Social Exchange, Trust, and Community-Supportive Tourism Development

Support from the local community has been regarded as crucial to the growth of sustainable tourism. Residents’ opinions about the tourism sector have been cited in literature as a driving force for the sector. The current study intends to investigate how residents attitudes toward tourist development are influenced by their level of trust in local government and their perceived costs and benefits of tourism. The study aims to fill the knowledge gap on exchange, trust, and resident’s attitudes toward tourism growth. The role of residents’ perceptions regarding tourism and trust in forming their attitudes toward tourism development will be investigated using social exchange theory. The study examines the relationship between perceived benefit and perceived cost and residents attitudes toward tourism development in a selected district in Rajasthan. The moderating role of trust is examined to understand the relationship between perceived tourism outcomes and resident’s attitudes toward tourism. The data is collected from Udaipur and Jaipur, cities in Rajasthan. Regression via the process macro is used to test the proposed model. The findings of the present study will have both theoretical and practical contributions. As the present study is not limited to the perceived cost and benefit of tourism, it will also contribute to the theoretical understanding of social exchange and resident attitudes toward tourism development. Further, the study’s findings will contribute to tourism planning and the proper development of tourism.