Influential mechanism of farmers' sense of relative deprivation in the sustainable development of rural tourism

Abstract

Local farmers in rural areas are directly related to the sustainable development of rural tourism. We used in-depth interviews and grounded theory to construct a relationship model of the farmers' sense of relative deprivation, coping behavior, and sustainable tourism development; the model was tested by a questionnaire survey and a structural equation model. We found that farmers perceive 3 types of deprivation: horizontal deprivation, deprivation based on the concept of equity, and vertical deprivation. They typically choose 3 coping behaviors: passive acceptance, public opinion attack, and active resistance. These behaviors have different impacts on the sustainable development of rural tourism in regards to the economy, society, management, and ecology. Therefore, it is of practical significance to study and expand the understanding of the mechanism of these behaviors to construct a system that incorporates qualitative and quantitative information and provides suggestions for managing outcomes.

Keywords:

• Relative deprivation
• rural tourism
• sustainable development
• grounded theory
• in-depth interviews

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the reviewers for their beneficial suggestions that helped improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 From 2009 to 2019, there were only 31 articles on relative deprivation theory in tourism, including all journal thesis and degree thesis, please see http://kns.cnki.net/kns/brief/result.aspx?dbprefix=scdb&action=scdbsearch&db_opt=SCDB

2 Relative deprivation is first proposed and defined by American sociologist S.A.Stouffer, and later developed by R.K. Merton, became a theory of group behaviour. It refers to the sense of deprivation that occurs when people find themselves in a disadvantage by comparing their situation with a certain standard or a reference. This feeling can produce negative emotions, which can be expressed as anger, resentment or dissatisfaction. In simple terms, relative deprivation is a feeling that we feel entitled to but not own. See Stouffer et al.,(1949)．

3 Hongshan Village (Guangzhou) and Liupan Village (Sanya, Hainan) are actually rural tourism due to the local industrial policy. Historically, these two villages in our empirical part were specialized in plain farming activities before the industrialization in the mid-1990s. After a nearly 10 years industrialization promotion, however, the disadvantages prevail over the benefits during the development of the village, so that the “transforming into rural tourism” policy released by the local governments in the 2000s, and this is also a reason that these two villages are selected as our empirical samples.

4 Please see https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E5%B1%B1%E6%9D%91/1275511?fr=aladdin

5 Please see http://www.sanya.gov.cn/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zichun Xu

Zichun Xu Ph.D candidate in School of Law, Chongqing University, China. Her current research adresses the field of Economic law & Environment law & Ancient Chinese law. Address: Law School, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China. E-mail: [email protected].

Baoding Sun

Baoding Sun Professor in college of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Jilin. His research interests include Leisure Agriculture and Ecotourism. Address: College of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, 130118, China. E-mail: [email protected].