Community Participation In Tourism Employment: A Phased Evolution Model

Abstract

Rural residents’ enthusiasm and persistence for participation in tourism employment contribute to the sustainable development of destination tourism. Taking Majiagou village in Hebei Province as a case study, this research focused on changes to residents’ participation behavior in tourism employment, using unstructured interviews and observations. Bounded rational decision theory was applied to delineate the decision-making process of tourism employment participation. The results indicated that rural residents’ participation in tourism employment was subject to a dynamic process of change across three phases: trial participation, herd participation, and selective withdrawal. This evolution is specifically guided by an internal mechanism consisting of "tourism industry attributes—individual bounded rationality—individual employment decision-making.” The study provides an effective analytical framework for characterizing the behavior of rural residents in a tourism community and offers managerial implications for the government to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of community participation.