نشریه مطالعات اجتماعی گردشگری
سال دهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 20، پاییز و زمستان 1401)

This descriptive study sought to investigate the effect of leisure time's perceived risks on the sports tourists’ social happiness during the COVID_ 19 Pandemic using the structural equation model. The study’s statistical population comprised all tourists who used sports tourism complexes in Mashhad, out of whom 381 people were selected via purposive sampling. The required data were collected via Ishraqi et al’ (2017) perceived risks questionnaire and the oxford social happiness scale. The questionnaires’ face and content validities were confirmed by experts, and their construct validity was confirmed via exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, the questionnaires’ reliability, obtained through Cronbach's alpha, was found to be over 0.7. As for analyzing the data, descriptive and inferential statistics such as one-sample T-test and structural equation modeling were used. The study’s results indicated a significant difference between the mean perceived risk components, the tourists’ happiness, and the theoretical mean. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between perceived risk components and the tourist's happiness during the COVID_ 19 Pandemic. Therefore, it is emphasized that factors such as supervision, planning, hardware, security, information provision, organizational matters, and internationally recognized methods be considered in setting sports tourism policies to prevent the psychological consequences of COVID_ 19 and achieve perfect social happiness.

Emerged out of recent advances and the development of information technology, smart tourism provides modern modes of communication, novel ways of collecting information, and new opportunities for value creation and management. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the influence of the technologies used in smart tourism on tourists’ satisfaction with using technology in their travels. The study's statistical population comprised domestic tourists who visited Yazd city in Iran, out of whom 240 individuals were selected via convenient sampling. The required data were collected by administering the 16-item questionnaire proposed by Yoo et al. (2017) and Huang et al. (2017). Moreover, the questionnaire’s technical characteristics were examined in terms of validity (structure and content) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha) to secure the accuracy of the research results. The research hypotheses were also tested based on the partial least squares method using the structural equation modeling and Smart PLS 3 software. The study’s results indicated that all three hypotheses were confirmed, as their t-statistic value was over 1.96. Furthermore, it was found that the highest impact factor belonged to informing aspect of smart tourism technologies, suggesting that offering information, interaction, and accessibility had a significant positive effect on the satisfaction of using technology in travel. It can therefore be argued that satisfaction with the use of technology in travel generates profits for tourism companies, leading to the loyalty of tourists to a particular destination.

This applied qualitative study sought to classify the factors involved in responsible travel intentions based on Maslow's needs pyramid and elaborate on the causal relationships between the factors so that it can offer a more effective model for marketing sustainable tourism. To this end, the factors were identified and categorized using the content analysis of the data collected via reviewing the related literature and conducting interviews with apropos experts. Then, systemic thinking was used qualitatively (validated through the experts’ opinions) to develop the interpretive model of causal relations. According to the study’s findings, 23 factors were classified into five categories based on Maslow's needs pyramid as follows: Physiological needs (perceived quality, price, shopping habits, and perceived behavioral control), safety (protection and beliefs concerning the health in responsible travels), love/attachment (environmental concerns, sense of responsibility, perceived effectiveness, environmental awareness, environmental value, spatial belonging, and emotional dependence on residents), respect (social norms, identity representation, satisfaction, advertising, social media content, attitude regarding the responsible travel, beliefs concerning the luxurious nature of responsible travel, and the image of responsible travel), and self-actualization (self-transcendence and personal norms). Moreover, the proposed conceptual model indicated the mutual influence of the factors and categories on each other. Therefore, marketers are required to plan their intended interventions after prioritizing the target group’s responsible needs and selecting the category of needs using systemic thinking.

The development of cultural tourism depends on the interaction of a wide variety of factors. On the other hand, considering the fact that the process of cultural tourism is influenced by Politics and that cultural heritage is regarded as a constructive source for cultural tourism, it could be argued that the success of cultural tourism is contingent upon the interaction of Politics and cultural heritage, between which interpretation can act as an intervening factor to establish such an interaction, playing different roles in this regard. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the functions of interpretation as a factor that establish an interaction between politics and cultural heritage and identify the status of such functions in this regard to help the IRI’s cultural tourism benefit from them. To this end, such potential functions were identified by reviewing the related literature and analyzing the qualified experts’ opinions as follows: recalling the spatial identity of historical sites, learning from the ancestors’ works and history, altering the politicians' attitudes towards cultural heritage, strengthening national identity, preserving the historical sites’ structure and spirit, bringing the stakeholders of historical sites closer to each other, fighting against racism and ethnocentrism, correcting historical misunderstandings, converging different cultures, and developing mutual understanding between politicians and the public. Moreover, the surveying phase of the study identified the aggregate opinions of experts concerning the priority of the aforementioned functions using the fuzzy Delphi method. The study’s results revealed that recalling the spatial identity of historical sites, strengthening national identity, and preserving the historical sites’ structure and spirit were those potential functions of interpretation in the interaction between politics and cultural tourism in which the experts had the highest consensus.

Establishing a brand identity for tourism destinations may help ease the problems caused by the intangibility of tourism products and increase the concerted efforts of tourism service providers, ensuring stability in markets and facilitating the process of market segmentation. Therefore, considering the necessity for more attention to the destination’s brand identity due to increased competition within the tourism industry, this qualitative study sought to develop a model for establishing a brand identity for Mashhad city using the grounded theory method. To this end, some twelve managers, professors, and researchers working in the field of brand and tourism in Mashhad were selected to participate in detailed semi-structured interviews using purposive sampling. Then, the collected data were analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding. The study’s findings indicated the positive role of personal factors such as awareness of the destination’s brand or the tourists’ behavioral intentions in developing the brand identity of tourist destinations, which in turn influence the relevant strategies. In other words, such factors help the official select appropriate distinct marketing or development strategies, bringing about a variety of outcomes, including socio-economic development. Moreover, it could be argued that the strategies are set on the grounds of participation development in which the destination’s brand identity is formed. However, intervening factors such as micro and macro environmental factors should also be taken into account in this regard.

Tourism is regarded as an inflectional factor in developing the communications between nations worldwide in today’s world, providing job opportunities in the economic sector and fostering socio-cultural interactions. On the other hand, rural tourism has widely been researched by a wide variety of scholars around the world, as it can help create new jobs, increase the residents’ revenues, and mitigate poverty, especially in villages that enjoy cultural attractions. Therefore, this sought to investigate the key factors and influential driving forces involved in developing tourism in Kandoleh village using the Delphi method and the future study approach. This study is considered applied in terms of purpose, carried out based on new methods followed in the future study, and novel exploratory and analyzing techniques using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. In this regard, the key indices were identified via Delphi method, and the critical driving forces were detected based on the cross-impact analysis method using the Mick Mac software. The study’s results suggested that out of the twenty-eight key factors identified, efficient management and designation of Kandoleh village as the pilot site for rural tourism were the most influential elements in developing tourism within the village, followed by factors such as increased investments by the private sector, advertising, registering and preserving historical and cultural monuments, and providing security for tourists, respectively.

This study sought to investigate the effect of organizational citizenship behavior on service quality offered to and the satisfaction and loyalty of customers in the hotel industry, selecting the Parsian International Hotels in Mazandaran province, including the Parsian Azadi Hotel in Ramsar, Iran (four-star) and the Parsian Azadi Khazar Hotel in Namakabroud, Chaloos, Iran (five-star) as the cases of the study, which was conducted in summer 2017. The study is regarded as applied in terms of purpose, descriptive in terms of research method, and survey in terms of data collection method, using Structural Equation Modeling and the Smart PKS Software to analyze the collected data. The study’s statistical population comprised all employees and visitors of Persian International Hotels in Mazandaran province, out of which the sample size was selected via random sampling and the Cochran. Moreover, a standard questionnaire was administered to collect the required data, whose reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha. The study’s results indicated that organizational citizenship behavior had a significant positive influence on service quality offered to and the satisfaction and loyalty of the customers. It was also found that the customers’ satisfaction had a significant positive effect on their loyalty and that the customers’ satisfaction had the greatest path coefficient value, exerting the highest influence on the customers’ loyalty compared to other variables. Finally, necessary recommendations were offered based on the results of the data analysis.

Environmental crises and the destruction of natural resources are the main problems faced by the tourism industry, whose treatment requires concerted efforts to change the needs and behaviors of tourists and to offer green products and services. In this regard, as tourism professionals play an important role in directing the market towards special styles and behaviors, especially environmentally friendly and sustainable behaviors, investigating the factors involved in shaping the attitude and tendency of such professionals to green tourism can help attract the attention of other beneficiaries to this field. The required data for this developmental/applied and descriptive/survey study was collected through a 31-item questionnaire administered to some 102 professionals in the tourism industry who were selected via purposive sampling. The data were then analyzed in the following two parts using the Structural Equation Modeling: 1) the measurement model to be used for examining the technical characteristics of the questionnaire and 2) the structural part to test the research hypotheses. The study’s findings indicated the direct positive influence of religiosity on collectivism, and the indirect effect of religiosity on other variables considered in the study. Moreover, while a positive correlation was found between collectivism, environmental concerns, environmental knowledge, and the tendency toward green tourism, no correlation was observed between religiosity and environmental knowledge, and between environmental knowledge and environmental concerns. Therefore, it is recommended that some courses be added to educational levels concerning how to protect the environment when traveling.

As the most widespread service industry in the world, tourism has managed to take center stage among many managers and researchers. Hence, pinpointing the factors of tourism marketing and offering optimal solutions towards facilitation of tourist absorption are of prime significance. Not to mention, since only few factors of tourism marketing have been addressed in previous studies, the present research aimed to identify the tourism marketing factors via metasynthesis. In this exploratory applied research, the entire studies on tourism marketing, conducted over 2000-2020, were taken into consideration. To this end, 580 studies were assessed, of which 87 were finally selected purposefully. Finally, through content analysis and combining the relevant literature using open, pivotal and selective coding methods, 78 codes, 21 concepts and six categories were selected and analyzed, whose validity were supported by Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient.The results demonstrated that the key categories were as follows: integrated marketing (incentive promotional mixes), satisfaction, relationship marketing, internal marketing, electronic marketing, and ICT factors. Further, a deep understanding of the existing literature on tourism marketing is presented by the present study.

As the most widely provided service industry worldwide, tourism has attracted the attention of a wide variety of managers and researchers. Therefore, it is crucially important to identify the componential elements involved in tourism marketing and offer optimal solutions to facilitate tourist attraction. Considering the fact that previous has merely partially investigated the factors involved in tourism marketing, this study sought to conduct a comprehensive examination of such factors, systematically reviewing the expansive related literature. This study is considered exploratory in terms of purpose and applied in terms of nature, using the meta-synthesis method to analyze the collected data. The study’s statistical population comprised 580 studies conducted from 2000 to 2020, out of which 87 studies were selected using purposive sampling. The collected data were then gone through content analysis, coded based on open, axial, and selective coding methods, according to which 78 codes, 21 concepts, and six categories were identified and analyzed using the meta-synthesis method. Finally, the validity of the analyzed data was confirmed by Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient. According to the study’s results, the main categories identified for tourism marketing were as follows: integrated marketing (incentive promotional mixtures); satisfaction; relationship marketing; internal marketing; electronic marketing; and ICT factors. Therefore, it could be argued that this study offers a deep understanding of the existing literature on tourism marketing.

Considering the growing number of research articles published on regional planning and tourism worldwide, and the fact that it appears impossible for the researchers to review all of them in detail, it is necessary to analyze the studies conducted in this field whatsoever. Moreover, as meta-analysis has recently been welcomed by Iranian researchers, it seems that in a near future, a considerable number of studies on urban and regional planning would apply meta-analysis as their research method. Therefore, this study sought to examine, based on the PRISMA statement, the reports of meta-analysis studies on regional planning published in both Iranian and Non-Iranian journals. To this end, all Iranian and Non-Iranian journals (in Persian and English) in the field of regional planning indexed during the last decade with the subject of regional tourism by such databases as Magiran, SID (Scientific Information Database, affiliated with the Academic Center for Education Culture and Research), Google Scholar, and IranDoc (Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology) were examined, using meta-analysis and tourism as keywords for searching through the aforementioned databases, resulting in the identification of 38 relevant articles. Then, 13 articles were selected based on predetermined criteria, whose data were analyzed based on the PRISMA statement using descriptive statistics. The study’s findings indicated the examined meta-analysis articles were acceptably compatible with the criteria set by the PRISMA statement in terms of overall quality. Moreover, it was found that 38% percent of the articles lacked expected methodological quality. Also, the quality of the meta-analysis studies reported in the field of regional tourism was found to be moderate.

Perceived organizational support, burnout, and job satisfaction are variables that can be effective in predicting the extent of deviant behaviors in the organization. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of perceived organizational support and burnout on deviant behavior mediated by job satisfaction. The present study is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive-survey in terms of nature and method. To test the hypotheses, a questionnaire consisting of 21 questions arranged according to the Likert 7-choice spectrum was used. The statistical population of the study includes the staff of three, four and five star hotels in Mashhad with more than 1000 people; The sample size was 278 people, which was selected based on Krejcie and Morgan table by relative stratification method and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated using Spss software and confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the validity of the structure using Lisrel software. In order to analyze the findings, the path analysis model was used and to analyze the mediating variable, the Sobel test was used. The results showed that perceived organizational support and burnout can have a significant direct and indirect effect on deviant behavior. To investigate the role of the mediator variable, the Sabel test method was used, which showed that job satisfaction plays the role of the mediator variable in the relationship between other variables.