Validating a tourism development theory with structural equation modeling

This study attempts to examine the structural effects of four tourism-impac t factors on total impact and on local residents' support for tourism devel opment. To achieve the above goal, five research hypotheses are proposed. T hree hundred and four questionnaires From a mail survey of randomly selecte d residents from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News area were analyzed . A confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling procedure were performed, respectively, by utilizing the LISREL procedure. Four exog enous constructs dealing with economic, social, cultural, and the environme ntal impacts and two endogenous constructs, including the variable of total impacts and support for tourism development were analyzed with structural equation modeling procedures. In the resulting structural equation model, f ive hypotheses are supported. The implications for tourism practitioners an d academicians are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.