Support for tourism: the roles of attitudes, subjective wellbeing, and emotional solidarity

Abstract

Research models applying social exchange theory to examine factors predicting residents’ support for tourism have been challenged for their inability to explain support fully. Recent studies drawing from other theories indicated factors that arguably play a role in the social exchange relationship between perceptions of tourism impacts and support. One factor of interest is the cognitive appraisal process eliciting emotional solidarity with tourists (ES), which arguably predicts support. According to cognitive appraisal theory (CAT), residents' emotional feelings toward tourists result from a mental evaluation of how tourism is perceived to impact one's wellbeing. Although tourism studies applying CAT are emerging, knowledge is limited about the cognitive appraisal process that elicits ES. This article examines the nature of a cognitive appraisal process eliciting ES. Data were obtained from a random sample of 1477 residents of Oregon, United States. Results from a structural equation model, show that perceived positive tourism impacts strongly predict ES. Additionally, perceived positive tourism impacts indirectly impact ES through the expected change of wellbeing. This study also reveals that perceived negative community tourism impacts have a negative relationship with ES. Moreover, ES strongly predicts support. The article closes with a discussion of research and management implications.

Keywords:

• Emotional solidarity
• tourism impact
• tourism support
• subjective wellbeing
• cognitive appraisal theory
• social exchange theory

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the residents of Oregon who participated in this study. The authors are grateful to Dr. Manuel A. Ribeiro and Dr. Kyle M. Woosnam for guidance on earlier drafts and the anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. Finally, the authors wish to thank Ms. Lara Jacobs for providing copy-editing services.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This article was prepared with funding from Travel Oregon.

Notes on contributors

Ian E. Munanura

Ian E. Munanura is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. He conducts research on topics integrating sustainable tourism, rural community well-being, and human-wildlife interaction.

Mark D. Needham

Mark D. Needham is a Professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. He focuses on social psychology and human dimensions of recreation, tourism, and natural resources (e.g. wildlife, forests, marine environments). He is also editor of the international journal Human Dimensions of Wildlife.

Kreg Lindberg

Kreg Lindberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University—Cascades. He focuses on tourism, subjective well-being, community resilience, and social science aspects of natural resources.

Chad Kooistra

Chad Kooistra is a Research Associate with the Public Lands Policy Group in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University. He studies collaborative forest and wildfire management and policy, public perceptions of forest disturbances, tourism impacts, and outdoor recreation management.

Ladan Ghahramani

Ladan Ghahramani oversees Travel Oregon's research program. She is interested in sustainable tourism and the focus of her dissertation was resident-tourist interactions.