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Residents’ attitudes to tourism: a

longitudinal study of 140 articles from
1984 to 2010
a b c a
Robin Nunkoo , Stephen L. J. Smith & Haywantee
d
Ramkissoon
a
Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies , University of
Waterloo , Ontario , Canada
b
Department of Management , University of Mauritius , Réduit ,
Mauritius
c
Faculty of Management, University of Johannesburg , South
Africa
d
Australia International Tourism Research Unit, Department of
Management , Monash University , Melbourne , Australia
Published online: 03 Apr 2012.
To cite this article: Robin Nunkoo , Stephen L. J. Smith & Haywantee Ramkissoon (2013) Residents’
attitudes to tourism: a longitudinal study of 140 articles from 1984 to 2010, Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 21:1, 5-25, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2012.673621
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Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2013
Vol. 21, No. 1, 5–25, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2012.673621
Residents’ attitudes to tourism: a longitudinal study

of 140 articles from 1984 to 2010
Robin Nunkooa,b,c∗, Stephen L. J. Smitha and Haywantee Ramkissoond
a
Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;
b
Department of Management, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius; cFaculty of Management,
University of Johannesburg, South Africa; dAustralia International Tourism Research Unit,
Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
(Received 21 December 2011; final version received 4 March 2012)
This paper is a longitudinal study of 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism

published in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, and Journal of Travel
Research from 1984 to 2010. Content analysis was used to determine the nature of the
articles and the research approaches used. Although most articles were atheoretical,
over the survey period an increasing proportion of studies made use of a variety of
theories drawn from other disciplines to investigate the topic. The majority of studies
were quantitative in nature, while a few studies used qualitative and mixed-methods
approaches. Based on the results, some implications for research design and possibilities
for future research are discussed. The paper concludes that studies on the topic have
evolved from being low on methodological sophistication and theoretical awareness
to being high on both aspects. Research on this topic has reached a stage of active
scholarship in theory development followed by empirical testing. The study’s limitations
are discussed, which readers should take into account when evaluating its findings.
Keywords: residents’ attitudes; longitudinal study; content analysis; theory; methodol-
ogy; statistical techniques
Introduction
A review of past research efforts is an important endeavor in all academic research areas
(Webster & Watson, 2002). Researchers should not underestimate the need to uncover
what is already known in the body of knowledge in a field (Hart, 1998). An effective
review of the existing literature in an area of study has the potential to create a firm
foundation for advancing knowledge by facilitating theory and methodology development,
as well as by uncovering areas where further research is needed (Webster & Watson,
2002). Reviewing past research efforts reveals the boundaries and structure of a particular
discipline (Goldman, 1979; Wells & Picou, 1981) and it indicates the direction of research
and the methodological sophistication in a field (Baloglu & Assante, 1999; Crawford-
Welch & McCleary, 1992; Reid & Andereck, 1989). Consequently, researchers have for
some years assessed the state of tourism scholarship (Xiao & Smith, 2008). Such endeavors
facilitate improvements and greater understanding of tourism research (Reid & Andereck,
1989).
Tourism researchers have shown an interest in examining dominant paradigms (Dann,
1997; Echtner & Jamal, 1997), methodological development (Dann, Nash, & Pearce, 1988;
Riley & Love, 2000; Xiao & Smith, 2006a), and the epistemological foundations of tourism
∗
Corresponding author. Email: rnunkoo@uwaterloo.ca

C 2013 Taylor & Francis
6 R. Nunkoo et al.
knowledge (Botterill, 2001; Tribe, 2004, 2006). Other researchers have analyzed a spe-
cific aspect within the tourism field. For example, Reid and Andereck (1989) reviewed
the range of statistical techniques used in Annals of Tourism Research (ATR), Journal
of Travel Research (JTR), and Tourism Management (TM) over a 10-year period. Other
scholars have studied the evolution of a specific area of research within the tourism and
related literature. For instance, Li (2008) reviewed entrepreneurship research published in
tourism and hospitality journals from 1986 to 2006. Pike (2002) reviewed 142 destina-
tion image articles to provide researchers with a reference guide to the context, method
and focus of previous studies. The present study continues along a similar line of re-
search, and it examines the current state of research on residents’ attitudes to tourism
development.
Studies about the community’s attitudes to tourism have proliferated over recent decades,
reflecting the importance of residents’ involvement in tourism for the sustainable develop-
ment of the sector (Choi & Sirakaya, 2005; Diedrich & Garcia-Buades, 2009). Researchers
advocate that stakeholders’ participation and cooperation is a crucial factor for sustainable
tourism development (Yu, Chancellor, & Cole, 2011). Tourism should be considered as a
“community industry” in which residents are major stakeholders because they are directly
affected by the negative consequences of development. The extent to which their desires are
taken into account in planning determines their receptiveness to both tourism development
and tourists (Davis, Allen, & Cosenza, 1988). Understanding residents’ attitudes to tourism
is important to gain their active support, without which it is difficult to develop tourism in a
sustainable and socially compatible manner. Therefore, it is important that residents’ views,
wants and desires are taken into consideration when developing tourism in a destination
community. It is for these reasons that many studies on residents’ attitudes to tourism have
been carried out by tourism scholars and researchers.
The numerous studies on the topic have led researchers to conclude that it is one of the
most well-studied areas of tourism (McGehee & Andereck, 2004). However, the different
studies vary in terms of theoretical bases and methodological approaches. Knowledge in
this area is characterized by area-specific discussion, case studies or one-off research. This
makes comparison among studies difficult, and it may also affect a solid foundation for fur-
ther advancement in the field. Opperman (2000) argues that tourism researchers should en-
gage in new types of research that systematically add knowledge to the field, rather than con-
ducting further place-specific research of limited value. Thus, it is important systematically
to map out the theoretical and methodological evolution of residents’ attitude studies over
time in order to assess the current state of research and uncover future research directions.
However, to date, the status of research on this topic has not been systematically
evaluated by tourism scholars, although some important reviews exist on the topic (e.g.
Deery, Jago, & Fredline, 2012; Harrill, 2004; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2009). Although
useful to researchers and scholars, none of these reviews analyze the theoretical and
methodological development of the research area over time. The extent of research
conducted on the topic is also not explicitly made clear in these reviews. Some of
these studies are also dated, raising the need for a more comprehensive and updated
research summarizing the state of research on the topic. A retrospective and systematically
conducted review of existing studies in the area is needed that outlines the theoretical
and methodological trends. This will enable researchers and scholars to judge the level of
sophistication and maturity reached in this research area.
With this as background, the present study adopts a longitudinal analysis of published
articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism. It attempts to answer the following research
questions: (1) how many studies on residents’ attitudes to tourism have been published?
Journal of Sustainable Tourism 7
(2) how many studies are theoretically informed and what is the range of theories utilized?
(3) how many studies use quantitative methods, qualitative methods or mixed-methods? (4)
what range of statistical techniques is used for data analysis?, and (5) what is the research
progress to date and opportunities for further research? To explore these issues, articles
on residents’ attitudes to tourism published in ATR, JTR, and TM from 1984 to 2010 are
analyzed. The content of the selected articles is then used to identify research trends and
areas of significant accumulation. The findings are then used to develop some research
design strategies that future researchers and scholars may consider adopting. It is expected
that the study will benefit researchers by allowing for a more sophisticated assessment of
the current state of research.
Methodology
The analysis of articles used in the present study was restricted only to those published in
scholarly journals. Xiao and Smith (2005) argue that academic journals contain important
sources of knowledge that have contributed to research in an area. Articles on residents’
attitudes to tourism and related studies published over the past 27 years from 1984 to 2010 in
ATR, JTR, and TM were reviewed. These journals were selected because, aside from being
the leading publication outlets in the field of tourism (McKercher, Law, & Lam, 2006), they
host the bulk of research published on residents’ attitudes. The journals also have different
aims and coverage. ATR is a social science-based journal focusing on the development of
theoretical constructs. JTR and TM have a more business focus, with the former having a
more quantitative orientation and the latter having a focus on the planning and management
of tourism. This ensured that the articles analyzed in the present study covered the broad
range of approaches used in residents’ attitude studies. The Journal of Sustainable Tourism
(JOST), although a leading journal, was excluded from the analysis for two primary reasons.
First, it is a comparatively recent journal (launched in the 1990s) in comparison to JTR,
ATR, and TM, which were launched in 1960, 1970, and 1980 respectively. Secondly,
comparatively few articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism have been published in JOST,
with only around 17 articles on this topic published between 1993 and 2010.
To select the articles published in ATR, JTR, and TM, the authors browsed through
each journal issue, reading through the titles of all articles published in these periodicals
over the specified time period. In the majority of instances, the titles were very suggestive
that the articles dealt with residents’ attitude research. Explicit terms utilized included,
but were not limited to, the following: “residents/community perceptions of/attitudes to
. . . ”, “residents/community views of . . . ”, residents/community support for . . . ”, “resi-
dents/community perspectives on . . . ”, residents/community reactions to . . . ” and “per-
ceived impacts of . . . ”. In cases where the title of an article was suggestive of research on
residents’ attitudes, but was less explicit about the article’s focus (e.g. “gender and tourism
in an Indonesian village”), the researchers read the abstract. In cases of continued uncer-
tainty, the main text of the article was read. This process ensured that all articles published
on the topic were retrieved. Only full-length articles were selected for the research because
theoretical ideas and methodological procedures are more likely to be fully described in
full-length articles than in research notes, commentaries, responses to published articles,
editors’ notes, and book reviews, and as a result these other types of contribution were
excluded from the analysis. In a further examination of the articles, a few of them were
disregarded as they had another focus, even though the title suggested differently (e.g. some
articles assessed impacts of tourism from the perspectives of the visitors rather than the
host community).
8 R. Nunkoo et al.
The selected articles were then analyzed using the content analysis method. Content
analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid references based on the
systematic and objective analysis of communication, and it permits the study of processes
occurring over a long time (Babbie, 2007). The technique has been applied in previous
studies attempting to map out the evolution of knowledge (e.g. Li, 2008; Lu & Nepal, 2009;
Xiao & Smith, 2006a). Xiao and Smith (2006b, 2007) stress that the content analysis of
academic literature provides grounded evidence about the evolution of knowledge.
As a first stage of the data analysis process, the extent to which residents’ attitudes to
tourism has been studied by researchers was examined by a numerical count of the number
of articles published on the topic in each journal. The analysis was split into five-year
periods: 1984–1988, 1989–1993, 1994–1998, 1999–2003 and 2004–2008, but with the
exception of the years 2009 and 2010, which were grouped together. The latter two-year
grouping was deemed to be suitable because the articles did not make use of any inferential
statistics to discern trends. Each article was read through, with the researchers paying
particular attention to the theoretical underpinnings of the study, data collection methods,
data analytic techniques/tools/approaches, the presentation of results, and the extent to
which the latter was linked to the theory utilized.
The following categories were used to classify articles: (1) atheoretical: refers to an
article that did not make use of any theory; (2) theoretical: refers to an article that made use
of a theory; (3) quantitative: refers to an article based only on quantitative methods of data
collection (e.g. surveys), quantitative data analysis techniques (e.g. univariate, bivariate,
and multivariate analysis), and/or quantitative data analysis packages (e.g. SPSS, LISREL
and AMOS); (4) qualitative: refers to an article based only on qualitative methods of data
collection (e.g. interviews, and analysis of documents) or qualitative methods of analysis
(e.g. grounded theory, content analysis), and/or qualitative data analysis packages (e.g.
NVIVO); (5) mixed-method: refers to an article based on both qualitative and quantitative
approaches (e.g. methodologies, techniques of analysis, and/or software packages); and, (6)
reviews: refers to articles with untested theoretical models, hypotheses and/or propositions,
and literature review articles.
The categorizations used were deemed to be sufficient to answer the research questions
of the study. In addition to the above, the range of theories and the statistical tests utilized in
the articles were also analyzed. For the purpose of this study, a broad definition of theory was
adopted. Theory was defined as “that body of logically interconnected propositions which
provides an interpretive basis for understanding phenomenon” (Dann et al., 1988, p. 4). The
theoretical awareness of an article was assessed in terms of the criteria of understanding,
prediction, and falsifiability. An article was classified as theoretical if these criteria were
met; and, if not, it was considered to be atheoretical. Dann et al. (1988) further argue
that, although the criteria of prediction and falsifiability are not widely accepted among
scholars and researchers, they are important characteristics of a theory and are the minimum
requirements that need to be satisfied.
Results and discussion

Number of articles published
The first analysis focused on the number of articles published in ATR, JTR, and TM.
Cross-tabulation of the data was made to determine the number of articles published by
each journal, and the results are presented in Table 1. Overall, 140 articles on residents’
attitudes to tourism have been published in the three journals between 1984 and 2010.
Table 1. Number of articles published by journals: five-yearly evolution (1984–2010, N = 140).
Number
of
Journal 1984–1988 1989–1993 1994–1998 1999–2003 2004–2008 2009–2010 articles %
ATR 6 9 13 17 8 1 54 38.6
JTR 4 6 10 8 9 6 43 30.7
TM 3 2 7 12 16 3 43 30.7
Total 13 17 30 37 33 10 140 100
These findings suggest that ATR published around 38% of articles on the topic. JTR and
TM had an equal number of articles published, each contributing around 30% of the total
number of published articles. The results also confirm that over recent decades studies on
residents’ attitudes to tourism development have been growing in number and have attracted
the attention of many researchers and scholars. The number of published articles showed
a dramatic increase since the 1980s. Results from Table 1 also suggest a slight decrease in
the number of articles published on the topic between 2004 and 2008. While this decrease
could be temporal or incidental, it might also be a signal that this field of study may have
reached academic saturation, but further research in subsequent years should be carried out
to reach definitive conclusions.
Research approaches
This study also examined the research approaches used by scholars investigating the topic.
An understanding of the research approaches may provide scholars with a general perspec-
tive, which can allow for the development of appropriate research designs (Walle, 1997).
Studies were classified as either atheoretical or theoretical; reviews; and qualitative, quan-
titative or mixed-methods. Cross-tabulation was used to determine the research approaches
used by studies in each journal and to analyze the evolution of approaches over time.
Theoretical and atheoretical articles

Reviewing the theories utilized in any research area may indicate the extent of theoretical
sophistication in the area, and it is a fruitful line of investigation. Findings from Table
2 indicate that the majority of studies (54.3%) are atheoretical in nature, suggesting that
most researchers did not make use of a priori conceptualization to investigate residents’
attitudes. The remaining studies (45.7%) were theoretically informed. Furthermore, while
the majority of studies made use of a single theory (e.g. Byrd, Bosley, & Dronberger,
2009; Gursoy, Chi, & Dyer, 2010), other researchers (e.g. Kwon & Vogt, 2010; Vong, 2009)
adopted theoretical triangulation, involving the use of multiple perspectives to interpret their
data (Decrop, 1999). The results suggest that while some researchers investigate residents’
attitudes to tourism without providing a theory, others develop and test a theory apart from
measuring residents’ attitudes. The popularity of the former approach over the latter may
be attributed to the fact that developing and testing a theory could be more difficult and
challenging for researchers.
The majority of articles published in ATR (59.3%) and JTR (55.8%) were atheoretical in
nature, while TM published more theoretically informed articles (53.5%) than ATR (40.7%)
and JTR (44.2%). An interesting trend worthy of attention is that although the majority
10 R. Nunkoo et al.
Table 2. Theoretical frameworks utilized by journal (N = 140).
All Journals
(N = 140) ATR (n = 54) JTR (n = 43) TM (n = 43)
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
Atheoretical 76 54.3 32 59.3 24 55.8 20 46.5
Theoreticala 64 45.7 22 40.7 19 44.2 23 53.5
(n = 64) (n = 22) (n = 19) (n = 23)
Social exchange theory 36 56.3 14 63.6 12 63.2 10 43.5
Tourist area life cycle 12 18.8 3 13.6 2 10.5 7 30.4
Irridex model 7 11.0 2 9.1 1 5.3 4 17.4
Theory of reasoned action 4 6.3 – – 1 5.3 3 13.0
Carrying capacity theory 4 6.3 – – 2 10.5 2 8.7
Social representation theory 3 4.7 1 4.5 2 10.5 – –
Dependency theory 3 4.7 – – – 3 13.0

Ap and Crompton 2 3.1 – – 1 5.3 1 4.3
developmental stages
Boomtown theory 2 3.1 – – 2 10.5 – –
Social disruption theory 2 3.1 – – 1 5.3 1 4.3
Intrinsic/extrinsic framework 2 3.1 2 9.1 – – –
Place attachment theory 1 1.6 – – – 1 4.3
Attitude theory 1 1.6 – – 1 5.3 – –
Gaming impact perception 1 1.6 – – 1 5.3 – –
matrix
Maslow hierarchy of needs 1 1.6 1 4.5 – – – –
Expectancy–value model 1 1.6 1 4.5 – – – –
Value–attitude model 1 1.6 1 4.5 – – – –
Growth machine theory 1 1.6 1 4.5 – – – –
Personal construct theory 1 1.6 – – 1 5.3 –
Stakeholder theory 1 1.6 1 4.5 – – – –
Abler’s matrix model 1 1.6 – – – – 1 4.3
Resort development spectrum 1 1.6 1 4.5 – – – –
Resistance theory 1 1.6 – – 1 5.3 – –
aSome articles made use of more than one theory.
of articles are of an atheoretical nature, results from Table 3 indicate that researchers are
increasingly making use of theories to investigate residents’ attitudes to tourism. This has
resulted in a decrease in the number of atheoretical articles, and an increase in theoretically
informed articles. Results further suggest that all articles (100%) published between 2009
and 2010 were theoretically informed. These trends suggest that it is very likely that studies
on residents’ attitudes to tourism will be dominated by theoretically informed research
in the coming years. Thus, the argument of some researchers (e.g. Gursoy & Rutherford,
2004; Harrill, 2004) that the majority of studies on residents’ attitudes to tourism are of an
atheoretical nature is likely to be invalidated in the years to come. The increasing number
of theoretically informed articles is a positive trend as such studies are likely to contribute
to further strengthening this area of research.
The research also investigated the range of theories utilized. The results are presented
in Tables 2 and 3. The majority of theoretical articles (56.3%) employed Social Exchange
Theory (SET; Ap, 1992), confirming its popularity among researchers investigating the
topic. SET was also most commonly used across the three journals: 63.6% in ATR, 63.2%
in JTR, and 43.5% in TM. Table 3 further confirms that the use of SET in residents’ attitude
Table 3. Theoretical frameworks utilized: five-yearly evolution (1984–2010, all journals, N = 140).
1984–1988 1989–1993 1994–1998 1999–2003 2004–2008 2009–2010

(n = 13) (n = 17) (n = 30) (n = 37) (n = 33) (n = 10)
Freq % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
Atheoretical 11 84.6 14 82.4 21 70 17 45.9 13 39.4 – –
Theoretical 2 15.4 3 17.6 9 30 20 54.1 20 60.6 10 100.0
(n = 2)a (n = 3)a (n = 9)a (n = 20)a (n = 20)a (n = 10)a
Social exchange theory 1 50.0 3 100.0 4 44.4 11 55.0 12 60.0 5 50.0
Tourist area life cycle – – – – 4 44.4 4 20.0 2 10.0 2 20.0
Irridex model – – – – 4 44.4 1 5.0 1 5.0 1 10.0
Theory of reasoned action – – – – – – – – 3 1 10.0
Carrying capacity theory 1 50.0 1 33.3 – – 1 5.0 1 5.0 – –
Social representation theory – – – – – 2 10.0 – – 1 10.0
Dependency theory – – – – – 1 5.0 2 10.0 – –
Ap and Crompton developmental stages – – – – – – 2 10.0 – – – –
Boomtown theory – – – – – – – – 1 5.0 1 10.0
Social disruption theory – – – – – – 1 5.0 – – 1
Intrinsic/extrinsic framework – – – – – – 2 10.0 – – – –
Place attachment theory – – – – – – – – 1 5.0 – –
Attitude theory – – – – – – – – – – 1 10.0
Gaming impact perception matrix – – – – – – – – – – 1 10.0
Maslow hierarchy of needs – – – – – – 1 5.0 – – – –
Expectancy–value model – – – – – – 1 5.0 – – – –
Value–attitude model – – – – – – 1 5.0 – – – –
Growth machine theory – – – – – – 1 5.0 – – – –
Personal construct theory – – – – – – – – 1 5.0 – –
Stakeholder theory – – – – – – – – – – 1 10.0
Abler’s matrix model – – – – – – 1 5.0 – – – –
Resort development spectrum – – – – 1 11.1 – – – – – –
Resistance theory – – – – – – – – – – 1 10.0
an includes only theoretically based articles.

11
12 R. Nunkoo et al.
studies has been increasing over the years. SET gained popularity after it was briefly
introduced by Perdue, Long, and Allen (1987), and explicitly discussed by Ap (1992). The
popularity of SET can be attributed to the fact that the theory recognizes the heterogeneous
nature of a host community, where different groups of individuals may hold different
attitudes to tourism depending on their perceptions of the industry’s benefits and costs. Ap
(1992) argues that “social exchange paradigm offers a useful theoretical framework, which
can account for both the positive and negative impacts of tourism as perceived by the host
community. SET is a logically and intuitively appealing one that may be used to explain why
residents develop positive or negative perceptions of tourism impacts” (p. 685). SET has
been found to be one of the most applicable and relevant theories in explaining community
attitudes to tourism (Andereck, Valentine, Knopf, & Vogt, 2005).
Results from Table 2 further suggest that around 18% of the theoretical articles made
use of the Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC; Butler, 1980) and 11% utilized the Irridex model
(Doxey, 1975). The majority of articles using TALC and Irridex models have been published
in TM, followed by ATR and JTR. Studies adopting these stage-related models were mainly
those that investigated the relationship between the degree/stage of tourism development
and residents’ attitudes to tourism impacts and/or those that were based on longitudinal
studies (e.g. Diedrich & Garcia-Buades, 2009; Lee, Kim, & Kang, 2003). The premise of
these articles rests on the assumption that different levels of tourism development connote
different levels of capacity threshold for the host community, where higher levels of tourism
development are accompanied by higher perceptions of the negative impacts of tourism.
Although TALC and Irridex models have been the most commonly utilized theories after
SET, results in Table 3 indicate that both models have been falling in popularity over the
years. This trend is not surprising because the limitations of both models have been widely
recognized by the field’s researchers. Both models are considered to be too simplistic to
be able to provide a comprehensive understanding of residents’ attitudes to tourism (Akis,
Peristianis, & Warner, 1996).
Although SET remains the dominant theory, Tables 2 and 3 suggest that recent years
have seen the emergence of a number of “new” theories in research on residents’ attitudes
to tourism. These include resistance theory (e.g. Chhabra, 2010), stakeholder theory (e.g.
Nicholas, Thapa, & Ko, 2009), dependency theory (e.g. Lepp, 2008; Mbaiwa, 2005), place
attachment theory (e.g. Gu & Ryan, 2008), personal construct theory (e.g. Lawton, 2005),
attitude theory (e.g. Kwon & Vogt, 2010), and the theory of reasoned action (TRA; e.g.
Kwon & Vogt, 2010; Lepp, 2007). These trends indicate that researchers are increasingly
drawing from theories developed in other mature social science disciplines. For example,
SET is a sociological theory; TRA, personal construct theory, and attitude theory are
derived from psychology; stakeholder theory is derived from management science; while
dependency theory is borrowed from the economics discipline. Perhaps this is because
tourism is a multidimensional phenomenon that can be investigated from a number of
viewpoints (Dann et al., 1988), with the implications that studies of residents’ attitudes
have normally been conducted under the aegis of several disciplines.
Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method articles

The research also examined the state of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods re-
search on residents’ attitudes to tourism. Cross-tabulation was used (1) to determine the
number of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method articles published by each journal,
and (2) to assess the evolution of each type of article over time. The results are presented in
Tables 4 and 5. Table 4 suggests that the majority of articles published were quantitative in
nature (72.1%), where data were analyzed using a range of statistical techniques (discussed
later in this paper). The results also suggest that review articles have been very uncommon,
with only two articles published in ATR. This is probably because such articles are not based
on any empirical data and are thus generally perceived to be less strong both theoretically
and methodologically than empirically based articles. Journal editors and reviewers are
generally reluctant to accept such articles for publications unless they make a significant
theoretical or methodological contribution to the literature. However, more review articles
are expected to appear in the literature given that ATR has now committed itself to publish
review articles that clarify the state of the art on key issues (Tribe & Xiao, 2011).
Qualitative research represented 12.9% of all articles published and this research used
a range of qualitative methods, such as case study work (e.g. Dyer, Aberdeen, & Schuler,
2003; Simpson & Wall, 1999), grounded theory/controlled comparison method (e.g. Lepp,
2007, 2008) or a review of secondary sources and artifacts (e.g. Bramwell, 2003; Teo,
1994). Around 13.5% of the total number of articles published was based on mix-method
approaches. The nature of the latter articles can be analyzed using the classification of
Miller and Crabtree (1994). The majority of mixed-method articles (e.g. Andereck et al.,
2005; Ap & Crompton, 1998; Chhabra, 2010; Davis et al., 1988; Diedrich & Garcia-Buades,
2009) were based on a sequential research design approach where qualitative data were
collected first in order to develop the quantitative instrument (Miller & Crabtree, 1994).
Other researchers who adopted the mixed-method approach (e.g. Campbell, 1999; Mason &
Cheyne, 2000; Waitt, 2003; Weaver & Lawton, 2001) based their research on a concurrent
design strategy where the quantitative and qualitative data were used simultaneously to
explain residents’ attitudes to tourism (Miller & Crabtree, 1994).
Table 4 further shows that articles based on quantitative methods dominated across all
three journals: ATR (68.5%), TM (62.8%), and JTR (86%). Qualitative articles represented
only around 4.7% of articles published in JTR, 13% of articles in ATR, and 20% of articles
published in TM. The proportions of mixed-method articles with respect to the number
of articles published in each journal were as follows: ATR, 14.8%; JTR, 9.3%; and TM,
16.3%. The majority of qualitative and mixed-method articles were published in ATR and
TM, with the latter having a higher proportion of both types of articles compared to the other
two journals. These results could be explained by the fact that JTR is more quantitatively
oriented than ATR and TM, as confirmed by a number of researchers (Crawford-Welch &
McCleary, 1992; Reid & Andereck, 1989; Riley & Love, 2000). Interestingly, although
TM is positioned as a journal addressing industry issues, it published a higher number of
qualitative articles than ATR, which adopts a social science orientation.
The overall results confirm the arguments of several researchers about the positivistic
paradigm that has dominated research on residents’ attitudes to tourism (e.g. Deery et al.,
2012; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2009). This is not surprising given that tourism scholarship
in general has been biased toward quantitative approaches, where research has been
conducted to generate hypotheses that have to be tested and refined through statistical
procedures (Cohen, 1988; Davies, 2003; Walle, 1997). Furthermore, since studies on
residents’ attitudes to tourism have borrowed theories from other disciplines, such as
sociology and psychology, research on the topic may also have been influenced by the
positivistic paradigms prevailing in these disciplines.
Table 5 shows the evolution in the types of articles published over the 27 years. It
indicates that the proportion of quantitative articles with respect to the total number of
articles published has generally been decreasing. This decrease may be attributed to the
fact that a number of articles based on qualitative and mixed-method approaches started
appearing in the journals between 1994 and 2008. While there were no qualitative articles
14
Table 4. Types of research and statistical techniques employed by journal (N = 140).
All Journals ATR JTR TM

(N = 140) (n = 54) (n = 43) (n = 43)
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
Reviews 2 1.4 2 3.7 – – – –
Qualitative 18 12.9 7 13.0 2 4.7 9 20.9
R. Nunkoo et al.
Quantitative 101 72.1 37 68.5 37 86.0 27 62.8

Mixed-methods 19 13.5 8 14.8 4 9.3 7 16.3
Statistical techniquesa (n = 138)b (n = 52)b (n = 43) (n = 43)
Descriptive statistics 91 65.9 32 61.5 34 79.1 25 58.1
Factor analysis (EFA and PCA) 41 29.7 15 28.8 16 37.2 10 23.3
Regression analysis 23 16.7 10 19.2 10 23.3 3 7.0
ANOVA 23 16.7 9 17.3 6 14.0 8 18.6
t-tests 20 14.5 8 15.4 5 11.6 7 16.3
Confirmatory factor analysis 17 12.3 9 17.3 2 4.7 6 14.0
Structural equation model 15 10.9 7 13.5 2 4.7 6 14.0
Chi-square test 14 10.1 4 7.7 4 9.3 6 14.0
Correlation analysis 14 10.1 5 9.6 6 14.0 3 7.0
Cluster analysis 11 8.0 5 9.6 6 14.0 – –
Mann-Whitney U 6 4.3 2 3.8 3 7.0 1 2.3
MANOVA 6 4.3 2 3.8 2 4.7 2 4.7
Discriminant analysis 5 3.6 2 3.8 3 7.0 – –
Probit and logit models 3 2.2 2 3.8 – – 1 2.3
Kruskal-Wallis test 3 2.2 1 1.9 1 2.3 1 2.3
Path analysis 2 1.4 1 1.9 1 2.3 – –
Multiple classification analysis 1 0.7 1 1.9 – – – –
Contingent valuation technique 1 0.7 1 1.9 – – – –
MANCOVA 1 0.7 1 1.9 – – – –
ANCOVA 1 0.7 – – 1 2.3 – –
aSome articles made use of more than one type of statistical test.
bn excludes the two review articles.
Table 5. Types of research and statistical techniques employed: five-yearly evolution (1984–2010, all journals, N = 140).
1984–1988 1989–1993 1994–1998 1999–2003 2004–2008 2009–2010

(n = 13) (n = 17) (n = 30) (n = 37) (n = 33) (n = 10)
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
Reviews – 2 11.8 – – – – – – –
Qualitative – – 6 20 5 13.5 7 21.2 – –
Quantitative 10 76.9 15 88.2 22 73.3 26 70.3 20 60.6 8 80.0
Mixed-methods 3 23.1 – – 2 6.7 6 16.2 6 18.2 2 20.0
Statistical techniques: (n = 13) (n = 15)a (n = 30) (n = 37) (n = 33) (n = 10)
Descriptive statistics 12 92.3 12 80.0 18 60 24 64.9 18 54.5 7 70
Factor analysis (EFA and PCA) 4 30.8 3 20.0 11 36.7 11 29.7 10 30.3 2 20
Regression analysis 2 15.4 4 26.7 3 10.0 7 18.9 4 12.1 3 30
ANOVA 3 23.1 – – 5 16.7 6 16.2 7 21.2 2 20
t-tests 1 7.7 2 13.3 4 13.3 7 29.7 3 9.0 3 30
Confirmatory factor analysis – – – – 2 6.7 5 13.5 8 24.2 2 20
Structural equation model – – – – 1 3.3 4 10.8 7 21.2 3 30
Chi-square test 4 30.8 4 26.7 1 3.3 3 8.1 2 6.0 – –
Correlation analysis 4 30.8 3 20.0 4 13.3 1 2.7 1 3.0 1 10
Cluster analysis 1 7.77 1 6.7 1 3.3 4 10.8 3 9.0 1 10
Mann-Whitney U – – – – 3 10.0 1 2.7 1 3.0 1 10
MANOVA – – 1 6.7 – – 2 5.4 3 9.0 – –
Discriminant analysis – – 1 6.7 2 6.7 1 2.7 – – 1 10
Probit and logit models – – – – – – 2 5.4 1 3.0 – –
Kruskal-Wallis test – – – – 1 3.3 1 2.7 – – 1 10
Path analysis – – – – – – 2 5.4 – – – –
Multiple classification analysis – – – – 1 3.3 – – – – – –
Contingent valuation technique – – – – 1 3.3 – – – – – –
MANCOVA – – – – 1 3.3 – – – – – –
ANCOVA – – 1 6.7 – – – – – – – –
an excludes the two review articles.

15
16 R. Nunkoo et al.
published between 1984 and 1993, six qualitative articles were published between 1994 and
1998, five between 1999 and 2003, and seven between 2004 and 2008. This increase may
be attributed to the fact that the benefits of qualitative research have been recognized by
tourism researchers and scholars. In fact, during the past decades, a number of books and
articles advocating the use of qualitative research methods in tourism have been published
(e.g. Cohen, 1988; Decrop, 1999; Jamal & Hollinshead, 2001; Riley & Love, 2000; Walle,
1997). Articles based on the mixed-method approaches have also seen an increase over the
years. However, although researchers have started making use of qualitative and mixed-
method approaches to investigate residents’ attitudes to tourism, studies based on these
methods still account for a very low proportion with respect to the total number of articles
published. Articles based on qualitative and mixed-methods approaches are still in their
infancy in residents’ attitude research, while studies based on quantitative methods largely
predominate in the field.
Statistical techniques utilized

The importance of reviewing statistical techniques should not be underestimated. The
progress and credibility of a field is highly dependent on the level of statistical sophistication
gained and practiced (Crawford-Welch & McCleary, 1992; Reid & Andereck, 1989). This
view is also supported by Palmer, Sese and Montano (2005) who note that “the use of
statistics in empirical research can be regarded as an indication of the degree of scientific
progress in a field, because empirically contrasted, stochastic conclusions can be reached
through statistical techniques by following scientific method” (p. 167). Thus, reviewing the
range of statistical techniques utilized in residents’ attitude studies remains a fruitful line
of investigation if progress in this field is to be assessed and future developments made.
Cross-tabulation was used (1) to analyze the range of statistical tests utilized in the three
journals, and (2) to assess the evolution in the use of statistical tests over the 27-year period.
The results are presented in Tables 4 and 5.
Table 4 indicates that around 65% of articles made use of descriptive statistics. Use of
descriptive statistics was also predominant across all three journals, with around 79% of
articles in JTR, around 61% in ATR, and around 58% in TM making use of these techniques.
These findings are in line with other studies that confirmed the popularity of descriptive
statistics in tourism and hospitality studies (Baloglu & Assante, 1999; Crawford-Welch &
McCleary, 1992; Reid & Andereck, 1989). The importance of descriptive statistics rests on
their utility as tools for interpreting and analyzing data, especially in studies using multiple
items and constructs. For example, the mean scores of tourism impact statements provide
useful information on the most important/least important impact of tourism as perceived
by the residents. Descriptive statistics can also be useful in comparing attitudes to tourism
impacts between different community groups and stakeholders. Factor analysis was the
second most frequently used technique, being adopted in around 29% of articles. Use of
factor analysis was more common in JTR (37.2%) than in ATR (28.8) and TM (23.3%). The
popularity of factor analysis stems from its ability to identify dimensions of a construct in
the early stages of developing scales for measuring residents’ attitudes to tourism. It does so
by condensing items into a smaller set of components with a minimum loss of information
(Diamantopoulos & Schlegelmilch, 1997; Hair, Anderson, & Tatham, 1987).
Regression analysis (16.7%), ANOVA (16.7%), t-tests (14.5%), confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA; 12.3%), structural equation modeling (SEM) (10.9%), chi-square tests
(10.1%), correlation analysis (10.1%), and cluster analysis (8%) were other commonly used
statistical techniques, although each technique accounted for only a low proportion. Factor
analysis, cluster analysis, correlation, and regression analysis were most popular in JTR.
ANOVA, t-tests, chi-square tests, and SEM were most commonly used in TM, while CFA
was most commonly used in ATR. There were few uses of other statistical techniques, such
as Mann-Whitney U, MANOVA, discriminant analysis, probit and logit models, Kruskal-
Wallis tests, path analysis, multiple classification analysis, contingent valuation techniques,
MANCOVA, and ANCOVA. The most commonly used non-parametric tests were ANOVA,
t-test and chi-square test. In terms of use of statistical techniques over the 27-year period,
use of descriptive statistics seems to be on the decrease. This may be explained by the fact
that researchers are increasingly making use of sophisticated statistical tests. As a result,
in view of the word limits imposed by journals on authors, researchers prefer to report the
detailed results of the advanced tests rather than providing basic information that describes
their data set. The findings also suggest that the use of correlation analysis seems to be
falling over the years. For the most part, there were no major changes in the use of other
statistical tests.
However, interestingly, as shown in Table 5, a noticeable change pertains to the increas-
ing use of CFA and SEM in residents’ attitude studies. Although quite recent, they are
becoming popular data analytic tools among researchers, and their acceptance by scholars
could be attributed to a number of reasons. CFA complements traditional techniques of
scale development, such as exploratory factor analysis; it provides an alternative measure
of internal consistency of tourism impact attitude scales; and it also allows researchers
to evaluate the external consistency of the scale items (Kang, Long, & Perdue, 1996).
Researchers are constantly trying to improve measurement procedures to assess residents’
attitudes to tourism, and as such, it is not surprising that CFA is gaining wide acceptance
among tourism scholars. SEM, which is a widely used statistical technique in the social
sciences, combines CFA with path analysis (Nusair & Hua, 2010; Reisinger & Turner,
1999), and it incorporates latent variables into the analysis while accounting for measure-
ment errors in the estimation process (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). The ability
of SEM to perform different forms of analysis has meant that it has been referred to as a
hybrid analysis tool (Kline, 1998). As a result of its ability to deal with several constructs,
its growing use is not surprising because researchers investigating residents’ attitudes to
tourism often make use of multiple latent constructs, each represented by several observed
and measurable variables. The increased usage of CFA and SEM in residents’ attitude stud-
ies may also be attributed to the fact that researchers are increasingly involved in theory
testing (as confirmed by the popularity of theoretically based studies) where hypotheses are
based on strong theoretical foundations. Both CFA and SEM are theory–testing statistical
tests, as opposed to theory–generating tests such as exploratory factor analysis.
The overall statistical trends confirm the popularity of multivariate data analytic tech-
niques, such as factor analysis, multiple regression, CFA, and SEM, among researchers
investigating residents’ attitudes to tourism. These trends are similar to what other reviews
on statistical techniques have reported (e.g. Baloglu & Assante, 1999). The popularity
of multivariate statistical techniques in residents’ attitude studies over bivariate tests may
be attributed to a number of reasons. Firstly, multivariate statistics reflect more accu-
rately the true multidimensional and multivariate nature of residents’ attitudes to tourism.
Researchers recognize that residents’ attitudes to tourism theoretically can be delineated
into several constructs: perceived positive and negative economic, social, cultural, and
environmental impacts. Secondly, scholars acknowledge that a number of factors influence
residents’ perceptions of these impacts. The implications of these are that scholars have
generally included a number of constructs simultaneously in their studies and investigated
the relationships among them using multivariate statistics. Thirdly, multivariate techniques
18 R. Nunkoo et al.
allow researchers to explore complex data sets for patterns and relationships from which
hypotheses can be generated and subsequently tested empirically. Finally, the availability
of, and accessibility to, powerful statistical software, like SPSS, LISREL, and AMOS (the
latter two are used for CFA and SEM), to researchers should not be underestimated in
explaining the growth of multivariate statistical techniques.
Research design considerations

There is little doubt that the dominant paradigm prevailing in residents’ attitude research
is positivism, while studies based on interpretive approaches have largely lagged behind.
It is not the purpose of this discussion to discredit either method or favor one approach
over the other; rather, it is argued that both methods are legitimate and contribute in their
own ways to progress this area of research further. However, given the paucity of research
based on qualitative and mixed-method approaches, an obvious area of research relates

to the use of more interpretive and triangular approaches in residents’ attitude studies.
Although replication is an essential task in science, quantitative methods are often criticized
for refining and testing what is already known, rather than creating new knowledge and
theories (Coalter, 1999). They also prevent researchers for using insights and intuitions,
especially when feelings of people are being studied, requiring diverse forms of evidence
and information (Walle, 1997). Residents’ attitudes are formed within a historical and
social context (Fredline & Faulkner, 2000), and these shape the ways in which they view
and construct the meaning of tourism. Social, cultural, and historical contexts give meanings
to social processes like tourism (Lepp, 2008; Samdahl, 1999).
Thus, it is important that such influences are understood by the researcher. While
quantitative methods are ideally suited for measuring attitudes to tourism from a large
sample (Brunt & Courtney, 1999), they are less useful in understanding how residents
construct the meaning of the phenomenon called “tourism” and how such construction is
shaped by the historical and social context in which it occurs (Horn & Simmons, 2002).
Qualitative methods are able to capture the attitudinal and perceptual dimensions and
real-life events that are not readily convertible into numbers through statistical procedures
(Yin, 2003). They provide natural occurring information that allows researchers to increase
their understanding of residents’ views of tourism as a social process. Qualitative data,
with their closeness to a specific situation, take into account the local context and contain
some inherent richness and holism with strong potential for revealing complexity (Miles &
Huberman, 1994). Denzin and Lincoln (2005) further argue that qualitative methods that
normally focus on people’s lived experiences have the ability to help researchers understand
the meanings people bring to them. Therefore, from a purely ontological perspective,
investigating residents’ attitudes to tourism requires the use of qualitative research methods
(Brunt & Courtney, 1999).
However, to increase the legitimacy and acceptability of qualitative studies among the
wider research community, researchers should explain how and why their methods are
sound. A common drawback of the qualitative studies on residents’ attitudes to tourism
reviewed in the present study is that many researchers did not provide enough information
on their qualitative data analysis techniques. This assertion is supported by Riley and
Love (2000), who note that qualitative researchers often fail to disclose their methods
of analysis in commonly used terms or detailed description. They argue that “usually
qualitative researchers described many parts of the research process thoroughly, but often
their explanations of their analytical procedures and interpretation were conspicuous in
their absence” (p. 182). Reliability and validity are other factors that qualitative researchers
should take into account when designing their study, analyzing results, and judging the
quality of their research (Patton, 2002). These relate to the question about “how can an
inquirer persuade his or her audiences that the research findings of an inquiry are worth
paying attention?” (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 290). However, reliability and validity issues
were rarely discussed in the articles reviewed. Research quality in each study should
be judged by its own paradigm term (Healy & Perry, 2000). This demands that qualitative
researchers redefine reliability and validity for their use in the context of naturalistic inquiry
because these concepts have traditionally been associated with positivistic paradigms.
The above said, the importance and contribution of positivist research using advanced
quantitative data analytic techniques in residents’ attitude studies should not be underes-
timated. Palmer et al. (2005) note that progress in a field of inquiry is made possible by
the discovery of possible multivariate relationships among variables in a study. They fur-
ther note that moving from mere descriptive statistics to multivariate statistics represents a
way for producing scientific knowledge in a discipline. Statistical tools are ways through
which general results can be obtained and better explanatory conclusions reached (Palmer
et al., 2005). However, a few words of caution are needed when researchers attempt to use
statistical tests to explain or predict residents’ attitudes to tourism. Firstly, scholars can
unknowingly fall into methodological pitfalls if they attempt to use quantitative methods
in situations where understanding does not result from the application of statistical testing,
but from more interpretive approaches (Walle, 1997). Secondly, researchers should clearly
understand the rationale behind using a particular data analytic technique. For example,
SEM should be directed by theory and a clear misuse of the technique may occur if the
researcher fails to develop a priori conceptualization and simply fits the data to SEM and
generates theory from it (Reisinger & Turner, 1999). In such cases, the significance of
scientific research is destroyed (Walle, 1997).
Ideally then, a robust research design is probably one which adopts mixed-method
approaches, many of which center on the concept of triangulation. The literature provides a
range of well-rehearsed arguments about the advantages of mixing methods, which include
validating data or analysis and providing a fuller picture of the phenomenon (Bryman, 2004;
Davies, 2003; Decrop, 1999; Mason, 2006). Residents’ attitudes to tourism are shaped by
their social experiences and lived realities, which are multidimensional in nature rather than
having a unique “absolute” truth (Davies, 2003; Mason, 2006). Studying these experiences
and realities along a single dimension may be inadequate and may limit our understanding of
residents’ attitudes to tourism. Methodology and methods are needed that open researchers’
perspectives to the multidimensional nature of social experiences and lived realities (Mason,
2006). Mixing methods offer potential for exploring new dimensions in residents’ attitude
research, allowing researchers and scholars to think differently and “outside the box”.
Integrating the tools of qualitative and quantitative approaches enables the verification of
facts as well as the investigation of complex and multidimensional reality (Davies, 2003).
This can be achieved if mixed-method approaches are viewed multidimensionally rather
than simply in qualitative–quantitative terms.
Researchers and scholars should respond to the research problems and context they
face, and they should not always be shackled only by the classical method of empirical
science and quantification of their data. Some consideration of alternative methods is also
needed, and researchers’ choice of methods must be guided by the context and situation
under investigation rather than the search for rigor for its own sake. For example, an
understanding of how tourism and the social lives of residents are embedded within specific
contexts is vital in producing meaningful explanations of residents’ attitudes to tourism.
If residents’ attitudes to tourism are analyzed in different contexts, then it might also be
20 R. Nunkoo et al.
possible to develop cross-contextual generalization. It may therefore be beneficial to adopt

a mixed-method approach to measure residents’ attitudes to tourism where the qualitative
methods take into account the local context and are used to inform the development of a
set of standardized items to measure attitudes. The logic here is to factor the context into
the explanation of residents’ attitudes rather than control for them or leave them out.
Irrespective of the type and nature of the research, the role and importance of theory in
informing the research design cannot be disputed. Philosophers and scientists affirm that
knowledge is theory-laden (Guba & Lincoln, 1989) and that methods are theory-driven
(Kuhn, 1970). Theory remains an essential component of any mature research (Dann et al.,
1988). Nash (1979) argues that “empirical inquiry, even if it is dominated by a high powered
research methodology, is not in itself sufficient for a scientific study of tourism. Theory is
also needed” (pp. 22–34). Palmer et al. (2005) also note that effective use of statistics in
tourism largely depends on the theoretical knowledge that has been developed in the field.
Even the best qualitative studies are those that are theoretically informed (Charmaz, 2004).
Comparing emerging hypotheses and findings with existing theories, noting similarities
and contractions, and searching for alternative explanations help in making conclusions
more sound and reliable (Decrop, 1999). This enables researchers to establish the domain
within which the study’s findings can be generalized. Theory remains important in research
design as it provides a framework for analysis, allows for an efficient method for field
development, and provides clear explanations of the pragmatic world (Wacker, 1998).
Conclusion and study limitations

This study reviewed 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism published in ATR, TM,
and JTR over 27 years. Results indicated that the majority of studies on the topic have
been published in ATR, while JTR and TM published an equal number of articles. The
research provided some valuable insights on the research approaches used by researchers
investigating the topic. Findings suggested that the predominant epistemological approach
was positivism where most articles were based on quantification. The majority of studies
were of an atheoretical nature, although researchers are making increasing use of theories
drawn from other disciplines, such as sociology and psychology, to investigate the topic.
The field appears to have progressed to a point where scholars are making wide use of
multivariate data analytic techniques to test theories and hypotheses. Studies on the topic
have progressed from being low on methodological sophistication and theoretical awareness
to being high on both aspects, and this can be considered to be the “desired optimum” in any
research (Dann et al., 1988, p. 5). The harmonious blend between theory and methodology
is an indication of the sophistication of the field. Research on this topic has reached a stage
of active scholarship in theory development followed by empirical testing.
Based on the overall results, some issues in research design that future researchers
should take into account are discussed in an attempt to advance research on the topic. The
discussion suggests that, although this area of research has reached an advanced level of
theoretical and methodological sophistication, there is a need for more innovative stud-
ies on residents’ attitudes to tourism, and this is likely to benefit research on sustainable
tourism. Improved research on residents’ attitudes that is relevant to sustainable develop-
ment requires that tourism researchers and scholars have a broader understanding of the
research methodologies that presently exist. Researchers should recognize the legitimacy
of a variety of research tools that may be applied to residents’ attitude studies. There is
a need for researchers to be competent analysts of the multiple ways for analyzing qual-
itative data, as this is likely to improve the rigor of the analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985)
and the representation and legitimacy of their results (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2007). The
consolidation and development of residents’ attitude research will also depend on further
empirical testing of hypothetical knowledge that reflects tourism realities. Thus, adopting
mixed-methods approaches, where qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection
and analysis are combined, is likely to improve the rigor of studies on residents’ attitudes,
and it provides new perspectives for sustainable tourism research.
Despite the study’s potential contributions to the literature and to sustainable tourism
research, its limitations should be acknowledged and it is advisable that readers evaluate
the findings and the research design considerations in the light of these limitations. The
paper reviewed articles published only in three tourism journals, namely, ATR, JTR, and
TM. Studies on residents’ attitudes to tourism can also be found in other publication outlets
(e.g. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, JOST, etc.). It may well be that if a
wider range of journals is included, the results may change and a more accurate analysis
would emerge of the state of research on the topic. The study also did not analyze the
range of qualitative data analytic tools, sampling strategies, and the data collection methods
utilized. Future researchers engaging in similar reviews should broaden the scope of their
study by investigating these issues. There may also be value in reviewing the percentage of
articles using a single statistical technique, or two, three, four or more techniques. It may
also be useful for future researchers to analyze the different “research themes” in studies
on residents’ attitudes to tourism. Nevertheless, the study contributes to the literature by
providing insights into the nature and structure of studies of residents’ attitudes to tourism.
It contributes to a general overview of the degree of theoretical and statistical progress
that research on the topic currently has achieved. The discussion may also be useful in
improving future research on the topic.
Notes on contributors
Robin Nunkoo is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the
University of Waterloo, Canada; a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management at the University
of Mauritius; and a visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Management, University of
Johannesburg, South Africa. His research interests are in residents’ attitudes to tourism, public trust
in government institutions and travel behavior. He has published articles in journals such as Annals of
Tourism Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research.
Stephen Smith is a Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University
of Waterloo, Canada. He serves as a consultant for numerous local, provincial and national agencies,
particularly in the area of tourism product development and destination management. His research
interests include methodology, philosophy of science and knowledge management in tourism. He has
published widely in Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Manage-
ment.
Haywantee Ramkissoon is reading for a PhD at the Department of Management, Monash University,
Australia. She is a Lecturer, and teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate tourism programs. She has
research interests in host and tourist behaviors, and her current research focuses on place attachment
and pro-environmental behaviors. She has published articles in journals such as Annals of Tourism
Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research.
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Residents’ attitudes to tourism: a longitudinal study

This paper is a longitudinal study of 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism

Results and discussion

Table 1. Number of articles published by journals: five-yearly evolution (1984–2010, N = 140).

Theoretical and atheoretical articles

Table 2. Theoretical frameworks utilized by journal (N = 140).

Dependency theory 3 4.7 – – – 3 13.0

1984–1988 1989–1993 1994–1998 1999–2003 2004–2008 2009–2010

an includes only theoretically based articles.

Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method articles

Table 4. Types of research and statistical techniques employed by journal (N = 140).

All Journals ATR JTR TM

Quantitative 101 72.1 37 68.5 37 86.0 27 62.8

1984–1988 1989–1993 1994–1998 1999–2003 2004–2008 2009–2010

an excludes the two review articles.

Statistical techniques utilized

Research design considerations

based on qualitative and mixed-method approaches, an obvious area of research relates

possible to develop cross-contextual generalization. It may therefore be beneficial to adopt

Conclusion and study limitations

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