Local Support on Sports Tourism Development: An Integration of Emotional Solidarity and Social Exchange Theory

Abstract

Globally, sports tourism is considered a vital type of tourism that combines sports and tourism to attract tourists, contribute to the economy, and promote local culture. Despite its straightforward relevance, the current literature finds some drawbacks of the social exchange theory (SET) in modeling local support in tourism development, particularly when dealing with emotional interactions among tourists and locals. Thus, this study integrates the emotional solidarity construct (i.e., welcoming nature, sympathetic understanding, and emotional closeness), residents’ attitudes, and the extension of SET (i.e., support for sports tourism, community contribution, and future support for sports tourism development) to model the residents’ support for future sports tourism development, with personality traits as a moderating variable between emotional solidarity and attitude. This study uses random sampling to obtain the response from 1004 residents in Danao City (Philippines)—an emerging destination for sporting events. Furthermore, partial least squares—structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is utilized to examine the direct relationships among the exogenous and endogenous constructs and the moderating effect of personality traits (i.e., Big Five personality traits). The results revealed that all direct relationships were supported, indicating that those emotional interactions among tourists and residents would affect the latter’s view on their support for sports tourism which would consequently translate to support for future development agenda. However, the moderating effect of the personality traits was not supported. Furthermore, a multigroup analysis was conducted to gain more profound implications on the varying attitudes of the residents towards sports tourism. Based on the study’s findings, insights were drawn for governments to design specific measures for developing sports tourism in view of local support.

Examining the Mediating Effects of Social Capital and Community-Based Tourism on the Role of Tourism Villages in Sustainable Tourism

“…Tourism as a form of activity can be driven by social capital (Aji 2020), so social capital needs to be developed to create sustainable tourism. Giango et al (2022) mentioned that local community support in the form of social capital is needed for development and sustainable tourism. Community involvement in the form of social capital has contributed significantly to the development and sustainability of the tourism industry (Llupart 2022).…”

“…Social capital has been proven to play a role in developing sustainable tourism (Aji and Faniza 2022). Giango et al (2022) states that local community support in the form of social capital is needed for sustainable development and tourism.…”

Peran Modal Sosial dalam Pengembangan Komponen Pariwisata di Desa Wisata Pentingsari

“…Hal ini membuat pariwisata berbasis masyarakat menjadi salah satu yang terbanyak berkembang di Indonesia. Hal ini sesuai dengan penelitian Giango et al (2022) yang menyebutkan bahwa dukungan masyarakat lokal dibutuhkan untuk pengembangan pariwisata.…”

Efficiency Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Sports Industry and Tourism Industry Convergence Based on China’s Provincial Data

“…It achieves symbiosis and coexistence and forms new business models through interpenetration and crossover between different industries or different sectors of the same industry [1][2][3]. As a strategic pillar industry of China's national economy, the tourism industry is currently one of the fastest growing areas of household consumption [4], and it has a positive effect on economic growth [5]. However, the current tourism industry, while generating strong economic benefits, is often accompanied by overuse and high consumption of tourism resources, causing serious damage to the ecological environment and severely limiting sustainable tourism development [6].…”