Determinants of agritourism development in green tea farms of the northern mountains of Vietnam: A hybrid approach based on the combination of diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and PLS-SEM

Abstract

Agritourism is the practice of identifying and capitalizing on rural destinations' diverse on-farm and off-farm attractions. Thai Nguyen, a major green tea farming region belonging to the Northern Mountains of Vietnam, is selected as the study area. This study aims to determine and analyze the factors affecting agritourism development including Green Productivity, Digital Transformation, and Stakeholder Engagement. Five innovative attributes of the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory as Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability, and Observability are included. Questionnaires are distributed to 350 farmers inhabited in Thai Nguyen. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyze at two levels: the determinant and the goal of agritourism development. The study results show that, at the determinant level, innovation attributes of DOI account for 35.8% of farmers' perceptions of Green Productivity (R2 = 0.358), 30.6% for Stakeholder Engagement (R2 = 0.306), and 34.6% for Digital Transformation (R2 = 0.346). At the goal level, Green Productivity, Stakeholder Engagement, and Digital Transformation determinants explain 55.1% of the sustainable development goal of Agritourism (R2 = 0.551). The study findings reveal that the innovation attributes of DOI are strong predictors of how factors like green productivity, stakeholder engagement, and digital transformation play their roles in the sustainable development of agritourism. These factors are helpful in moving agritourism toward its desired long-term growth. Policy suggestions are also presented for the long-term growth of agritourism on regional and national scales in Vietnam.