h i g h l i g h t sA model for sustainably reducing small traders' harassment behaviors was proposed. The framework was based on established theories of behavior modification. The framework was used to analyze Jamaica's visitor harassment mitigation program. Jamaica's program had clear learning gaps which compromised its long-term success.
a b s t r a c tThe goal of the paper was to put forward a theoretical model for sustainably changing small traders' harassment behaviors and to apply it to a destination that has been grappling with the problem for decades. One hundred and eighty-one newspaper articles, 37 annual tourism reports, and 20 other government documents were reviewed to determine Jamaica's visitor harassment mitigation initiatives and activities from 1957 to 2013. Also, seven leaders from 14 of the island's craft markets were interviewed to determine the effects of these programs on their constituents' harassment behaviors. The archives and interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The case analysis revealed that while Jamaica had initiatives likely to discourage their small independent traders' engagement in harassment behaviors, the initiatives developed to strengthen their knowledge of the desired less aggressive trading behaviors had deficiencies likely to limit their engagement in these behaviors. The framework had implicationsfor how measures to curtail visitor harassment are developed and tested.
The goal of the article was to use established theories of individual, organizational, and community learning to hypothesize ways tourism leaders could facilitate their small independent traders that harass visitors' unlearning of aggressive selling behaviors. Nine hypotheses were posited. For example by tourism leaders: placing greater emphasis on traders' engagement in the desired nonaggressive selling behaviors than on stopping their engagement in aggressive ones; not supporting traders' engagement in aggressive selling behaviors but instead openly supporting their engagement in nonaggressive trading; and taking steps to strengthen the traders' role in their community's tourism sector. The discussion has implications for how small traders' selling behaviors are managed at tourist destinations.
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