Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

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Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

Inuence analysis of community resident support for sustainable tourism

development
Tsung Hung Lee*
Graduate School of Leisure and Exercise Studies, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123, Section 3, University Road, Touliu, Yunlin 640, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 1 September 2011
Accepted 12 March 2012

This study aims to assess the support of community residents for sustainable tourism development using
the latent variables of community attachment, community involvement, perceived benets, perceived
costs, and support for sustainable tourism development and elemental data of the residents of the Cigu
wetland, which is located in southwest Taiwan. The analytical results suggest that community attachment and community involvement are critical factors that affect the level of support for sustainable
tourism development. The benets perceived by host residents affect the relationship between
community attachment and support for sustainable tourism development and between community
involvement and support for sustainable tourism development. Several managerial implications of this
study are introduced, and recommendations for future research are presented.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Community attachment
Community involvement
Sustainable tourism

1. Introduction
Recently, with the decline of traditional industries (such as rural
village industries, shing village industries, and aboriginal tribe
industries), some rural communities must explore alternative
means through which they can strengthen their economic resources
for community development (Lepp, 2007; Teh & Cabanban, 2007;
Wang, Yang, Chen, Yang, & Li, 2010). Community-based tourism has
become a viable option for developing traditional rural industries
because tourism can provide economic benets to local residents
(e.g., Bramwell & Lane, 1993; Mehmetoglu, 2001), promote host
destinations (e.g., Boo & Busser, 2006; Mehmetoglu & Ellingsen,
2005), and provide visitors with high-quality experiences and
greater environmental awareness (e.g., Lee, 2009a, 2011; Lepp,
2007; Shrestha, Stein, & Clark, 2007).
In Taiwan, community-based tourism is linked to both sustainable development and environmental conservation. Moreover, the
development of community-based tourism, especially in rural
villages, shing villages, and aboriginal communities, is a national
policy of Taiwans current government (Taiwan Tourism Bureau,
2011). The Cigu wetland is famous for its rich and diverse birdlife
and its lagoons and sandbars, has been the focus of the development of sustainable tourism in the area. This region, located in the
Southwest Coast National Scenic Area, has recently been developed
into a nature-based tourism site. Recent studies have assessed the
* Fax: 886 5 531 2183.
E-mail address: thlee@yuntech.edu.tw.
0261-5177/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2012.03.007

behavior of nature-based tourists visiting the Cigu wetland (e.g.,

Kerstetter, Hou, & Lin, 2004; Lee, 2009b, 2011).
The lifestyle of the communitys residents may inuence the
structural changes within the tourism industry occurring as a result
of the ongoing development of tourism, such as changes in the local
economics (e.g., Manyara & Jones, 2007; Simpson, 2008), social
changes (e.g., Bull & Lovell, 2007; Simpson, 2008), cultural changes
(e.g., Lee, Kang, Long, & Reisinger, 2010; Nyaupane, Morais, & Dowler,
2006; Simpson, 2008), and environmental changes (e.g., Dyer,
Gursoy, Sharma, & Carter, 2007; Lee et al., 2010; Simpson, 2008;
Yoon, Gursoy, & Chen, 2001). A community that plans and uses
tourism as an alternative means of strengthening its economic
development must develop sustainable tourism to meet the needs
and demands of its residents (Puczk & Rtz, 2000). The development
of sustainable tourism is difcult without the support and participation of the community residents (Fallon & Kriwoken, 2003; Gursoy
& Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas, Thapa, & Ko, 2009). Thus, the support of
residents is a critical factor for ongoing community development.
Understanding the precedents of support by local residents for
sustainable tourism development can help to promote sustainable
tourism because communities can assess these precedents to
predict the level of support by their residents. Factors that inuence
local community support for sustainable tourism development
have been extensively studied by tourism scholars. These factors,
such as attitudes (Lai & Nepal, 2006; Lepp, 2008), perceived effects
(Dyer et al., 2007; Yoon et al., 2001), community attachment
(Nicholas et al., 2009), and perceived benets (Gursoy, Jurowski, &
Uysal, 2002; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2011), may affect residents

38

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

support for sustainable tourism development. Moreover, prior

research has systematically examined the relationship between
support for sustainable tourism development and its perceived
effects. However, relatively few studies have been conducted on
community involvement and attachment among residents in
Eastern nations.
To ll these research gaps, this study aims to develop a theoretical model to examine the structural relationships between
residents support for sustainable tourism development and the
precedent variables of community attachment, community
involvement, perceived benets, and perceived costs. Practical
implications and further research are also discussed.
2. Literature review
In this section, I develop a theoretical model that discusses how
community attachment, community involvement, perceived
benets, and perceived costs correlate with residents support for
sustainable tourism development.
2.1. Residents support for sustainable tourism development
Sustainable development has been extensively discussed in
tourism sectors because such development can meet the needs of
tourists, provide opportunities to enhance economic growth,
protect physical locations, and improve the quality of life of residents while enhancing opportunities for the future through the
coexistence of tourism development and environmental quality
(Eagles, McCool, & Haynes, 2002). Thus, community-based tourism
development has become an important tool for sustainable
management (Sebele, 2010; Taylor, 1995).
Social exchange theory has been used to assess the support of
residents for tourism development. The residents of a community
decide whether to become dependent on the benets and costs of
tourism by weighting economic, social, cultural, and environmental
concerns (Ap, 1992; Gursoy, Chi, & Dyer, 2010; Gursoy & Rutherford,
2004; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2011; Yoon et al., 2001). Based on this
theory, if the host residents perceive that they are likely to benet
from such exchanges without incurring intolerable costs, then
these residents are likely to support and participate in exchanges
with visitors and to support additional community-based tourism
development. However, if the host residents perceive that
community-based tourism development would incur more costs
than benets, they are likely to oppose this development (Ap, 1992;
Gursoy et al., 2002; Jurowski, Uysal, & Williams, 1997).
Recently, many empirical studies have used structural equation
modeling (SEM) to examine the precedents of support for tourism
development, such as the perceived economic, cultural, social, and
environmental effects (Choi & Murray, 2010; Dyer et al., 2007; Ko &
Stewart, 2002; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2011; Oviedo-Garca,
Castellano-Verdugo, & Martn-Ruiz, 2008; Yoon et al., 2001) and
the perceived benets and costs (Dyer et al., 2007; Gursoy, Chi, &
Dyer, 2009; Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon,
2011; Vargas-Snchez, Plaza-Meja, & Porras-Bueno, 2009). Based
on social exchange theory, studies have found that the perceived
benets signicantly and positively affect support for tourism
development (Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy
& Rutherford, 2004; Kaltenborn, Andersen, Nellemann, Bjerke, &
Thrane, 2008; Nicholas et al., 2009), whereas the perceived costs
signicantly and negatively inuence support for tourism development (Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy &
Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas et al., 2009; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon,
2011). Clearly, the perceived benets and costs are the precedent
variables of residents support for tourism development.

Understanding the host residents support for sustainable

tourism development is a critical factor in the successful management and marketing of community-based tourism. Support for
sustainable tourism development related to nature-based tourism,
ecotourism, rural tourism, and heritage sites has been examined in
Western nations but remains an intensely debated subject in Eastern
nations (Gursoy et al., 2002, 2009; Lai & Nepal, 2006; Nicholas et al.,
2009; Tosun, 2006; Yoon et al., 2001). To ll these research gaps, this
study presents the following research hypotheses:
H1. The perceived benets of sustainable tourism directly and positively affect residents support for sustainable tourism development.
H2. The perceived costs of sustainable tourism directly and negatively affect residents support for sustainable tourism development.
2.2. Community attachment
Attachment reects a psychological connection between people
and meaningful or specic objects (Funk & James, 2006; Thomson,
MacInnis, & Park, 2005). Attachment-related concepts have been
developed and used to provide a general understanding of human
behavior. Such concepts include attachments to parents (e.g., Seskin
et al., 2010), religion (e.g., Peiner, Anderson, Hall, & Hall, 2010), pets
(e.g., Williams, Muldoon, & Lawrence, 2010), jobs (Stevens, Oddou,
Furuya, Bird, & Mendenhall, 2006), places (e.g., Smith, Siderelis, &
Moore, 2010), brands (e.g., Park, MacInnis, Priester, Eisingerich, &
Iacobucci, 2010), and communities (e.g., Nicholas et al., 2009). We can
better understand human behavior by evaluating these attachments.
Community attachment can be regarded as an individuals social
participation and integration into community life and reects an
affective bond or emotional link between an individual and
a specic community (McCool & Martin, 1994). Thus, community
attachment reects an individuals rootedness and sense of
belonging to a community (Kasarda & Janowitz, 1974).
The literature indicates that community attachment is a multifaceted psychological process that reects the affective, cognitive,
and conative (i.e., behavioral) domains of a persons attitude (Kyle,
Mowen, & Tarrant, 2004). Community attachment is a complex
construct for assessing the attitudes of the host residents toward
their communities. Based on research by Kyle et al. (2004), this
study indicates that residents attachment to their community is
demonstrated through the concepts of community identity,
community dependence, social bonding within a community, and
affective responses to feelings regarding a community.
The literature has provided diverse perspectives on the relationship between the community attachment of host residents and their
support for tourism development (McCool & Martin, 1994;
Pennington-Gray, 2005). For example, some authors have indicated
that community attachment directly and signicantly affects support
for tourism development (Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas et al.,
2009), whereas other authors have not found a signicant link
between community attachment and support for tourism development (Choi & Murray, 2010; Gursoy et al., 2002). Thus, previous
studies lack consensus regarding the specic ways in which residents community inuences their support for tourism development.
Recently, many scholars have used perceived benets and
perceived costs as the mediating variables in examining the role of
community attachment in the accurate forecasting of support for
tourism development (Choi & Murray, 2010; Gursoy et al., 2002,
2010; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas
et al., 2009). Some scholars have reported that community
attachment positively, directly, and signicantly affects perceived
benets and therefore indirectly affects the support of the host
residents for tourism development (Gursoy & Kendall, 2006;
Nicholas et al., 2009). Inversely, other scholars have reported that

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

community attachment signicantly affects perceived economic

benets and social benets but insignicantly affects perceived
social costs, perceived cultural benets, and cultural costs (Gursoy
& Rutherford, 2004). Moreover, several scholars have indicated that
community attachment does not signicantly affect the support of
the host residents for tourism development (Gursoy et al., 2002).
Consequently, the notion that community attachment affects
perceived benets and costs remains an intensely debated subject.
To compensate for this research gap, this study presents the
following research hypotheses:
H3. Community attachment directly and positively affects perceived
benets and indirectly and positively affects the support of the host
residents for sustainable tourism development.
H4. Community attachment directly and negatively affects perceived
costs and indirectly and positively affects the support of the host
residents for sustainable tourism development.

39

for tourism development. However, these authors reported that

community involvement did not have signicant effect on the level of
support for sustainable tourism development. Based on their
descriptive analysis, Nicholas et al. found that most of the host residents were not involved in the decision-making or management
processes of tourism development.
Few studies have applied the construct of the three levels of
community involvement to examine the relationships among
perceived benets, perceived costs, and support for tourism
development. To compensate for this research gap, this study
presents the following two research hypotheses:
H5. Community involvement directly and positively affects perceived
benets and indirectly and positively affects residents support for
sustainable tourism development.
H6. Community involvement directly and negatively affects
perceived costs and indirectly and positively affects residents support
for sustainable tourism development.

2.3. Community involvement

Community involvement describes the extent to which residents are involved in sharing issues about their lives with their
communities. Several studies have assessed the support of the host
residents for tourism development with a focus on the extent to
which these residents are involved in tourism (Gursoy et al., 2002;
Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Kaltenborn et
al., 2008; Nicholas et al., 2009). Community involvement can be
regarded as a critical factor in the development of communitybased tourism (Jones, 2005; Lepp, 2007).
Community participation plays a signicant role in the
sustainable development of community-based tourism because
community participation can increase the value of a community by
enhancing the positive effects of tourism and reducing its negative
effects (Jamal & Getz, 1995). Based on the notion that citizen
participation must be accompanied by power redistribution,
Arnstein (1969) developed a ladder of citizen participation as
a model to explain the inherent evolutionary steps of this process.
According to this model, three levels of gradual evolution, consisting of non-participation, degrees of tokenism, and degrees of
citizen power, are used to assess various levels of community
involvement and participation in community-based tourism
(Okazaki, 2008; Selin & Chavez, 1995).
Tourism studies indicate that engaging the local community in
management and decision-making can convince the community of
the need to integrate tourism into the local economy (Aas, Ladkin, &
Fletcher, 2005; Simmons, 1994; Wager, 1995). Sebele (2010) indicated that the involvement of the community in tourism provides
more opportunities for the host residents to benet from tourism
development.
Several tourism scholars have used perceived benets and costs
as the mediating variables between the support for tourism
development and community attachment (Nicholas et al., 2009)
and environmental attitude (Gursoy et al., 2002; Nicholas et al.,
2009) and as a means of assessing their theoretical models.
Unfortunately, the mediating effects of perceived benets and costs
on community involvement and support for tourism development
have rarely been observed. Therefore, it is worthwhile to examine
this linear relationship.
Although the extent to which the host residents are involved in
their communities has been repeatedly addressed as a means of
assessing support for tourism development (Simmons, 1994; Tosun,
1998), few studies have examined the linear relationship between
community involvement and support for sustainable tourism
development. Nicholas et al. (2009) used two concepts (management
and decision-making processes) to examine the precedent of support

3. Research methodology
3.1. Research instrument
On the basis of a review of the literature pertaining to
community-based tourism, a survey instrument was developed for
this study. This questionnaire included items that measured
community attachment, community involvement, perceived
benets of sustainable tourism, perceived costs of sustainable
tourism, and support for sustainable tourism development. Key
background information from the respondents was also included.
Four doctoral students who had completed a course titled Seminar
in Sustainable Management of Leisure Industry were invited to
discuss and assess this survey instrument.
Prior to the data collection, a pilot study was conducted on April
7 and April 11, 2010. In total, 98 usable questionnaires were
collected. The questionnaire items and Likert scales were assessed
by examining the Cronbachs alpha, percentage of missing data,
mean, standard deviation, item discrimination, skewness, kurtosis,
correlation coefcients, and factor loadings. The questionnaires
were further assessed for content validity based on feedback from
a scholar who specializes in nature-based tourism and eight local
host residents, who offered comments concerning item comprehensibility. Four items were deleted in response to the experts
comments. The remaining items on the questionnaire were used
because they met the criteria for the item analysis. However, I made
minor changes to the wording of some of the items to improve
comprehensibility. The nal questionnaire consisted of ve
sections, described as follows.
An 11-item scale was developed to measure the community
attachment of the host residents. The items included in this scale
were based on the ndings of Kyle et al. (2004) and Yksel, Yksel,
and Bilim (2010). Community attachment was composed of place
dependence (measured by three items), place identity (three
items), affection attachment (three items), and social bonding (two
items). The responses for the community attachment variables
were scored on a seven-point Likert scale.
The community involvement items were based on the ndings of
Nicholas et al. (2009) and Tosun (2006). Three items, which were
designed to measure the means and planning of involving local
community, were adapted from the research of Tosun (2006). The
level of community involvement pertaining to participation in the
management and decision-making processes was modied from
the study of Nicholas et al. (2009), and two items were used to
measure this level of community involvement. Thus, community

40

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

involvement was measured by including the participating stages of

means, planning, management processes, and decision-making
processes. The responses were scored on a seven-point Likert
scale ranging from 1 for strongly disagree to 7 for strongly
agree. Thus, a 4-item scale was developed to measure the
community involvement of the host residents.
For the perceived benets of sustainable tourism, the ndings
presented by Yoon et al. (2001), Gursoy and Rutherford (2004), and
Simpson (2008) were modied. The perceived benets of sustainable
tourism consisted of perceived economic benets (four items),
social benets (two items), and cultural benets (four items). As
described previously, the responses were scored on a seven-point
Likert scale. Thus, a 10-item scale was developed to measure the
benets perceived by the host residents.
For the perceived costs of sustainable tourism, this study modied
the ndings obtained by Yoon et al. (2001), Gursoy and Rutherford
(2004), and Simpson (2008). The perceived costs of sustainable
tourism consisted of perceived social costs (two items) and cultural
costs (two items). The responses were scored on a seven-point
Likert scale. Thus, a 4-item scale was developed to measure the
perceived costs incurred by the host residents.
A 6-item scale for support for sustainable tourism development
was constructed to assess the extent of a residents intention to
support sustainable tourism development, based on the ndings of
Nicholas et al. (2009). As described previously, the responses were
scored on a seven-point Likert scale.
The demographic variables included gender, age, marital status,
education level, occupation, income, and membership in
a community development association. These questions were used
to create proles of the respondents.

assistants and collect the survey data. One local resident in each
selected community was hired to act as a guide to search and
identify the target residents and conduct the questionnaire survey.
The questionnaire was administered at nine study sites on April 17,
18, 24, and 25, 2010; May 1, 2, 15, 16, and 30, 2010; and June 4 and 6,
2010. The questionnaires were administered using a direct face-toface survey methodology because of the strength of this method in
achieving high response rates. In total, 856 usable questionnaires
were collected.
3.3. Quality of the research instrument
Based on the sample size (N 856), this studys survey results
have a 3.3% sampling error with a 95% condence level. This sample
size seems to be adequate for performing the SEM analysis, based
on studies by Marsh, Hau, Balla, and Grayson (1998) and Westland
(2010). The Cronbachs alpha scores for the latent variables of
community attachment, community involvement, perceived
benets of sustainable tourism, perceived costs of sustainable
tourism, and support for sustainable tourism development were
0.93, 0.90, 0.94, 0.80, and 0.91, respectively. All of the scores
exceeded the benchmark of 0.70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).
Thus, these scores indicate that the instrument had an acceptable
level of internal consistency for items measuring the same
construct. The nal questionnaires were revised using an item
analysis method and by considering the comments of an academic
scholar and the chairman of one of the community associations in
the Cigu wetland, who indicated that the research instrument had
an acceptable level of content validity.
3.4. Data analysis

3.2. Sampling and surveying

The rst stage involved a stratied random-sampling method to
collect the eld data. The stratied random-sampling procedure
adequately ensured the representation of the diverse geographical
distribution of the residential areas of the community (Graziano &
Raulin, 2004). In the next stage, based on recommendations from
some of the chairmen of the community development associations,
nine communities that were located within the Cigu wetland and
that were involved in wetland tourism development were selected
for this study: Dujia, Shihfen, Sinan, Sangu, Yancheng, Dacheng,
Longshan, Cigu, and Jhongliao. The sample size for each community
was determined by the proportional population of each community
relative to the total population of the research area (see Table 1).
Third, eight graduate students majoring in leisure sciences were
hired and trained in research data collection techniques (such as
face-to-face questionnaire administration, randomized sampling,
and techniques for reducing refusal rates) to act as research

The descriptive statistics and the proles of the host residents

were evaluated using SPSS 17.0 for Windows. The conrmatory
factor analysis (CFA) and SEM were analyzed by using LISREL 8.70
for Windows. First, the proposed theoretical model was examined
using CFA to assess the effectiveness of the measurement model. To
closely examine the measurement model and ensure the quality of
the assessment measurement model, the model ts, composite
reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of
community attachment, community involvement, perceived
benets, perceived costs, and support for sustainable tourism
development were assessed. Second, SEM analysis was used to
estimate all of the SEM parameters using the maximum likelihood
method. The direction and signicance of the relationships were
determined by simultaneously testing all of the hypotheses.
4. Findings
4.1. Proles of the respondents

Table 1
Sampling frame for local community residents based on population.
Community

Population (N)a

Usable sample (N)

Usable sample (%)

Dujia
Shihfen
Sinan
Sangu
Yancheng
Dacheng
Longshan
Cigu
Jhongliao
Total

1081
1661
431
1740
535
2181
2119
1184
892
11,824

83
117
28
126
38
159
153
88
64
856

7.68
7.04
6.50
7.24
7.10
7.29
7.22
7.43
7.17
7.24

a
Data from Cigu Township Household Registration Ofce (2010) in February
2010. Based on Chi-square test (Chi-square 0.78, df 8), the usable sample of each
site was equal percentage of the survey.

Briey, 54.1% of the respondents were female; 70.6% were

married; 23.9% were aged between 41 and 50 years, and 21.4% were
aged between 31 and 40 years; 35.6% had completed a high school
education, and 33.3% had achieved only a junior high school or
elementary school education; 17.5% were laborers; 20.2% had lived in
the community for 11e20 years; and 53.8% had a monthly income of
less than NT $ 20,000, and 31.6% had a monthly income between NT $
20,001 and NT 40,000 (1 US$ 29.02 NT $ as of August 26, 2011).
4.2. Measurement model
A measurement model species how latent variables or hypothetical constructs are assessed in terms of observed variables and
represent the validity and reliability of the observed variables

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

responses for the latent variables (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Hair, Black,
Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2006). Because the initial CFA model
failed to provide an acceptable t, four items (My friends/family
would be disappointed if I were to live in another community, I
encourage the residents of this community to invest in the development of sustainable tourism, Increase the crime rate, and I
obey regulatory environmental standards to reduce the negative
effects of tourism) were eliminated to obtain an acceptable model
(Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). In a further attempt to obtain a bettertting measurement model, modication indices provided by LISREL were used for the model modication (Jreskog & Srbom,
1996). The results of the revised CFA indicated that the chi-square
(c2) value of the model was 1249.10, with 437 degrees of freedom
(p < 0.05), which implies that the measurement did not t the data
well. A large sample size may have rendered this test an inadequate
measure of the models tness because sample size can affect the
value of c2 (McDonald & Ho, 2002). The other model t indices used
for this study were the c2/df (1249.10/437 2.86; threshold less 3
for a serious viewpoint or less 5 for acceptable criteria), the goodness-of-t index (GFI) of 0.92, the adjusted goodness-of-t index
(AGFI) of 0.90, the normed t index (NFI) of 0.98, the non-normed
t index of 0.98, the comparative t index (CFI) of 0.99, the root
mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.047, the critical N
of 359, and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) of
0.040. Based on these t indices, the measurement model appeared
to t the sample data well (Hair et al., 2006).
Table 2 lists the factor loadings, t-values, average variance
extracted (AVE), and composite reliability for the variables. All of
the composite reliability values exceeded 0.60, demonstrating
a high level of internal consistency for the latent variables. The
measurement reached convergent validity at the item level because
all of the factor loadings exceeded 0.50. Furthermore, all of the
indicators of the t-values that were associated with each of the
completely standardized loadings exceeded 1.96, thus reaching
statistical signicance (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). All of the factor
loadings exceeded 0.50 and were signicant (t > 1.96, p < 0.05);
thus, these values constitute evidence of convergent validity. All of
the intercorrelations between pairs of constructs were less than the
square root of the AVE estimates of the two constructs, providing
discriminant validity (Table 3; Hair et al., 2006). Additionally, the
convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated using the AVE.
The tests criterion requires that each value of AVE should exceed
0.50 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). All of the AVE for community attachment,
community involvement, perceived benets, perceived costs, and
support for sustainable tourism development exceeded the
threshold of 0.50, indicating that this study had adequate levels of
convergent and discriminant validity.
4.3. Structural model
The goodness-of-t level of the structural model can be assessed
using many of the statistics within the SEM analysis (McDonald &
Ho, 2002). Previous studies have applied the c2 test in addition to
other measures, such as c2/df, the NFI, the CFI, the RMSEA, and the
SRMR, to assess model tness (Jreskog & Srbom, 1996; McDonald
& Ho, 2002). In this study, the c2 test (c2 1434.76, df 441,
p < 0.05) was unable to determine the goodness-of-t level of the
model, possibly because of the studys large sample size. However,
a c2/df (1434.76/441 3.25) ratio of less than 5 is generally
considered to be indicative of a reasonable t between the
proposed model and the data on which the model is constructed
(Kline, 2005). The other goodness-of-t statistics that I obtained
included the NFI (0.98), CFI (0.98), critical N (314), RMSEA (0.051),
and SRMR (0.061), all of which indicated an acceptable level of
model tness for the structural modeling of the data.

41

Table 2
Factor loadings, average variance extracted and composite reliability of the
measurement model.
Variables
Community attachment
The settings and facilities provided by this
community are the best
I prefer living in this community over
other communities
I enjoy living in this community more
than other communities
I identify the living in this community
I feel that this community is a part of me
Living in this community says a lot
about who I am
Living in this community means a lot to me
I am very attached to this community
I feel a strong sense of belonging to
this community
Many of my friends/family prefer this
community over other communities
Community involvement
I participate in sustainable tourism-related
activities
I support research for the sustainability
of this community
I am involved in the planning and
management of sustainable tourism
in this community
I am involved in the decision-making for
the sustainable tourism of this community
Perceived benets
Increase employment opportunities
Increase shopping opportunities
Increase the revenues from visitors for
local governments
Increase business for local people and
small businesses
Increase opportunities for leisure and
tourism
Improve the conditions of roads and
other public facilities
Provide an incentive for the preservation
of local culture
Develop cultural activities by local residents
Increase cultural exchanges between
visitors and residents
Increase positive effects on cultural identity
Perceived costs
Increase the prices of goods and services
Increase environmental pollution
Increase conicts between visitors and
residents
Support for sustainable tourism development
I support the development of
community-based sustainable
tourism initiatives
I participate in sustainable
tourism-related plans and development
I participate in cultural exchanges
between local residents and visitors
I cooperate with tourism planning and
development initiatives
I participate in the promotion of
environmental education and conservation
a
b

Factor
loadings

AVEa

CRb

0.56

0.93

0.68

0.90

0.60

0.94

0.55

0.79

0.65

0.91

0.65
0.78
0.78
0.78
0.79
0.80
0.78
0.66
0.73
0.72

0.84
0.84
0.82

0.80

0.72
0.73
0.71
0.83
0.86
0.78
0.73
0.79
0.79
0.76
0.73
0.79
0.70

0.80

0.84
0.84
0.86
0.71

AVE: Average variance extracted (Sl2)/[Sl2 S(q)].

CR: Composite reliability (Sl)2/[(Sl)2 S(q)] (Jreskog & Srbom, 1996).

Fig. 1 shows the path diagram for these structural relationships.

The SEM analysis revealed that the perceived benets of sustainable tourism directly, positively, and signicantly affected support
for sustainable tourism development (b31 0.69, t 17.15,
p < 0.001); thus, H1 was accepted. The perceived costs of sustainable tourism directly, negatively, and signicantly affected support

42

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

Table 3
Correlation matrix of the latent variables.
Latent variable

Community attachment

Community involvement

Perceived benets

Perceived costs

Community attachment
Community involvement
Perceived benets
Perceived costs
Support for sustainable
tourism development

0.75
0.27
0.45
0.04
0.40

0.82
0.32
0.03
0.53

0.77
0.18
0.66

0.74
0.13

Support for sustainable

tourism development

0.81

Diagonal values indicated the square root of average variance extracted of each construct.

for sustainable tourism development (b32 0.24, t 7.38,

p < 0.001); thus, H2 was accepted.
Community attachment directly, positively, and signicantly
affected the perceived benets of sustainable tourism (g11 0.40,
t 9.83, p < 0.001) and indirectly, positively, and signicantly
affected support for sustainable tourism development
(0.40  0.69 0.28, p < 0.001); thus, H3 was accepted. Community
attachment directly, negatively, and insignicantly affected the
perceived benets of sustainable tourism (g21 0.06, t 1.43,
p > 0.05) and indirectly and insignicantly affected support for
sustainable tourism development (0.06  (0.24) 0.01,
p > 0.05); thus, H4 was rejected.
Community involvement directly, positively, and signicantly
affected the perceived benets of sustainable tourism (g12 0.25,
t 6.78, p < 0.001) and indirectly and signicantly affected support
for sustainable tourism development (0.25  0.69 0.17,
p < 0.001); thus H5 was accepted. Community involvement directly,
negatively, and insignicantly affected the perceived costs of
sustainable tourism (g22 0.07, t 1.63, p > 0.05) and indirectly
and insignicantly affected support for sustainable tourism development ((0.07)  (0.24) 0.02, p > 0.05); thus, H6 was rejected.
Moreover, the competing models (CMs) were further assessed to
determine the best model in comparison with the proposed theoretical model (TM). Table 4 lists the statistical indices of the TM and
the CMs. An insignicant change in the c2 statistics between the
nested models was used as a test of invariance (Byrne, 1993). The
differences in the c2 values were used to determine whether the
two competing nested models differed signicantly in their ability
to explain the estimated construct covariance in the SEM analysis
(Jreskog & Srbom, 1996). To assess the ts of the models, I
determined the best-tting model (i.e., CM3) by comparing the four
competing models with the TM. Consequently, CM3 was chosen as
an alternative model for this study (Fig. 2).
Based on the SEM analysis of this model, the perceived benets
of sustainable tourism have a partial mediating role between
community attachment and support for sustainable tourism

development and between community involvement and support

for sustainable tourism development. Community attachment
directly and signicantly affected support for sustainable tourism,
but the indirect effect via the perceived costs of sustainable tourism
was insignicant; thus, perceived costs do not have a mediating
role between community attachment and support for sustainable
tourism development. Similarly, community involvement directly
and signicantly affected support for sustainable tourism, but the
indirect effect via the perceived costs of sustainable tourism was
insignicant; therefore, perceived costs do not have a mediating
effect between community involvement and support for sustainable tourism development.
5. Discussion
The means by which perceived benets and costs affect the
support of the host residents for sustainable tourism development
has rarely been studied within the populations of Eastern nations. In
this study, the perceived benets variable is a positive precedent
variable of support for sustainable tourism development. This
nding corresponds with the results from previous studies that have
been conducted in Western nations (Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy &
Kendall, 2006; Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Kaltenborn et al.,
2008; Nicholas et al., 2009; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2011). Similarly, the perceived costs variable is a negative precedent variable of
support for sustainable tourism development. This nding also
corresponds with the results from previous studies in Western
nations (Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy &
Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas et al., 2009; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon,
2011). Based on the social exchange theory, perceived benets and
costs are effective predictors of the support for sustainable tourism
development. Thus, this study suggests that the perceived benets
and costs of sustainable tourism affects support for sustainable
tourism development, and the behavioral model of the host residents reects international and multicultural perspectives on
community-based sustainable tourism development.

Fig. 1. Final model of the proposed theoretical model.

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

43

Table 4
Fit indices for the theoretical model and competing models.
Competing models

TM

CM1

CM2

CM3

CM4

CM5

Chi-square

1434.76
df 441, p < 0.05
3.25
0.91
0.89
0.98
0.98
0.98
0.98
1.88
0.051
0.061
314

1434.09
df 440, p < 0.05
3.26
0.91
0.89
0.98
0.98
0.98
0.98
1.88
0.051
0.058
316

1299.72
df 440, p < 0.05
2.95
0.91
0.90
0.98
0.98
0.99
0.99
1.73
0.048
0.047
346

1295.52
df 439, p < 0.05
2.95
0.91
0.90
0.98
0.98
0.99
0.99
1.72
0.048
0.046
347

1672.32
df 445, p < 0.05
3.76
0.89
0.87
0.97
0.97
0.98
0.98
2.15
0.057
0.19
253

1462.15
df 440, p < 0.05
3.32
0.90
0.88
0.97
0.98
0.98
0.98
1.92
0.052
0.061
309

Chi-square/df
GFI
AGFI
NFI
NNFI
CFI
IFI
ECVI
RMSEA
SRMR
Critical N

TM Theoretical model. CM1 TM with community attachment / support for sustainable tourism development path added. CM2 TM with community
involvement / support for sustainable tourism development path added. CM3 TM with both community attachment / support for sustainable tourism development and
community attachment / support for sustainable tourism development paths added. CM4 Only paths with community attachment / support for sustainable tourism
development and community involvement / support for sustainable tourism development remained. CM5 TM with community attachment / community involvement
path added.

This study employed a multi-dimensional approach (i.e.,

community identity, community dependence, community affection, and social bonding) to assess whether community attachment
may be more rigorous than has been reported in previous studies
(e.g., Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy &
Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas et al., 2009) that employed a singledimensional approach to studying and discussing community
attachment. My results indicate that community attachment
directly and positively correlates with perceived benets and
indirectly and positively correlates with support for sustainable
tourism development. Therefore, community attachment can be
used to effectively assess support for sustainable tourism development. A resident who has greater community attachment will be
more likely to support sustainable tourism development. Although
my nding that community attachment affects the perceived
benets of the host residents conicts with the results of previous
studies, this variance may be explained by differences pertaining to
the studied community development stages and the attitudes of
the host residents (Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006;
Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Nicholas et al., 2009). This nding is
consistent with the ndings of previous studies regarding the
support behavior of the host residents (Gursoy & Kendall, 2006;

Nicholas et al., 2009). Moreover, my results indicate that the

perceived benets have a mediating effect between community
attachment and support for sustainable tourism development. This
result diverges from the conclusions drawn by previous studies
(Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Nicholas et al., 2009).
A signicant relationship was not found between community
attachment and perceived costs. Therefore, community attachment
is not an effective predictor of the perceived costs of sustainable
tourism. This nding is consistent with some previous studies
(Gursoy et al., 2002; Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004; Jurowski et al.,
1997) but conicts with the results of other studies (Gursoy et al.,
2002; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006; Gursoy & Rutherford, 2004;
Nicholas et al., 2009).
Gursoy et al. (2002) reported the signicant relationship of
community attachment leading to perceived benets and
perceived benets, in turn leading to support for tourism development. However, the relationship between community attachment and support for tourism development remains
undetermined. Nicholas et al. (2009) attempted to examine the
effect of community involvement on the perception of the Pitons
Management Area (PMA) as a heritage site and on the level of
support for sustainable tourism development. Unfortunately, these

Fig. 2. Structural model of CM3.

44

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

authors did not examine community involvement as a precedent

variable of perceptions regarding the PMA and the level of support
for sustainable tourism development. Nicholas et al. indicated that
most respondents in their study were not actively involved in their
community, nor were they involved in the management or the
decision-making processes of the PMA. This lack of involvement
may explain the absence of a relationship between community
involvement and perceived benets. In this study, the ve items
that were included in the three stages of host residents community
participation and that were used to assess community involvement
reect the various levels of community participation. Consequently,
the positive and signicant relationship of community
involvement / perceived benets / support for sustainable
tourism development was examined. This paper has contributed to
the literature in this area of study by examining the linear relationship among these variables. Moreover, on the basis of the
competing model in this study (Table 4), perceived benets play
a partial mediating role between community attachment and
support for tourism development. This nding lled the research
gap regarding community-based tourism and indicated that,
similar to the ndings of previous studies, support for sustainable
tourism development relies more on perceived benets than on
perceived costs (Dyer et al., 2007; Gursoy & Kendall, 2006).
Few studies have examined the relationship between community involvement and perceived costs. In this study, a signicant
relationship between these two latent variables was not found.
Therefore, the degree to which community involvement affects the
perceived costs of sustainable tourism remains undetermined.
However, in the analytical results of the comparisons between the
proposed theoretical model and competing models, this study
found that community involvement, rather than perceived costs,
directly affects the host residents support for sustainable tourism
development. Thus, a mediating effect of the perceived costs
between community attachment and the host residents support
for sustainable tourism development was not found. Thus, this
study indicates that as the host residents level of community
involvement increases, the residents support for sustainable
tourism development also increases.
Finally, I conclude that this study examined how community
attachment signicantly and directly correlates with perceived
benets and indirectly correlates with support for sustainable
tourism development. Similarly, community involvement signicantly and directly correlates with perceived benets and indirectly
affects support for sustainable tourism development for the host
residents living in a community-based tourism area. The ndings of
these linear relationships are the original ndings in this study of
Eastern nations and wetlands-related community-based tourism.
Thus, this study contributes to the literature on behavioral models
of community-based tourism.
6. Implications
6.1. Management implications
Community-based tourism produces economic benets that
result from the conservation of natural and cultural resources and
directly assists both local communities and nations in achieving
sustainable environmental development (Lewis, 2001). Consequently, the development of community-sustainable tourism is
worthwhile. According to my analytical results, community
attachment is a precedent variable of perceived benets and of
support for sustainable tourism development. Moreover, four
dimensions were used to effectively measure the level of community attachment. Therefore, I suggest that the managers or
marketers of community development associations can develop

programs to foster community attachment among host residents.

First, the promotion of a community-based festival or event, for
example, could lead to an increase in the level of community
attachment exhibited by host residents. Increased levels of
community attachment will cause increases in the perceived
benets and support for sustainable tourism development among
host residents (Filo, Funk, & OBrien, 2008). Second, programs
designed to protect a communitys environment and maintain its
standard of living will increase the community dependence of its
host residents. If host residents have a high level of community
dependence on natural and living resources, then they will also
exhibit a high level of perceived benets and will thus support
sustainable tourism development. Third, the results of this study
encourage the implementation of community-based programs or
activities that can foster emotional connections among community
residents.
Simultaneously, these promotional programs should emphasize
community involvement. Such programs should be designed to
increase the level of activity involvement for host residents. For
example, local governments should provide opportunities for host
residents to participate in tourism-related activities and to invest in
the development of community-based tourism. Moreover, the
managers of these communities should provide opportunities for
residents to become involved in the planning and management of
sustainable tourism development within their communities. The
increased involvement of host residents in sustainable tourism
decision-making processes is critical for the support of sustainable
tourism development. Thus, the ndings of this study offer
important insights for managers of community initiatives in
developing sustainable tourism.
The perceived benets have a mediating effect between
community attachment and support for sustainable tourism
development and between community involvement and support
for sustainable tourism development. Therefore, community
managers should focus on activities that can increase the perceived
benets of sustainable tourism among host residents, such as
developing cultural activities, increasing cultural exchanges
between visitors and residents, and increasing opportunities for
leisure and tourism. Moreover, tourism industries in local
communities should give priority for employment to host residents
to generate local employment opportunities and realize the
perceived benets from tourism development (Lepp, 2007). By
increasing the perceived benets, managers could ensure that host
residents would be more likely to lend their support for sustainable
tourism development.
6.2. Recommendations for future studies
Despite its contributions, this study has several limitations that
should be addressed in future research. First, this study focused
only on a wetland community. Different types of communities, such
as aboriginal communities, agricultural communities, and shing
communities, may hold differing opinions regarding sustainable
tourism development. To overcome this limitation, future studies
should conduct similar surveys across a wide spectrum of
community types. Given the need to assess the effects of
community attachment and community involvement on
support for sustainable tourism development, future research
should thoroughly examine this behavioral model in relationship to
the host residents. Thus, it would be useful to assess whether this
model can be applied to other forms of community-based tourism.
Next, the respondents in this study were sampled randomly over
a period of one year. Although this sampling approach allowed us to
assess the suitability of the current behavioral model for the host
residents, only cross-sectional data were assessed. I could not

T.H. Lee / Tourism Management 34 (2013) 37e46

examine longer periods of time. Thus, my method may be associated with a common method variance created by the methodology
itself (Sekaran, 1992). Moreover, only communities involved in
tourism development were sampled. It would be interesting to
survey the attitudes of communities that are not involved in
tourism. To overcome this limitation, future research should
examine communities that are involved and others that are not
involved in tourism development. These populations should be
compared by testing the moderating effect of community
involvement in tourism. Additionally, perceived benets and costs
may change as the effects of sustainable tourism development are
realized. Further research is necessary to investigate data pertaining to host residents over the course of multiple years to better
understand this model of support for sustainable tourism development; it would be useful to perform a longitudinal study of the
support of residents for sustainable tourism development.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary material related to this article can be found
online at doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2012.03.007.
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