Gendered theory of planned behaviour and residents' support for tourism

Abstract

Drawing from the theory of planned behaviour, which has not been widely used to study host behaviour towards tourism, this study attempts to contribute to the literature by developing a community support model for tourism. Based on the theory's postulates, overall attitude towards tourism, together with the perceived behavioural control and the subjective norms of the residents are proposed as the antecedents of support for the industry. Overall attitude is considered to be a function of the residents' perceived economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts of tourism. Furthermore, drawing from the literature on development economics, the authors further propose that the gender of the resident moderates the perceived behavioural control over tourism development, allowing for an understanding of the applicability of the planned behaviour theory (TPB) in a gendered context. A number of propositions for further testing emerge from the theoretical framework of the study.