A Social Psychological Cybernetics Model of Entrepreneurial Community-based Tourism Initiatives

Abstract

Although community-based tourism (CBT) is an established topic in research and practice, the literature on it in the context of social entrepreneurship still lacks theoretical foundations and empirically tested models to help relevant stakeholders develop effective strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test models suitable for developing both the supply-side and the demand-side aspects of CBT. This study examines the roles of various critical success factors in the CBT initiatives and the use of socio-psychological cybernetics theories of behaviors that can capture the behavioral dynamics of the supply-side and the tourist behavioral domains of CBT management. Data was collected from community members and tourists visiting the communities of Doi Chang and Huay Nam Kuen villages in Chiang Rai province to experience CBT. Using a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, a deductively proposed socio-cybernetics CBT management model on the supply side and a Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model on the demand side were validated. Both models fulfill the absolute and incrementally fit statistics requirements of SEM. As a result, the study contributes both theoretically and practically. The most important practical implication is to guide communities in the design and successful implementation of CBT projects by addressing the structural strengths and weaknesses and stressing the socio-psychological domains. In addition, deontological, virtue- and utilitarian aspects of implications were established. The socio-cybernetics CBT model hence illuminates the dynamics of social emergence of a typical community in its evolution.