Document Type

Doctoral Thesis

Disciplines

5.2 ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Publication Details

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Technological University Dublin, Ireland. October 2022.

https://doi.org/10.21427/d2ef-kx47

Abstract

Volunteer tourism has grown significantly, contributing enormous economic, environmental, and socio-cultural impacts to host communities over 20 years (Aquino & Andereck, 2018; Lee & Zhang, 2019; Olsen et al., 2021). There appears to be limited research on the impacts of volunteer tourism on host communities, especially the socio-cultural impacts. The academic literature lacks an agreed framework to understand the socio-cultural impacts (Zamani-Farahani & Musa, 2012). The aim of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the socio-cultural impacts of volunteer tourism in Vietnamese farms on the host communities. Drawing on the multiple forms of capital perspectives and theoretical concepts – the study takes an interpretive stance to examine these impacts. By means of a qualitative collective case study design, two farm communities were selected and 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted with different stakeholders from these host societies and four documents were examined. Findings show that the impacts include educational effects, cultural exchanges, health, job opportunities, relationships, awareness of environmental conservation, physical changes, promotion of local products and tourism in the community, and community resource management. The research contributes to the development of a deeper understanding of the host perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of volunteer tourism using an interpretive approach. Volunteer tourism had a number of impacts on different types of capital in the host communities. The findings reveal that the inclusion of local communities in decision-making and planning acts as a pivotal element that potentially strengthens the sustainability of socio-cultural impacts. One of the key contributions is that the focus is on the sustainability of the outcomes rather than the outcomes themselves and on the factors that mediate sustainability. Another contribution relates to empowerment arising in various forms of capital. The research also provides additional insights into the interconnectedness between different types of capital, empowerment, and sustainability of socio-cultural impacts. The researcher developed a socio-cultural impact model, which shows the types of impact of the forms of capital on socio-cultural outcomes of volunteer tourism. The study also provides practical implications for policymakers to design and develop strategies for the more effective and sustainable implementation of volunteer tourism.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/d2ef-kx47

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Download


Share

COinS