Salman Ahmad, Jaafar Mastura, Mohamad Diana, Khoshkam Mana
Researcher School of Housing Building & Planning, University Sains Malaysia/Sustainable Business Research Cluster, Sunway University, George Town, Malaysia.
Faculty of Housing Building & Planning, University Sains Malaysia, George Town, Malaysia.
Environ Dev Sustain. 2022 Jun 27:1-24. doi: 10.1007/s10668-022-02488-z.
Ecotourism offers several economic, environmental, and cultural benefits; however, even after all these years, achieving ecotourism sustainability is still complex because of multiple stakeholders with diversified interests and influence. This study focused on the multiple stakeholders' complexity and management for achieving sustainable ecotourism in Penang Hill in Malaysia. Understanding the existence of multiple stakeholders with varying interests and their respective power of influence is critical for a tourism destination to be sustainable. This study aimed to create a multi-stakeholder management framework and understand stakeholder management's mediating role toward ecotourism sustainability in Penang Hill. Data were collected from Penang Hill key stakeholders and analyzed using SmartPLS and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The findings revealed that stakeholder management plays a significant mediating role in achieving ecotourism sustainability. Stakeholders' interests and their level of influence should be understood to develop engagement, empowerment, and monitoring strategies for managing stakeholders. Thus, the study contributes by validating the results through symmetric and asymmetric techniques, offering solutions to the emerging issues during the Covid-19 pandemic, and recommending policy changes. Lastly, the study also extends prior literature by displaying the mediating role played by stakeholder management on ecotourism sustainability, comparing indirect and total effects on stakeholder management support for achieving sustainable ecotourism in Penang Hill.
生态旅游带来了若干经济、环境和文化效益；然而，即便经过了这么多年，由于存在利益和影响力各异的多个利益相关者，实现生态旅游的可持续发展依然复杂。本研究聚焦于马来西亚槟城山实现可持续生态旅游过程中多个利益相关者的复杂性及管理问题。了解不同利益相关者的存在及其各自的影响力对于旅游目的地的可持续发展至关重要。本研究旨在创建一个多利益相关者管理框架，并理解利益相关者管理对槟城山生态旅游可持续发展的中介作用。数据收集自槟城山的关键利益相关者，并使用SmartPLS和模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）进行分析。研究结果表明，利益相关者管理在实现生态旅游可持续发展方面发挥着重要的中介作用。为制定管理利益相关者的参与、赋权和监督策略，应了解利益相关者的利益及其影响程度。因此，本研究通过对称和不对称技术验证结果、为新冠疫情期间出现的新问题提供解决方案以及建议政策变革做出了贡献。最后，本研究还通过展示利益相关者管理对生态旅游可持续发展所起的中介作用、比较对利益相关者管理支持实现槟城山可持续生态旅游的间接和总体影响，扩展了先前的文献。
