Social Network Analysis of Stakeholders in Green Tourism

Abstract

This study aimed to analysis stakeholders associated with rural tourism development by a social network analysis. The study sites and stakeholders were selected through three preliminary studies in Japan. The questionnaire for the survey asked the subjects for demographic background, socioeconomic background and social relation characteristics that included six different social networks (work-interaction network, work-information-seeking network, work-decision making network, work-help network, personal-friends network, and personal help). The results from the social network analysis of respondents showed a significant correlation among the six different social networks. The highest correlation was between the work-information-seeking network and work-decision making network whereas the lowest was between the work-decision making and personal help networks. The reason the correlation between personal networks and work related networks was relatively lower than the correlation between work related networks appears to stem from the Japanese culture. In general, Japanese people do not ask for help from people other than their family members. In this regard, it can be said that their personal relations and work relations rarely overlap. Comparison between the responses of Shikaoi-cho respondents with Shintoku-cho respondents showed very interesting findings. Although there was no significant difference in the perceived successfulness of their rural tourism business, the density of each network among Shikaoi-cho respondents was constantly higher than the density of each network among Shintoku-cho respondents. In other words, the network structure of the rural tourism stockholders in Shikaoi-cho was much denser and more sociable/inclusive than that of Shintoku-cho respondents. Thus, the two communities where rural tourism was perceived successful presented different structural attributes in their social networks. Comparison of the demographic and socioeconomic attributes of Shikaoi-cho respondents and Shintoku-cho respondents showed the six attributes were significantly different. The respondents in Shikaoi-cho showed a higher density in each network, had fewer immigrants, longer length of stay in the community, higher income, higher ratio of income from rural tourism to the gross income, shorter period for running rural tourism business, and stronger motivation for “diversifying income sources” than the respondents in Shintoku-cho. In future studies, it is necessary to first compare a community where rural tourism has succeeded with a community where it has not succeeded. Second, it is useful to conduct studies with international comparisons, Last, researchers need to explore the occurrence of a variety of network structural characteristics in stakeholders of different rural areas despite a similar extent of perceived success in rural tourism development.