The Missing Link in Resident Support for Tourism Events: The Role of Tolerance

Abstract

Social exchange theory, the key theoretical framework in examining resident support, has often been criticized as ambiguous and difficult to measure. Extensive research has investigated the nature of resident support for tourism events, yet the role of a key construct, tolerance, has been underexplored. Building on the extant literature, this study conceptualizes and tests the theoretical construct of tolerance as a missing link to better understand, measure, and clarify the exchange process. The results suggest that resident tolerance partially mediates the effects of perceived benefits on resident support for events while fully mediating the effects of perceived costs on such support. In addition, resident empowerment is a critical factor explaining tolerance. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the major source of the unbalanced impacts of benefits and costs on support reported in previous studies. Findings also offer a more complete picture on how residents translate the perceived impacts of tourism events into support through tolerance.