نشریه مطالعات اجتماعی گردشگری
سال یازدهم شماره 3 (پاییز 1402)

Considering the dependence of tourism on its host community and thus the interdependence of tourists and local residents, it could be argued that the culture and viewpoints of the local people may influence tourism activities. Therefore, the local community must be actively involved in the development process to ensure the success of feasibility studies, proper assessment of investments made in tourism, and the extension of tourism projects’ lifespan. In this regard, this study sought to perform a feasibility analysis of tourism activities, focusing on running a coffee shop in a representative tourist destination in Kermanshah Province, Iran. To this end, the tourism development project during the years 2019-2023 was examined in terms of financial and economic assessments, and the evaluation of its effects from the viewpoint of the local community. The financial and economic data were collected from the Statistical Center of Iran, and the data concerning the evaluation of the project’s effects from the local community’s perspective were gathered through a questionnaire. The results of the financial and economic feasibility study indicated that setting up the coffee shop was financially and economically viable and justified. On the other hand, the evaluation of the local residents’ viewpoint in this regard revealed that tourism could contribute to economic prosperity, the introduction of the region to others, feeling the sense of pride by the local people, and the restoration and reconstruction of historical buildings. This study attempted to identify the factors involved in the feasibility study of tourism and assess the local community's viewpoint regarding the effects of tourism. The findings of the study suggested that financial and economic feasibility studies along with an evaluation of the effects of tourism could contribute to the success of investment projects.

Constituting half of society, women play a significant role in advancing the goals of different countries in this new social age. On the other hand, as organizations, especially the service-providing ones, are potentially subject to errors, they need to provide an appropriate environment for treating possible errors. Therefore, this applied survey study sought to investigate the effect of an error treatment atmosphere on the willingness to quit one’s job, considering learning behavior as the mediating factor. The statistical population of the study comprised female staff of four and five-star hotels in Mashhad, out of whom 390 people were selected as participants. Moreover, the required data were collected through a questionnaire, whose form and content validity were evaluated and verified by management experts and its construct validity was measured and confirmed using the confirmatory factor analysis in Amos software. Also, the reliability of different constructs of the questionnaire was confirmed, as the reported Cronbach's alpha coefficient was over 0.7. The findings of the study indicated the positive influence of error management and perceived forgiveness atmosphere on the staff’s learning behavior, with their effect rate being 0.48 and 0.57, respectively. On the other hand, error management atmosphere, perceived forgiveness atmosphere, and learning behavior had a significant influence on reducing the willingness of the staff to quit their jobs, with their effect rates being -0.34, -0.20, and -0.28, respectively. Moreover, the mediating role of the learning behavior in the causal relationships between the error management atmosphere and the willingness to quit one’s job, and between the perceived forgiveness atmosphere and such a willingness was confirmed, with the former and latter’s effect rate being -0.13 and -0.16, respectively.

Focusing on "the residents' support for the development of health tourism" as a variable that could be considered by marketers to increase demands for this kind of tourism, this study sought to investigate the variables affected by the residents' support and prepare a fuzzy cognitive map of such factors using a systemic model. To this end, the aforementioned variables were identified using the Delphi technique. Then, the research model was developed and analyzed using fuzzy cognitive mapping. The findings of the study suggested that the residents' support affected factors such as the destination image, tourist satisfaction, tourist loyalty, positive advertisements by word of mouth, perceived quality of services, tourists' emotional solidarity with the residents, and spatial belonging of tourists to destinations. Moreover, the results of fuzzy cognitive mapping showed that in a system consisting of the above-mentioned variables, the residents' support played a significant role in tourist loyalty and positive word-of-mouth advertisement, with its impact being greater than that of satisfaction or even service quality. In other words, winning the residents' support is a priority in this regard. Moreover, residents' support affects other relevant factors, including perceived quality, tourist satisfaction, spatial belonging, and emotional attachment. Therefore, gaining the residents’ support is highly recommended to be considered in marketing health tourism. Considering the research gaps in this field, the results of the current study could be used for enriching the related literature.

Laws and regulations are among the most important executive and monitoring tools that help governments fulfill their role in setting tourism development policies, and assessing, controlling, and regulating the relations among tourism stakeholders. Therefore, this study sought to examine the structure and titles of tourism laws in China, France, Malaysia, and Turkey and compare them with the relevant laws and regulations exercised in Iran to identify the status of the key issues in the respective hierarchical system of those countries' laws and regulations. To this end, the study followed the comparative law methodology to analyze the content of the laws and regulations mentioned above using a text-based approach. According to the findings of the study, many of the issues that are turned into law in the countries investigated in the current study occupy a lower position in the hierarchy of Iran’s Tourism Laws and Regulations System, being referred to in terms of either by-laws or executive instructions. Moreover, some issues have not been addressed at any level. Therefore, it can be argued that compared to the countries studied in this research, Iran’s tourism sector does not enjoy a proper status in Iran’s legal system. In other words, the current laws and regulations enforced in Iran lack many key tourism-related issues that could help regulate the relations between various relevant stakeholders, prevent unnecessary interventions by different bodies and organizations, reduce the number of lawsuits among the suppliers of tourism services and tourists, or help coordinate the relevant actors in achieving the intended goals. Therefore, the tourism sector needs a centralized, transparent, and comprehensive law.

The uncertainty caused by environmental complexities has made it difficult to forecast the future of Tourism in Mashhad in terms of non-Muslim tourists visiting the city, about whom no sufficient information exists. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the trend of variations in the visits made to Mashhad by non-Muslim tourists using the scenario writing method. To this end, this applied study used the analytical-qualitative approach, collecting the required data through detailed in-person interviews. In this regard, twenty-seven interviews were made in three phases with tourism experts in such fields as sociology, economics, planning, and specialized tourism services. In the first phase, the factors involved in attracting non-Muslim tourists to Mashhad were identified according to the views offered by the experts in interviews using the Delphi technique. In the second phase, the critical driving forces were identified based on two criteria of effectiveness and uncertainty. Finally, the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios concerning the future of non-Muslim tourism in Mashhad were described. The study’s findings revealed that smartizing tourism, making connections between tourism in Mashhad and its neighboring cities, increasing the number of media advertisements, improving the hospitality culture, and promoting a sense of security in the visiting tourists were the most important driving forces at the local level. Therefore, the number of Mashhad’s non-muslim tourists could be increased within the study period by improving IT infrastructure (including electronic trading, and electronic banking), introducing neighboring cities and villages of Mashhad and their tourist attractions, offering instructions regarding hospitality (especially for taxi drivers, business and shop owners), creating tourism police, and providing security in high-trafficking urban places.

This survey study sought to investigate the effect of cognitive risk perception induced by the subjective norms attitude on tourists' behavioral intentions during the Covid-19 pandemic using structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the study comprised all tourists who visited the cultural and historical sites of Shiraz City, Iran, out of whom 384 people were selected through convenient sampling using the Cochran formula with a 95% confidence level. To collect the required data, a researcher-developed questionnaire on the “effect of tourists' perception on their target destinations during the Covid-19 pandemic” was administered to the participants. The collected data were then analyzed using Amos software and SPSS software. On the other hand, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were measured via Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Accordingly, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, composite reliability, and Average Variance Extracted values were reported as over 0.7, 0.7, and 0.5, thus confirming the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Finally, the structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses and the relationships between research variables (cognitive risk, behavioral intentions, and subjective norms). The findings of the study suggested that cognitive risk perception positively affected tourists' behavioral intentions through their subjective norms and attitude. Moreover, attitude was recognized as a significant mediator between risk perception and behavioral intentions, while subjective norms mediated the relationship between cognitive perception and behavioral intentions.

This study sought to investigate the role of a community’s social media-based destination brand in winning the tourists’ hearts and convincing them to co-create values and visit the community. The population of this applied survey study comprised of Ramsar visitors who discussed it as a travel destination on social media and had used social media to choose Ramsar as a tourist destination. In this regard, 73 media sources where Ramsar had been discussed were selected using a judgmental sampling method. The required data were collected through electronic questionnaires from 384 visitors (out of 450 visitors) who were selected through non-probability convenient sampling. The collected data were then analyzed via SmartPLS software using structural equation modeling and path analysis technique. The findings of the study suggested that a community’s social media-based destination brand had a positive impact on the visitors’ enjoyment of the place, loving the place, and positive surprise towards the destination, persuading them to participate in the co-creation of values and thus revisit the place.

Today, the expansion of electronic tourism has decreased the intermediary role of travel agencies, and tourists themselves directly purchase travel packages. Therefore, travel agencies must develop new strategies to deal with this new situation and revive their business, including the use of social capital, social interaction, and knowledge sharing in electronic tourism marketing. This study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive survey in terms of methodology. The statistical population of the study comprised managers of travel agencies in Tehran, out of whom 110 participants were selected via non-probable quota sampling. The required data were collected through a researcher-developed questionnaire, whose content validity was confirmed by six expert professors and experts in the field of tourism and management. Moreover, the convergent and divergent validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. On the other hand, the total and composite reliability of the questionnaire was found to be over 0.7 and 0.8, respectively, which proved to be acceptable. The collected data were then analyzed under descriptive and inferential categories using the SPSS and SmartPLS software. The findings of the study indicated that social capital, social interaction, and knowledge sharing had a direct influence on e-tourism marketing. Moreover, social capital and social interaction were found to have a significant positive influence on knowledge sharing.

Organizations are considered living entities whose character and identities, either healthy or unhealthy, are quite independent of their members. In this regard, it could be argued that a healthy organization can act efficiently to attract the citizens’ satisfaction, thus developing social trust. On the other hand, the Aviation Industry consists of companies and organizations, playing a pivotal role in the economic, social, cultural, technological, and developmental programs in both developed and developing countries. Therefore, the organizational health of this industry can increase the citizens’ social trust. Accordingly, this applied-developmental qualitative study sought to present a model of social trust-based organizational health to be used in Iran’s Aviation Industry using a grounded theory method. The required data were collected via semi-structured interviews made with twenty experts. The collected data were then analyzed using the NVivo software, according to which 218 open and 32 axial codes were extracted through open coding. The findings of the study suggested that factors related to service quality, customers (the passengers), the Aviation Industry, and staff and managers (human resources) were among the causal conditions. Furthermore, the background conditions involved in the organizational health of the Aviation industry were the status of the managers, staff, airports, aviation fleet, and the industry. Moreover, the intervening conditions identified in this regard included political, economic, technological, social, and legal factors. On the other hand, the study found that strategies such as promoting strategic thinking, improving communications, increasing technological utilization, and improving organizational structure could help enhance the organizational health of the Aviation Industry. Finally, the outcomes of such an enhancement could affect customers (passengers), the Aviation Industry, the staff, and the managers (human resources).

As one of the most important industries worldwide, the tourism industry has led to the rapid growth of economic development, preparing the grounds for the development of new businesses, which has proved very effective in expanding job opportunities for different walks of life. Therefore, this exploratory study sought to develop an innovative business model for the tourism industry with an emphasis on creating value in the destination using a grounded theory method. The required data were collected through library studies and semi-structured interviews. To this end, open and in-depth interviews were made with 16 experts until the theoretical saturation was reached. The participants comprised experts of the tourism industry, university professors, hotel managers, guides of travel agencies and tours, heads, and officials of tourism industry departments, and tourists, who were selected via purposive sampling. The collected data were thematically analyzed according to open, axial, and selective coding. Finally, the conceptual model of the study was developed based on the Strauss and Corbin model, indicating that the core principle underlying the development of diverse advantage-oriented businesses is derived from casual conditions and influenced by contextual factors. It was also found that the core principle could be identified based on some strategies. Moreover, the intervening factors were extracted from the textual data collected from the interviewees by identifying the categories that indicate environmental conditions.

The current applied descriptive-correlational study sought to investigate the effect of staff self-leadership on the outcomes of internal branding and role identity in the hotel industry. The statistical population of the study comprised all the staff of 5-star hotels in Mashhad, out of whom 120 people were selected through the Morgan table using simple random sampling. The required data were collected via the standard Zhang and Zhou questionnaire (2021) whose face and construct validity were measured through expert approval and factor loads, respectively. Moreover, the reliability of the questionnaire was measured and confirmed using the Cronbach's alpha test. Finally, the collected data was analyzed via structural equation modeling. The findings of the study indicated the significant positive effect of self-leadership on brand knowledge, brand commitment, and brand citizenship behavior through factors such as the visualization of successful performance, self-goal-setting, self-talk, and self-aggrandizement. Furthermore, self-leadership factors also influence brand knowledge, brand commitment, and brand citizenship behavior through role identity. It could, therefore, be concluded that promoting self-leadership behaviors helps the internal growth of an organization’s brand and facilitates internal branding through role identity.