regression coefficients were stronger for the two social and political empowerment factors in explaining resident involvement in tourism planning than for welcoming nature and sympathetic understanding factors. Our results thus contribute to empirically-rigorous, holistic modelling of residents' attitudes.
Publication Date
12-2021
Original Citation
Aleshinloye, K. D., Woosnam, K. M., Erul, E., Suess, C., Kong, I., & Boley, B. B. (2021). Which construct is better at explaining residents’ involvement in tourism; emotional solidarity or empowerment? Current Issues in Tourism, 24(23), 3372–3386. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1881051
Document Type
Paper
Language
English
Source Title
Current Issues in Tourism
Volume
24
Issue
23
Copyright Status
Unknown
College
Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Location
Rosen College of Hospitality Management
STARS Citation
Aleshinloye, Kayode D.; Woosnam, Kyle Maurice; Erul, Emrullah; Suess, Courtney; Kong, Inhye; and Boley, B. Bynum, "Which Construct is Better at Explaining Residents' Involvement in Tourism; Emotional Solidarity or Empowerment?" (2021). Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 1052.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ucfscholar/1052