Community Empowerment and Sustainable Tourism Development: The Mediating Role of Community Support for Tourism

Shahrukh Khalid, Muhammad Shakil Ahmad, T. Ramayah, Jinsoo Hwang and Insin Kim
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Shahrukh Khalid: Department of Management Sciences, Bahria University Islamabad 46220, Pakistan
Muhammad Shakil Ahmad: Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock 43600, Pakistan
T. Ramayah: School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
Jinsoo Hwang: The College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747, Korea
Insin Kim: Department of Tourism and Convention, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: Though community empowerment and sustainable tourism development (STD) have been discussed in the existing literature, little research has focused on the elaborate mechanisms between these two variables. Therefore, the present study examines the relationship between community empowerment and STD, along with the mediating role played by community support for tourism. Using social exchange theory, this research establishes theoretical relationships between vital variables for STD. A survey of empirical study was undertaken, and data were collected from 353 local residents in the northern area of Pakistan. The results for data analyses demonstrated a significant relationship between community empowerment and STD initiatives, and community support for tourism was shown to partially mediate the relationship between the two variables. The findings imply that high community empowerment enables the community to establish successful sustainable tourism development through local people’s support for tourism. This study contributes theoretically to identifying the idea that community members’ support for tourism has a crucial function bridging the link from community empowerment to sustain tourism in a local area.

Keywords: sustainable tourism development; community empowerment; community support; community-based tourism; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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