| Abstract: | The objectives of this dissertation study were to: (1) identify reasons why host residents develop positive or negative perceptions towards tourism through a framework based upon social exchange theory; and (2) develop a reliable and valid instrument which measures residents' perceptions of the impacts of tourism. In addressing the first objective, social exchange theory was used to provide a theoretical basis for understanding residents' perceptions. Social exchange theory suggests that host residents who receive benefits from tourism are likely to perceive it positively, whereas residents who do not receive benefits, or perceive that the costs associated with tourism outweigh the benefits, are likely to perceive it negatively. A model of the social exchange process was developed, and in this dissertation two aspects of the model were tested. One examined the relationship between the consequences of exchange (operationalized through a measure of perceived tourism impacts) and nature of exchange (expressed through the notion of power or influence). The second aspect examined the relationship between the likelihood of an actor engaging in future exchange behaviour and the consequences of exchange (that is, perception of tourism impacts). Testing of the above relationships resulted in significant findings which supported the three sub-hypotheses of Hypothesis one, that perceptions of tourism impacts are: (a) positively related to an actor's power score; (b) inversely related to an actor's power discrepancy score; and (c) are positively related to the level of cohesion (that is, an average of the actors' power score) in an exchange between two actors. Hypothesis Two which postulated that the likelihood of an actor engaging in future exchange behaviour is positively related to perceptions of tourism impact was also supported. Development of a reliable and valid tourism scale constituted the second objective of this dissertation. Development of a thirty-one item scale resulted in identification of seven dimensions of tourism impacts--social and cultural, economic, environmental, crowding and congestion, services, taxation, and community attitude. Identification of the seven dimensions has contributed to existing knowledge in providing empirical support for the economic, social and environmental dimensions of tourism impacts that has been suggested in the literature. |
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