Abstract
Residents' Perceptions and Attitudes towards Tourism from the Weber's Rationality Perspective: An Empirical Analysis for the Case of Guzelyurt District (Aksaray)
Understanding the factors that impact the perceptions and attitudes of destination residents towards tourism is one of the important subject areas of tourism research. This study aims to explain empirically the residents' perceptions and attitudes towards tourism as explained by Weber's Formal and Substantive Rationality Theory (WFSRT) based on the factors of "Economic Benefit from Tourism", "Community Empowerment in Tourism" and "Ecocentric Attitude". For this purpose, the data obtained from the 369 questionnaires carried out on the local people was analyzed with the Structural Equation Model (SEM) and the proposed models and hypotheses were tested. The results suggest that residents' benefit and cost perceptions are an important factor in promoting tourism development in the district and support Social Exchange Theory (SET), which focuses on the economic direction. Additionally, the fact that the factors of "psychological and social empowerment" and "ecocentric attitude" affect the perceptions and attitudes of the residents have confirms Weber's theory. In the theoretical context, it is thought that the results will make an important contribution to the literature of local people-tourism relations in Turkey with various models and theories. In practical terms, the results will indirectly contribute to the planning, monitoring and management of tourism in Güzelyurt and Aksaray.
Keywords
Social Exchange Theory, Weber's of Formal and Substantive Rationality Theory, Attitude towards touri
