The Research on Sustainable Tourism in the Light of Its Paradigms

Małgorzata Kieżel, Paweł Piotrowski and Joanna Wiechoczek
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Małgorzata Kieżel: Department of Marketing Management and Tourism, the University of Economics in Katowice, 40-287 Katowice, Poland
Paweł Piotrowski: Department of Marketing Management and Tourism, the University of Economics in Katowice, 40-287 Katowice, Poland
Joanna Wiechoczek: Department of Marketing Management and Tourism, the University of Economics in Katowice, 40-287 Katowice, Poland

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: This study investigates the nature and specificity of the concept of sustainable tourism against the background of the paradigm of sustainable development (with regard to the conditions for the implementation of its practices in Polish conditions). The study assumes the hypothesis that researching sustainable tourism as a category within a new scientific concept—i.e., an emerging paradigm of sustainable development—requires the use of an appropriate scientific methodology. This study, in its essential part, has an overview and theoretical character. A critical analysis of the literature on the subject from books and journals, as well as Internet sources, is used in the study. Documentary and observation methods are applied, and the results of qualitative research based on case study research methodology are presented; thus, the empirical part of the paper has an exploratory nature. Research on sustainable tourism as a category within an emerging paradigm of sustainable development shows that researchers use an appropriate scientific methodology, which is compatible with the interpretive paradigm in the highest degree. In case studies, the research is often limited to the analysis of one example. Due to the prevalence of studies applying qualitative methods, an interpretivist approach is prevalent, while a functionalist approach, associated with quantitative research and model testing, is less frequent.

Keywords: sustainable development; sustainable tourism; research paradigm; structural functionalism; interpretivism; methodology; methods; scientific method; qualitative research; quantitative research (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 (5)

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