The bi-directional relationship between community-oriented factors and residents’ emotional solidarity with tourists

Purpose This study aims to understand the bi-directional relationship between residents’ perceived community-oriented factors and residents’ emotional solidarity with tourists. It compares the mutual influences between the human–place relationship and the resident–tourist relationship. Design/methodology/approach A research model with two arrows was constructed, presenting two sets of research hypotheses. Hypothesis A formalizes the effect of community-oriented factors on emotional solidarity, while Hypothesis B formalizes the effect of emotional solidarity on community-oriented factors. Using systematic sampling, this study received 462 valid questionnaires in Macau. These samples were used in confirmation factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Findings In the one-way influence of community-oriented factors on emotional solidarity, residents’ community attachment, commitment and involvement have the greatest effect, respectively, on their welcoming nature, sympathetic understanding and emotional closeness to tourists. In the one-way influence of emotional solidarity on community-oriented factors, residents’ welcoming nature to tourists has the greatest impact on community attachment and commitment while residents’ emotional closeness has the greatest impact on community involvement. Besides, the impact of community-oriented factors on emotional solidarity has stronger explanatory power than the impact of emotional solidarity on community-oriented factors. Originality/value Contrary to most tourism studies on residents’ perspectives that only focus on one-way influence, this study suggested a dual-way approach that helps researchers further build complex models to better explain the complex relationships between places, residents and tourists. Furthermore, this study provides a contribution to tourism research on emotional solidarity by clarifying the flexible roles of community-oriented factors on residents’ emotional solidarity.