A geographical approach to trust in tourism

Abstract

Within tourism research, trust has largely been conceptualised from psychological perspectives, allowing insights into the mechanisms through which resident/stakeholder relations generate trust. Whilst this work is valuable in understanding dynamics of trust relations, such focus has meant less attention has been given to the ways space influences trust in tourism contexts. Thus a geographical approach is put forth to understanding trust in tourism. Through observation and semi-structured interviews concerned with the implementation of a community tourism project in southwest China, insights are provided illustrating how trust is inscribed in place. It is shown that in the Chinese context, cultural place based specifities relating to pre-existing governance structures, social hierarchies, and the intersection of power, knowledge and trust influence the (in)abilities of NGOs to develop trust with specific residents. More meaningful dialogue between tourism research and geographical conceptualisations of trust is called foras a way to attend to spatial and scalar differences in understandings of trust within tourism contexts.

Tourism and Trust: Theoretical Reflections

“…In terms of “stages,” unsurprisingly, dispositional trust does not feature prominently, but several researchers have addressed institutional trust. Moscardo et al (2017) explore social capital but the most direct engagement has come from Sun, Yang, and de Jong (2019) who, although writing from a geographical perspective, does draw on sociological theories in addressing the importance of cultural specificities in shaping trust. Attitudes and beliefs receive more attention, mainly in the work of Nunkoo and associates (e.g., Nunkoo and Ramkissoon 2011; Nunkoo and Gursoy 2016).…”

“…Turning to the four contexts, there is little research on tourist–tourism provider relationships or, surprisingly, host–guest relationships. Instead, most research has focused on either interfirm relationships (Czernek and Czakon 2016; Ngoasong and Kimbu 2016; and Roy, Hall, and Ballantine 2017) or the relationships between government, NGOs, and residents (Nunkoo and Ramkissoon 2011; Nunkoo and Gursoy 2016; Sun, Yang, and de Jong 2019).…”

Conceptualising trust as a mediator of pro-environmental tacit knowledge transfer in small and medium sized tourism enterprises

“…We build on relevant research in tourism-specific contexts such as trust in sustainable tourism practice, implementation, policy formation and governance (Nunkoo and Gursoy, 2017), which influences SMTE managers' perceptions of, and behaviours toward, pro-environmental knowledge. The research also contributes to further understanding the process of trust development between tourism collaborators (Sun et al, 2020) and acknowledges the corresponding impact of uncertainty and vulnerability in such trust formation (Williams and Baláž, 2020). These insights highlight contextual challenges to the acceptance and adoption of pro-environmental knowledge at the SMTE level.…”