Elaborating the Role of Backbone Leadership Organizations in Sustainable Tourism Development: The Monongahela River Valley Coalition

Abstract

Leadership has emerged as a central factor in sustainable regional development. Complex regional development initiatives need dynamic leaders to convene diverse stakeholders, sustain participation, leverage external resources, and achieve collective impact. This study researched the deeper meanings and application of backbone leadership using case study research examining a collaborative, regional initiative known as the Mon River Valley Coalition (MRVC). The MRVC is a regional and community-based economic revitalization program that promotes economic and environmental sustainability by capitalizing on the outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism potential of the Monongahela River. Through an inductive logic process, this research study analyzed the role and capabilities exhibited by backbone leaders associated with the MRVC. The data revealed that backbone leadership has been important to the cumulative success of the Monongahela River Valley Coalition. Study results highlight the backbone leadership roles and capabilities demonstrated by the leadership team both internally and external to the coalition. Sustainable development leaders work in uncharted waters-beyond the safe harbors of government, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. Research is needed that elaborates the integrative work that these sustainability leaders do. Studies such as this one can illuminate the pathway for those to follow.

Community Empowerment and Sustainable Tourism Development: The Mediating Role of Community Support for Tourism

“…Sustainable tourism cannot be achieved until community members actively support tourism development [50,51]. Governments and markets require community support and participation in order to implement strategies for STD [35,52].…”

Collaborative Governance in Tourism: Empirical Insights into a Community-Oriented Destination

“…This highlights the need for more research on the impact of stakeholder configurations on collaborative governance, which is particularly relevant because previous collaborative governance contributions have not addressed the context of community-oriented destinations with established management bodies such as destination management organizations (DMOs) ( Table 1). Selin [17] highlighted the importance of leadership for collaborative approaches and also used the model by Ansell and Gash [19]. Drawing on the concept of backbone organizations [44], it was found that backbone leadership adds to the success of coalitions [17].…”

“…Selin [17] highlighted the importance of leadership for collaborative approaches and also used the model by Ansell and Gash [19]. Drawing on the concept of backbone organizations [44], it was found that backbone leadership adds to the success of coalitions [17]. It appears promising to explore varying leadership roles in established, community-oriented destinations in order to show the varying roles of different stakeholders.…”

“…Nevertheless, a large body of governance literature has concentrated on economic indicators highlighting the need for more research on the social factors that shape tourism governance. Furthermore, collaborative processes in tourism have been investigated without paying attention to underlying and supporting factors [17,18]. The objective of this paper is to provide an integrated assessment of processes that drive or hinder collaborative governance (CG).…”

Tourism Diversification and Its Implications for Smart Specialisation

“…The fact that some tourism entrepreneurs come from outsiders is advantageous because they provide new knowledge, perspectives and awareness of new possibilities, and therefore, are a source of creativity. The team members have to fill voids in key functions with complementary knowledge of the tourism sector, as well as being capable of building, maintaining and exploiting effective intra-and cross-organizational networks [98] as well as intra-and extra-traditional and political boundaries [98,99].…”