Statistically Validated Component- and Indicator-Level Requirements for Sustainable Thai Homestay Businesses

Abstract

This research proposes an updated version of homestay indicators for 10 existing component-level homestay requirements. The updated indicators were aimed to replace the decade-old original indicators for Thai homestay businesses. Besides, the 31 original homestay indictors were not statistically validated. In this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine the statistical relevancy between the updated homestay indicators and the components. The SEM analysis involved two steps: exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The EFA statistically regrouped the 31 updated indictors by six new homestay components. The six components and 31 updated indicators were further validated by CFA to determine the factor loadings and statistical reliability of the components and indicators. The factor loadings indicate the levels of importance that homestay guests attach to different homestay components and indicators. Therefore, Thai homestay operators should give priority to the components and indicators with high factor loadings.