Does Host-Guest Interaction Stimulate Tourists’ Citizenship Behavior? A Combination of Social Exchange Theory and Cognitive Appraisal Theory

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

Your study addresses host-guest interaction from a different perspective, both theoretically and methodologically. I believe that your study will contribute to the literature.

 

Although many studies aim to fill gaps in the literature on the impact of host-guest interaction on tourist citizenship behavior, and whether host-guest interaction is qualitative or quantitative in promoting positive attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on the travel experience nature of host-guest interaction, this article investigates its impact on tourists' rational evaluation and emotion elicitation processes. Then, by combining cognitive appraisal theory and social exchange theory, a theoretical model depicting the relationship between host-guest interaction and tourist citizenship behavior was created.

According to the study results, destinations should consider implementing strategies that effectively promote tourists' experiential value and encourage a deeper sense of place attachment; because these factors can serve as powerful catalysts in promoting TCB. 

The constraints and suggestions highlighted in the limitations section of the study are very important for future studies in the literature.

There are some limitations to this study that must be acknowledged. First, data were collected only from a natural forest park, which limits the generalization of research findings to other types of destinations. Therefore, further research across different types of destinations is essential to confirm and extend the current results. Second, although this article has examined the impact of host–guest interaction on TCB in quantitative and qualitative terms, there is potential to enrich the theoretical model by including additional dimensions of interaction such as content, intensity, and context. Moreover, interaction is not limited to tourists and locals only; Tourist-tourist interaction is also an important factor shaping tourists' behavior. Future research efforts should aim to uncover the underlying mechanisms of tourist-tourist interaction and its impact on TCB.

 

Author Response

Many thanks for your positive comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

Thank you for the opportunity to review your manuscript reporting a study of Does host-guest interaction stimulate tourists’ citizenship behavior? A combination of social exchange theory and cognitive appraisal theory. 

The paper presented deals with an exciting and vital topic. It needs to be treated as a critical voice in the discussion, the proposed theoretical approach is precious to the raised issue. 

The literature review is quite correct and comprehensive. 

The research methodology and application of appropriate statistical techniques are all adequate for the analysis. 

Overall the presentation is reasonably good, but it might still require some work.

1. There is no information about the paper's aim/aims (both in the Abstract section and in all manuscript). However, the manuscript's purpose should be more precisely indicated in a research paper.

2. I lacked a discussion section. Why? 

The Discussion section should reveal a literature review of studies published or accessed elsewhere. It is also very rare that a discussion is made without reference to previous studies. It is worth referring to the international context more extensively. Please, compare your research with similar research so you can draw an adequate conclusion. It is crucial to raise the scientific level of the manuscript.

3. The Conclusions paragraph is dry. It contains some statements that lack the conviction needed to demonstrate the importance and contribution of this research.

 

I believe that if you make the above-mentioned changes, the paper could go further in the assessment of the paper.

Author Response

1.There is no information about the paper's aim/aims (both in the Abstract section and in all manuscript). However, the manuscript's purpose should be more precisely indicated in a research paper.

Thanks for your advice. We add the paper’s aim in the introduction part in line 83-86.

Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the impact of host-guest interaction on tourists’ citizenship behavior. On the one hand, it aims to explore the transmission mechanism of this impact. On the other hand, it strives to dig out which dimension of host-guest interaction is actually playing a role.

2. I lacked a discussion section. Why? 

The Discussion section should reveal a literature review of studies published or accessed elsewhere. It is also very rare that a discussion is made without reference to previous studies. It is worth referring to the international context more extensively. Please, compare your research with similar research so you can draw an adequate conclusion. It is crucial to raise the scientific level of the manuscript.

Thanks for your comments. The discussion part includes theoretical contributions, practical implications and limitations. We agree your opinion that the discussion part should be more relevant to previous studies so as to justify the conclusions and theoretical contributions part. Therefore, together with comment 3, we add a paragraph in conclusion part and some more references in the conclusion and theoretical contribution part. Please check it in the manuscript, which is highlighted in red.

3. The Conclusions paragraph is dry. It contains some statements that lack the conviction needed to demonstrate the importance and contribution of this research.

We add a paragraph to improve the conclusions part.

From these findings, one can surmise that positive host-guest interaction serves as a pivotal predictor of tourist citizenship behavior. Both TCB and host-guest interaction have consistently garnered significant attention in the tourism industry [5, 56]. However, the connection between host-guest interaction and TCB has generally been ignored [15]. Especially, previous studies on TCB mainly investigated its antecedents from individual level and destination level [57, 58, 59, 60], neglecting the effect of on-site host-guest interaction [61]. Thus, this study extended the research on both host-guest interaction and TCB.  

I believe that if you make the above-mentioned changes, the paper could go further in the assessment of the paper.

Many thanks for your helpful suggestions.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

Your paper still needs some improvements. Here are a few suggestions:

1. I would review the title as I am not sure that from a Western point of view, the title reflects the content of your paper. The term "tourists' citizenship behavior" may have a different interpretation in other cultures. After reading your paper I am sure that what you mean is Tourists' Environmental Behavior or Tourists' Eco-Recreational Behavior. This is the universally accepted terminology.

2. In the Introduction, you affirm: «yet sustainability is a multifaceted concept encompassing not only environmental sustainability but also economic sustainability». You are forgetting the social/cultural dimension of sustainability. The 3 dimensions are what is commonly called the triple-bottom-line of sustainability. So, the idea will be complete and correct if presented like this «yet sustainability is a multifaceted concept encompassing not only environmental sustainability but also socio-cultural and economic sustainability».

3. Your paper is about tourist behaviour in natural parks and other pristine areas. One cannot fully understand this topic without understanding the concepts of eco-recreation, and ecotourism, two related, however different concepts, especially the influence of ecological worldview and environmental attitude on eco-recreation. To guide you in understanding these concepts for the Introduction of your study, see Kement et al., 2023, "The effects of environmental value and ecological worldview on eco-recreative attitude: an application in Turkey". For ecotourism see Dinç et al. 2023, "Ecotourism research: bibliometric overview",  https://doi.org/10.18089/tms.2023.1901

Yout paper is also about residents support for sustainable tourism development. Consider checking if the following studies are relevant to your study. One of them uses, like your study, social exchange theory:

Erul et al. (2024). Navigating the new normal:  the role of residents' involvement and support in sustainable tourism recovery. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114333 

4. on lines 122-123, please correct the sentence «For tourists, interacting with local residents local residents forms an integral and enriching aspect of travelers' overall experiential journney».

5. The development of the survey based on the literature is correct, the validation though a specialist panel also correct. It is evident that the study is about domestic (Chinese) tourists, as you differentiate between tourists from Shandong Province and tourists from cities not belonging to Shandong Province. Some questions arise: Did you have any control question for domestic vs non-domestic tourists? What about day-visitors from the region? In this case they are no tourists (see the definition of tourist from the UNWTO). Did you have a control question to differentiate between tourists (those who spent at least on overnight stay outside their place of permanent residence) and day-visitors? 

6. References. For such a topic which involves defining many concepts and understanding the state of the art, the number of references you use, 54, is clearly insufficient, especially considering that only two references are from 2023 and four from 2022. Therefore, it is advisable to reinforce the text, especially the Introduction and the Literature Review with more references, especially very recent ones.

 

Other comments:

1. The abstract is well developed and makes an adequate summary of the research.

2. The development of the hypotheses based on the literature review is convincing and seems correct.

3. Results are clearly presented using an adequate mixture of text and visual aids.

4. Conclusions are concise and respond to the aims of the research. The Thoretical Contributions, Practical Implications and Limitations, including suggestions for future research are relevant.

My overall assessment of this article is very positive. The paper still needs some improvements that are not difficult to implement.

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English language seems fine, needing just minor corrections.

Author Response

1. I would review the title as I am not sure that from a Western point of view, the title reflects the content of your paper. The term "tourists' citizenship behavior" may have a different interpretation in other cultures. After reading your paper I am sure that what you mean is Tourists' Environmental Behavior or Tourists' Eco-Recreational Behavior. This is the universally accepted terminology.

Thanks for your comments. As mentioned in 2.1, tourist citizenship behavior is a concept adapted from customer citizenship behavior. Given the importance of customer citizenship behavior, scholars have applied it to tourist sector (Torres-Moraga, et al, 2021).

TCB comprises behaviors like recommending, providing feedback to DMOs and helping other tourists, which can provide destinations a competitive advantage (Yi, Gong, & Lee, 2013). The measurement scale of tourists’ environmental behavior includes items like “protecting the natural environment”, “not to destroy the plants and animals” (Su, et al, 2020), which is different from that of tourist citizenship behavior. Therefore, for this study, it is the tourist citizenship behavior that has been explored. 

2. In the Introduction, you affirm: «yet sustainability is a multifaceted concept encompassing not only environmental sustainability but also economic sustainability». You are forgetting the social/cultural dimension of sustainability. The 3 dimensions are what is commonly called the triple-bottom-line of sustainability. So, the idea will be complete and correct if presented like this «yet sustainability is a multifaceted concept encompassing not only environmental sustainability but also socio-cultural and economic sustainability».

Thanks for your comments. We revisethe expression in the manuscript as you suggested.

3. Your paper is about tourist behaviour in natural parks and other pristine areas. One cannot fully understand this topic without understanding the concepts of eco-recreation, and ecotourism, two related, however different concepts, especially the influence of ecological worldview and environmental attitude on eco-recreation. To guide you in understanding these concepts for the Introduction of your study, see Kement et al., 2023, "The effects of environmental value and ecological worldview on eco-recreative attitude: an application in Turkey". For ecotourism see Dinç et al. 2023, "Ecotourism research: bibliometric overview",  https://doi.org/10.18089/tms.2023.1901

Yout paper is also about residents support for sustainable tourism development. Consider checking if the following studies are relevant to your study. One of them uses, like your study, social exchange theory:

Erul et al. (2024). Navigating the new normal:  the role of residents' involvement and support in sustainable tourism recovery. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114333 

Thanks for your advice. Considering the relevancy, we add the references of Dinc et al and Erul et al in the manuscript.

4. on lines 122-123, please correct the sentence «For tourists, interacting with local residents local residents forms an integral and enriching aspect of travelers' overall experiential journney».

Thanks for your comments. We delete the repeated “local residents”.

5. The development of the survey based on the literature is correct, the validation though a specialist panel also correct. It is evident that the study is about domestic (Chinese) tourists, as you differentiate between tourists from Shandong Province and tourists from cities not belonging to Shandong Province. Some questions arise: Did you have any control question for domestic vs non-domestic tourists? What about day-visitors from the region? In this case they are no tourists (see the definition of tourist from the UNWTO). Did you have a control question to differentiate between tourists (those who spent at least on overnight stay outside their place of permanent residence) and day-visitors? 

Thanks for your comments. In the questionnaire distribution process, we exclude visitors from Tai’an Shandong Province, where Mout Tai is situated. But we do not differentiate between overnight-stay visitors and day-visitors. Most people traveling to Mount Tai would stay overnight. There are two reasons. First, it will spend 5 to 8 hours to finish climbing up and down the mountain. It is hard for people to leave as soon as they climb down the mountain. Second,  many people would choose to arrive at Tai’an in the daytime and prepare for night-climbing. In this way,  people could enjoy the famous sun-rise view.

6. For such a topic which involves defining many concepts and understanding the state of the art, the number of references you use, 54, is clearly insufficient, especially considering that only two references are from 2023 and four from 2022. Therefore, it is advisable to reinforce the text, especially the Introduction and the Literature Review with more references, especially very recent ones.

We add more references from 2023 and 2024.

Rather, R. A., Raisinghani, M., Gligor, D., Parrey, S. H., Russo, I., & Bozkurt, S. (2023). Examining tourist citizenship behaviors through affective, cognitive, behavioral engagement and reputation: Symmetrical and asymmetrical approaches. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 75, 103451.

Martínez García de Leaniz, P., Herrero, Á., & García de los Salmones, M. D. M. (2024). Communicating Destination Social Responsibility Through Social Media: The Roles of Tourists’ Social Engagement, Citizenship Behaviors, and Emotions. Journal of Travel Research, 00472875231225390.

Su, L., Li, M., & Swanson, S. R. (2024). The influence of organizational interpersonal climate on the belonging, well-being, and citizenship behaviors of tourism practitioners. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 58, 419-431.

Qu, Y., Zhou, Q., & Cao, L. (2024). How do positive host-guest interactions in tourism alter the indicators of tourists’ general attachment styles? A moderated mediation model. Tourism Management, 105, 104937.

Wang, X., Cave, J., & Simpson, M. (2024). Interdependencies in Visiting Relatives Travel: Uncovering the Nature, Meanings, and Dynamics of Host–Guest Interactions. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 10963480241246563.

Li, J., Liu, C., Yuan, J. J., & Zhang, Z. (2024). Understanding Destination Immersion in Rural Tourism: The Effects of Destination Fascination and Resident–Tourist Interaction. Journal of Travel Research, 00472875241257269.

 Other comments:

1. The abstract is well developed and makes an adequate summary of the research.
2. The development of the hypotheses based on the literature review is convincing and seems correct.
3. Results are clearly presented using an adequate mixture of text and visual aids.
4. Conclusions are concise and respond to the aims of the research. The Thoretical Contributions, Practical Implications and Limitations, including suggestions for future research are relevant.

My overall assessment of this article is very positive. The paper still needs some improvements that are not difficult to implement.

Many thanks for your helpful comments.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

Your paper seems more mature now. Before publication please correct on line 37 «socio-cultrual». Also, in the references list some journals are correctly presented in their abbreviated form, while other are presented with their full titles, which need to be abbreviated.

Congratulations!

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English seems fine. Before publication please correct on line 37 «socio-cultrual».

thanks

Author Response

Many thanks for your advice. All the changes have been marked in blue

1. please correct on line 37 «socio-cultrual»

We have corrected it to socio-cultural

2. In the references list some journals are correctly presented in their abbreviated form, while other are presented with their full titles, which need to be abbreviated.

We have edited the reference format, which was marked in blue.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx