This empirical study developed and tested configural models for predicting residents’ support for tourism development (RSTD). The main contributions of this study are to propose a new analytical method for modeling the complex interactions of RSTD indicators, advancing the necessary theory to support both the ordinary and heterogonous relationships of RSTD and its antecedents, providing managerial guidelines for both promoting RSTD and controlling the negation of RSTD, and modeling RSTD in Hawraman, Iran, a location in which little information is available about host communities. We administered a survey to collect the views of 202 residents with varying demographic characteristics. To ascertain the occurrences of contrarian cases, cross-tabulation tests were performed, and their results helped to identify the functionality of fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) and complexity theory for asymmetrical modeling of RSTD. The predictive validity of causal recipes was also checked. The results from the fsQCA revealed that conditions with a higher level of community attachment, community involvement, knowledge of tourism, power to influence tourism, perceived personal benefit, positive tourism impacts, and satisfaction with quality of life led to a higher RSTD score. The results also indicated that trust in government and tourism negative impacts both positively and negatively, depending on the attributes of other antecedents in the causal recipe, function as determinants of RSTD. This study presents deeper insights into the tourism literature by exploring conditions that indicate high/low RSTD scores, which are useable for modeling other complex tourism issues.

This empirical study investigates the causal factors affecting support for sustainable tourism development (SSTD) at a world heritage site in Bisotun, a city in Kermanshah Province, Iran. It uses social exchange theory to assess the effects of community attachment, community involvement, perceived benefits, and perceived costs on SSTD. Using social identity theory, it identifies whether these associations significantly vary across four different community groups: farmers, businesses, handicraft sellers, and local government employees. A questionnaire was administered to 489 respondents from these four community groups in the Bisotun area. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling and invariance metric tests. The results revealed that community attachment, community involvement, and perceived benefits had a significant and positive impact on SSTD. The results of the metric invariance tests show that the effects of community attachment and community involvement on SSTD varied across the community groups at this world heritage site located in a developing country. The study discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

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