A Combination of FDM, DEMATEL, and DANP for Disclosing the Interrelationship of Influencing Factors in Rural Homestay Business: Empirical Evidence from China

Lei-Yi Peng, Jia Lu, Jian-Ji Luo and Yu-Xuan Wang
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Lei-Yi Peng: Faculty of Tourism, Zhejiang Business College, Hangzhou 310053, China
Jia Lu: Faculty of Tourism, Zhejiang Business College, Hangzhou 310053, China
Jian-Ji Luo: Department of Tourism, Hangzhou Vocational School of Tourism, Hangzhou 310052, China
Yu-Xuan Wang: Hospitality and Tourism Management School, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: As a rural tourism product, homestays play an essential role in sustainability. The operation of homestay business is directly linked to the success or failure of community-based tourism development. By taking rural homestay business in Zhejiang as a research object, the paper aims to clarify the interrelationships among influencing factors in the operation of rural homestay business from a performance perspective. Based on multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques, this paper not only constructed the evaluation system of homestay business in the Chinese context by the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), but also disclosed the interrelationships of criteria and aspects by a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and the DEMATEL-based analytical network process (DANP). Results show that: (1) 5 aspects and 31 criteria comprise the evaluation system of homestay business, (2) the aspects and criteria with high global weight are nearly clustered into the effect group, (3) the weight of service quality and homestay geist and community co-prosperity as the rank top two, (4) more than these, hardware facilities construct the product features of homestays because of the role of driving elements, (5) owing to the core elements, criteria about operational efficiency become guiding principles of homestay business, and (6) service quality and integrated utilization of socio-cultural resources underpin the sustainable development of homestay business in the long run. Therefore, the interrelationships of aspects and criteria provide further insights and underline the focus on homestay business for practitioners. At the same time, these serve as an effective administration tool for industry administrations. These will lay a solid foundation to enhance the level of homestay business and boost the sustainable development of community-based tourism.

Keywords: rural homestay business; influencing factor; interrelationships; FDM; DEMATEL; DANP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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