Evaluating the resident support for cultural tourism through a revised social exchange theory approach

Abstract

The Social Exchange Theory (SET) has been pivotal in understanding residents' support for tourism development. However, there is a need to understand the various factors determining residents' support for cultural tourism. This study mainly proposes a revised SET framework that includes residents' community attachment, community involvement, perceived cultural impact, attitude towards cultural tourism, and attitude towards cultural tourists, as well as their influence on resident support for cultural tourism. The study also investigates, firstly, the simple mediating effect of residents' perceived cultural impact between community attachment and residents' support for cultural tourism and between community involvement and resident support for cultural tourism; secondly, the parallel mediating effect of residents' attitudes toward cultural tourism and tourists between residents' perceived cultural impact and residents' support for cultural tourism; and thirdly, the serial mediating effect of residents' perceived cultural impact and attitude towards cultural tourism; residents' perceived cultural impact and attitude towards cultural tourists, between community attachment and residents' support for cultural tourism, and between community involvement and residents' support for cultural tourism. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire from a total of 500 respondents; 467 of those responses were deemed legitimate. The analysis is carried out using PLS-SEM in Smart PLS 4. The study results showed that residents' community attachment, community involvement, attitudes towards cultural tourism, and tourists are the significant positive factors influencing residents' support for cultural tourism. In contrast, residents perceived cultural impact does not significantly contribute to the residents' support for cultural tourism. The study also revealed that the residents' perceived cultural impact does not significantly mediate the relationship between community attachment and residents' support for cultural tourism and between community involvement and resident support for cultural tourism. However, the residents' attitudes toward cultural tourism and cultural tourists parallelly mediate the relationship between residents' perceived cultural impact and residents' support for cultural tourism. Moreover, the residents' perceived cultural impact and attitude towards cultural tourism; perceived cultural impact and residents' attitude towards cultural tourists, serially mediate the relationship between community attachment and residents' support for cultural tourism, and between community involvement and residents' support for cultural tourism. The study concludes that for cultural tourism to gain stronger support, tourism policymakers and planners must deeply understand residents' attitudes toward cultural tourism and tourists, as well as their involvement and attachment to cultural tourism. These factors significantly influence the level of support residents provide to the cultural tourism industry, either positively or negatively. The study's primary contribution lies in testing the revised SET model in Goa, India, an emerging cultural tourism destination, and offering valuable insights to inform effective cultural tourism planning and policymaking.