Especificaciones de evaluación relacionadas con las dimensiones de la competencia profesional

5.2.1 The literature gaps

The most common way of producing research questions is to spot gaps, such as overlooked areas in the existing literature, and, based on that, to formulate specific research questions (Sandberg & Alvesson, 2011). Perhaps the single most difficult task of any research is to identify those gaps in the literature. In order to be able to do so in the field of tourism, one has to turn to other disciplines or sub-disciplines, since the roots of tourism research originate from a diversity of academic disciplines, including geography, political sciences, sociology, anthropology, economics, marketing and management (Pansiri, 2009).

The present thesis draws on political sciences to link rural governance with IRT, a subfield of community tourism planning, by employing governance principles as determinants of organisational performance and tourism support. Thus, the thesis aims at bridging these fields in order to advance understanding of the role of rural governance principles in the

tourism context. Accordingly, three underpinning areas have been previously discussed in the literature review: rural governance (Chapter 2), community tourism planning (Chapter 3) and within the latter, the specific area of this research: IRT (Chapter 4).

Reflecting the two principal fields of literature, two literature gaps have been identified, which justifies the methodological division of the thesis along two components: a qualitative ‘performance’ component, and a quantitative ‘support’ component, as presented earlier in Chapter 1. Figure 5.1 illustrates the identification process and the relationship of the literature gaps, starting with the areas of literature, along with the steps of recognition of areas with potential contribution till the overall aim of the research linking both components. As such, the configuration of the literature gaps determines the basic structure of the research.

Firstly, the literature review of rural governance shed light on the dearth of empirical analysis into the nature of relationships between local participants and central authorities in rural governance. In particular, as Goodwin (1998); Hajer & Wagenaar (2003); Herbert- Cheshire (2006); Imrie & Raco (1999); Jordan, Wurzel, & Zito (2005); Little (2001); Storey (1999) and O’Malley (1996) pointed out, research on rural governance is largely absent in empirical investigation into local variations of the stakeholders’ relative power in central- local power relationships of governance structures. As it could be seen in Chapter 2, past research is indeed comprise predominantly of theoretical approaches; contemporary debates are centred around the legitimacy of rural restructuring as a paradigm shift, the currency of the transition to a post-productivist agricultural regime and the implication of Foucault’s governmentality theory (For references see: Table 2.1 on the key themes of rural governance on p.53).

The relatively low number of case studies focus on the characteristics of governance (See under the section entitled: ‘Reconfiguration of the scalar hierarchy of the state’ in Table 2.1), its relational forms: partnerships and networks (See under ‘Relational perspective of power’ in Table 2.1); and the key issues related to the way governance is being implemented and negotiated between central and local actors. These are, specifically, the democratic deficit of unelected bodies, the influential role of the public sector, the shifting position of local government, evaluation and limited empowerment (For references see: Table 2.1). However, when considering central-local relationships, there is a missing link between the implementation of governance principles – participation, integration and

empowerment – and the performance of governance organisations, which has not been at the centre of attention so far.

Figure 5.1: Identification of the two-fold literature gap with regard to the main theoretical areas and the ultimate goal of the thesis

Thus, in consideration of the above discussion, the first literature gap identified and addressed in this thesis is as follows:

Literature gap 1: The role of rural governance principles as critical factors of rural governance influencing the directions of local development through organisational performance of rural governance organisations.

1. Factors of rural governance influencing the organisational performance of local

development organisations Dearth of empirical analysis into

the local variations of the stakeholders’ relative power in central-local power relationships

Dearth of governance factors and stakeholder diversification into

community tourism planning

Rural governance principles as factors determining the directions of local development

The literature review of community tourism planning highlighted the dearth of stakeholder diversification and the implication of governance factors into research on community support for tourism. In particular, while the overwhelming majority of studies addressing perceptions on and attitudes towards tourism development focus on residents, Byrd, Bosley, & Dronberger (2009) pointed out that only a very few studies addressed different stakeholder groups by means of comparative analysis. Moreover, as pointed out in Chapter 1.3.2, Shortt (1994) and Godfrey (1998) argued that the attitudes of local land-use planners concerned with tourism have been overlooked in the literature. Lankford (1994) even went further by contending that the goals of community development cannot be achieved if policies are made without incorporating the mutual support and understanding of government employees and decision-makers.

The comparative studies analysed the views of two or more of four stakeholder groups: residents, entrepreneurs, tourists and government officials, with the latter being the least researched stakeholder group. Results of these studies revealed that group differences on tourism development preferences are indeed manifest (Andriotis, 2005; Byrd, 1997; Byrd, Bosley, & Dronberger, 2009; Kavallinis & Pizam, 1994; Lankford, 1994; McNicol, 1996; Murphy, 1983; Puczko & Ratz, 2000; Stewart & Draper, 2007), which confirms the importance to investigate other stakeholder groups within a community in order to advance the congruency of policy and public opinion. Furthermore, while community perceptions studies investigate hypothetical relationships between individual, community and destination characteristics in addition to tourism impacts, the role of governance principles as determinants of tourism support has been neglected in the literature. Thus, the second literature gap indentified and addressed is as follows:

Literature gap 2: The role of rural governance principles as critical factors influencing the directions of local development through the contribution of tourism to overall community development and tourism support of local development organisations.

The literature gaps identified indicate that the originality of this research arises from the expansion of the existing body of literature in the two principal areas mentioned above, with IRT in particular considering the second area. Correspondingly, contribution is provided to the field of rural governance by the implication of governance principles as determinants of the directions of local development through organisational performance of rural governance organisations, and to community tourism planning and IRT by the

implication of rural governance principles as determinants of the contribution of tourism to overall community development and tourism support of local development organisations.

5.2.2 Research questions

With regard to the identified literature gaps, there are four research questions raised, of which two addresses each literature gap: