Livelihood adaptation of households in rural tourism destinations: disturbance identification, behavioral response and influential mechanism

Wang, Rong (2025) Livelihood adaptation of households in rural tourism destinations: disturbance identification, behavioral response and influential mechanism. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Rural tourism not only effectively promotes the socio-economic development and industrial restructuring of traditional rural areas, but also significantly influences the transformation of households’ livelihood strategies in rural tourism destinations. As the core stakeholders directly affected by rural tourism, households must adapt effectively to rural tourism development to achieve the transformation and sustainable development of their livelihoods. Although existing research has preliminarily explored households’ livelihood adaptation in rural tourism destinations, there remains a lack of a systematic theoretical framework for analyzing this phenomenon. Key questions, such as what livelihood disturbances the development of rural tourism has brought to households, in what way households cope with the disturbances to their livelihoods caused by rural tourism development, what are the factors that influence the livelihood adaptative outcomes of households in rural tourism destinations, have yet to be fully addressed.

To bridge these gaps, this study constructs an analytical framework for households’ livelihood adaptation in rural tourism destinations and conducts an in-depth investigation into the livelihood adaptation of households in villages surrounding the Huangling scenic area in Wuyuan county, Jiangxi province, a typical rural tourism destination in China. First, qualitative content analysis was employed to identify the new livelihood opportunities and risks brought about by rural tourism development to households. Second, thematic analysis was applied to explore the changing process and mechanisms of livelihood adaptive behaviors developed by households in response to rural tourism development. Finally, the “OpportunityRisk-Capacity (O-R-C)” conceptual model was developed by integrating cognitive evaluation theory and self-efficacy theory, and PLS-SEM was used to analyze the factors influencing the livelihood adaptive outcomes of households in rural tourism destinations.

The key findings are as follows: First, the livelihood disturbances brought about by rural tourism development have both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, rural tourism has created six types of livelihood opportunities for households: economic opportunities, employment opportunities, social opportunities, learning opportunities, development opportunities, and identity opportunities. On the negative side, it has introduced five types of livelihood risks: environmental risks, economic risks, market risks, health risks, and social risks. Second, the livelihood adaptive behaviors of households in rural tourism destinations have evolved from being singular to becoming more diversified. The direction of this evolution is jointly determined by the type and structural configuration of the livelihood capital that households possess. Different types of livelihood capital play varying roles at different adaptive stages. Third, the livelihood adaptive outcomes of households in rural tourism destinations largely depend on their livelihood adaptive behaviors. The implementation of these adaptive behaviors is influenced by households’ perceptions of external livelihood opportunities and risks, as well as their internal livelihood adaptive capacities.

The main theoretical contributions of this study are reflected in the following four aspects: First, the study constructs a framework for analyzing the livelihood adaptation of households based on the logic of “adaptive object-adaptive subjectadaptive process- adaptive outcomes”, providing a solid theoretical foundation for in-depth research on households’ livelihood adaptation. Second, it identifies the livelihood opportunities and risks brought by rural tourism development to households, offering a valuable theoretical reference for evaluating and measuring livelihood opportunities and risks of households in rural tourism destinations. Third, the study explains the dynamic evolution mechanism of households’ livelihood adaptive behaviors in rural tourism destinations, enhancing the theoretical understanding of the nature of behavioral change as households adapt to rural tourism development. Fourth, the study reveals the influential mechanisms behind livelihood adaptative outcomes by developing the “Opportunity-Risk-Capacity (O-RC)” theoretical model, which serves as a guiding framework for analyzing the factors influencing livelihood adaptive outcomes of households in rural tourism destinations. Additionally, this research offers practical implications for managing households’ livelihood adaptations in rural tourism destinations, considering the perspectives of local governments, tourism enterprises, and community households.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarship (Grant No. 202106200081) and the “Tsinghua Rural Studies PhD Scholarship” in 2022-2023 (Grant No. 202210).
• Keywords: Rural tourism, livelihood adaptation, livelihood disturbance, adaptive behavior, adaptive outcome, households.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Funder's Name: China Scholarship Council (CSC)
• Supervisor's Name: Riganti, Professor Patrizia
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85032
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 Apr 2025 15:12
• Last Modified: 10 Apr 2025 15:15
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85032
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85032