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Journal of Resources and Ecology >

2025 , Vol. 16 >Issue 1: 206 - 218

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2025.01.019

Ecotourism

A View of Ethnic Communities’ Tourism Participation from the Perspective of Environmental Justice

  • LIU Yong , 1, * ,
  • LI Dan 2 ,
  • GUO Zhaofeng 2 ,
  • ZHOU Jiayang 3 ,
  • ZHANG Weizhong 1 ,
  • DONG Erwei 4
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  • 1. College of Tourism and Cultural Industry, Sichuan Tourism University, Chengdu 610100, China
  • 2. College of Physical Education, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
  • 3. College of Physical Education, Chengdu University of Physical Education, Chengdu 610041, China
  • 4. School of Community Resources & Development, Arizona State University, Phoenix 85004, USA
*LIU Yong, E-mail:

Received date: 2024-05-10

  Accepted date: 2024-09-10

  Online published: 2025-01-21

Supported by

Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau Project(SCWL2022-15B-002)

National Social Science Foundation Project(19XTY001)

Sichuan Provincial Federation of Social Sciences Research Base Project(WRF202401)

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Abstract

Against the backdrop of rapid tourism development, the imbalanced distribution of conflicting interests among community residents in tourist destinations has become a focus of attention. As core stakeholders of tourist destinations, community residents play an indispensable role in creating a “hospitable atmosphere”. Community residents’ participation in tourism development is vital for promoting sustainable development. Environmental justice theory emphasizes the fairness of resource allocation and participation in negotiations, and it has developed into an essential issue for the sustainable development of tourist destinations. This study took Skula Town in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture as a case study to explore the participation behavior of residents in ethnic tourism communities in the development of tourist destinations. Based on grounded theory and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), a complex causal model of high participation behavior of the residents in ethnic tourism communities was constructed to reveal the multiple influencing factors and their interrelationships from the environmental justice perspective. Nineteen complex combination paths were identified that can promote the high participation behavior of community residents, which verified the diversity and complexity of the conditions behind the high participation behavior of residents in ethnic tourism communities. The results show that fair resource allocation, effective environmental protection measures, and residents’ recognition of tourism development are the key factors driving high participation behavior. This study reveals the complex relationships between multiple factors that influence participation behavior from the perspective of environmental justice, with the aim of deepening our understanding of residents in ethnic tourism communities’ participation in tourism development and providing a reference for the sustainable development of local tourism and the stable development of society.

Key words： environmental justice; ethnic areas; community participation; complexity theory

Cite this article

LIU Yong , LI Dan , GUO Zhaofeng , ZHOU Jiayang , ZHANG Weizhong , DONG Erwei . A View of Ethnic Communities’ Tourism Participation from the Perspective of Environmental Justice[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2025 , 16(1) : 206 -218 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2025.01.019

1 Introduction

Tourism development has transformed traditional villages into complex cultural spaces with sightseeing and residential functions. The role of villagers has changed from traditional agricultural laborers to practitioners of the tourism service industry (Yin and Wang, 2020). This transformation has reshaped the villagers’ livelihoods and social interaction patterns, and profoundly impacted the social structure and cultural heritage. Community participation in tourism development refers to incorporating the community, as the main body of tourism development, into the decision-making and implementation system for a series of significant issues related to tourism development, such as tourism planning and tourism development (Li et al., 2024). The “Agenda 21 on Tourism” issued by the World Tourism Organization, the World Tourism Council and the Earth Council clearly states that the sustainable development of the tourism industry should take residents as the object of care and regard community participation as an essential component and an indispensable link in the process of tourism development (Rong, 2024). From an anthropological perspective, it emphasizes the deep understanding of and respect for local community culture, which is the key to achieving harmonious coexistence between tourism planning and the community. Community participation is regarded as a critical factor in the sustainable development of ethnic tourism areas. The effective participation of the community can not only deepen the residents’ recognition and belonging to tourism resources but also help to deeply integrate tourism with the community culture, thereby shaping tourism products with unique charm and strong appeal. These connections are of great significance for promoting the sustainable tourism development in ethnic areas. Existing studies have widely explored community residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts, their willingness to participate in tourism, and their attitudes and influencing factors (Ling et al., 2024). However, few studies have deeply analyzed the intention of ethnic tourism community residents to participate in tourism behavior from the “integrated” perspective of environmental justice, relative deprivation, and willingness to participate.
With the transformation of the main contradictions in our society and the accelerated advancement of ecological civilization construction, the environmental justice issue has received increasing attention from scholars who study the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Due to the imbalances in the distribution of environmental benefits between economic entities and different regions, the tourism industry, which should be the carrier of ecological civilization, affects social equity and community neighborhood relations. At the same time, it is strongly related to the sustainability of ecological civilization construction and the long-term development of tourism. In the practice of tourism development in ethnic areas, tourism development is often accompanied by the reconstruction of the power structure, the complexity of interest distribution, and the intensification of contradictions within the community. These problems highlight the fairness issues caused by environmental factors in tourism development, especially in critical areas such as resource allocation, interest coordination and community participation. To deeply analyze and solve the imbalance and injustice in the development of ethnic tourism areas, scholars have begun to introduce environmental justice theory into the study of tourist destinations. Environmental justice includes many related concepts and viewpoints. Its perspective not only focuses on the fair distribution of environmental burdens but also covers fairness issues in tourism resources, responsibilities, interests,
opportunities and power. In the study of environmental justice in tourist destinations, Sun et al. (2024) proposed that everyone should be treated fairly in the formulation, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies, which would ensure that stakeholders in tourist destinations believe that their rights, culture and biodiversity in the tourist destinations are respected and protected. At the same time, they emphasize the right to participate in and distribute environmental benefits and environmental harms fairly. In the case of the closure of the Erhai Inn, He (2018) defined tourism environmental justice as ensuring that all stakeholders are treated fairly and effectively participate in the formulation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations on the protection and utilization of tourist attractions to solve the problem of environmental justice in tourism development. Currently, research on environmental justice focuses on resolving the social distribution contradictions of unfair access to environmental rights or amenities. For example, Shen et al. (2024) conducted research on urban space governance based on environmental justice, while Huang and Bing (2021) constructed dimensions such as resident characteristics, community attributes, environmental justice, and risk perception based on the NIMBY effect theory to reveal the formation mechanism and interest boundaries of the NIMBY effect of community homestays. Su (2023) emphasized the fairness of resource allocation and negotiation participation in studying water resource allocation consultation in Laotian communities. In this realm, the research on environmental justice as fairness in spatial resource allocation has been relatively in-depth, but there are still few studies on tourism destinations and community residents. Therefore, this study is based on the perspective of environmental justice, and takes Skula Town, Xiaojin County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture as the research area and the residents of five villages in Skula Town as the research subjects. Through grounded theory analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study explores how ethnic community residents’ perception of environmental justice affects their participation in tourism development to deeply understand the psychology and behavioral patterns of ethnic community residents and support the sustainable development of local tourism and social stability. It also provides a reference for development.

2 Research design

2.1 Overview of the study area

The Skula Township, Xiaojin County, Aba Tibetan, and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture were selected as the case sites, which are in a multi-ethnic settlement area dominated by Jiajung Tibetans. Skula Township covers a vast area, with a population of 3078 and a floating population of about 500. The main ethnic composition is 66% Tibetan and 29% Han, with the Tibetans mainly being the Jiajung Tibetans, which have unique cultural characteristics (Zhu, 2022). Since the rapid development of outdoor sports in the mountains has significantly altered the appearance of the local villages, the tourism industry has become an essential engine for promoting the industrial transformation and upgrading of the region. As the core of the Skula Township tourist attraction, Skula Township has five administrative villages under its jurisdiction. Changping Village has become a key village with its superior geographic location, and it possesses significant tourism development potential. Residents of Changping Village have achieved significant economic growth through their involvement in outdoor technical work and tourism. In 2020, the total income of Changping Village reached 22 million yuan, with an average household base income of over 70000 yuan. This economic indicator stands out from the other villages in the township. This economic advantage also exposes the problem of uneven resource distribution, which leads to the residents of other villages feeling a sense of relative deprivation. Thus, their participation in tourism development behavior is affected, which poses a challenge to the harmony and overall development of the community. Therefore, choosing Skula Township as a case study not only provides a good example of how tourism can promote regional economic transformation but also an empirical research scenario for exploring the issue of equity in resource distribution in tourism development. These issues can help us to gain a deeper understanding of the intrinsic mechanism of tourism participation behavior in ethnic communities and its impact on community development.

2.2 Research method

This study integrated Grounded Theory and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the underlying mechanisms and factors influencing tourism participation behaviors in ethnic communities. Specifically, based on a preliminary conceptual model constructed using Grounded Theory, fsQCA was further employed to examine the complex causal relationships among variables. Grounded Theory allows researchers to build a Theory from the ground up based on field data, so it is particularly suitable for exploratory research, especially in areas where existing theory is limited or when a deeper understanding of complex social phenomena is required. Through in-depth interviews and field observations, researchers can capture the community residents’ authentic experiences and motivational drivers—nuances that are often difficult to grasp through quantitative methods. In addition, the flexibility and iterative nature of Grounded Theory allows the study to adapt to evolving research contexts, which ensures that the generated Theory remains closely linked to the actual conditions. Building upon the Grounded Theory analysis, this study further employed fsQCA to reveal the multiple and concurrent causal relationships that influence tourism participation behaviors in ethnic communities (Fiss, 2007). The strength of fsQCA lies in its ability to identify different combinations of factors that lead to specific outcomes, which is crucial for understanding the complexity of community participation behaviors. The use of fsQCA makes it possible to analyze how multiple factors interact and collectively influence tourism participation, which helps to uncover the intricate causal mechanisms behind these behaviors (Miller, 1986; Misangyi et al., 2017). The methodological complementarity between fsQCA and the qualitative research paradigm of Grounded Theory provides a more comprehensive and in-depth analytical framework for investigating the factors that affect tourism participation behaviors in ethnic communities.

2.3 Data collection

This study adopted various data collection methods such as fieldwork, in-depth interviews and questionnaires, and collected qualitative and quantitative data in successive stages. These data were used to explore the dimensions of ethnic community tourism participation behavior, validate relevant questions and analyze the path of influence. The data collection process was divided into three stages.
In the first phase conducted from June 7 to 8, 2023, the research team traveled to Skula Township to build a basic interview framework by obtaining a preliminary understanding of crucial information about the community's demographics, types of occupations, village composition, significant occupations, community participation, degree of tourism development, and distribution of tourism resources. The research team also traveled to Skula Township from July 5 to 12, 2023, to conduct the field survey. To ensure the diversity and representativeness of the data, the interviewees were selected based on differences in the geographic location of the villages and the form of participation. The survey used the “snowball sampling” technique, i.e., recommending the next participant through the current interviewees, including scenic area management personnel, staff members, villagers, alpine guides, village cadres, service personnel, bed and breakfast operators, foreign operators, and others, in order to cover multiple vital links and roles in the tourism industry chain. A total of 22 residents participated in the interviews, which lasted 30-45 minutes per person and focused on the impact of tourism development on the residents’ way of life and production, the fairness of access to resources, the impact of tourism development on the ecological environment and traditional culture, the changes in human-land relations and neighborhood relations, and the current participation of residents in tourism-related work. The audio recordings were translated into textual information after the interviews, and the qualitative text was obtained after preliminary processing, laying the foundation for exploring the dimensions of tourism participation behavior in ethnic communities based on the grounded theory.
In the second phase from August 20-23, 2023, a questionnaire survey was conducted in tourist sites. Nineteen valid questionnaires were collected and tested for reliability and validity, and the scale was subsequently refined.
In the third stage, the formal research was conducted on September 1, 2023. A total of 170 questionnaires were distributed, and 151 valid questionnaires were collected. The questionnaire content was divided into two parts. The first part dealt with demographic characteristics, while the second part covered the core variables. The measurement items of the core variables were designed based on a previous analysis of the grounded theory and the research results of related literature. These items and their main literature sources included environmental justice measurements (Zheng, 2013; Liu and Li, 2016; He et al., 2018), relative deprivation measurements (Pan et al., 2023; Zhuang et al., 2023), willingness to participate measurement questions (Li et al., 2021; Chai et al., 2022), and participation behavior measurement items (Yang, 2012), and they were measured using a five- point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree).

3 Identification of factors influencing community participation behavior and item development

The textual data was imported into the qualitative analysis software NVivo11 and strictly coded following grounded theory procedures. This involved analyzing facts within the text that exhibited clear directionality (Guo and Huang, 2020). The grounded theory analysis process can be divided into two primary steps (Ragin, 2008). Initially, over 200000 words of interview transcripts were segmented into the exploratory and confirmatory stages. During the first stage, the texts from the initial 20 interviewees were subjected to coding. The subsequent step involved verifying whether theoretical saturation had been achieved throughout the grounded coding process by using the remaining two interviewees’ texts for validation. Open coding, axial coding, and selective coding were executed during the exploratory phase. This study required the extraction of concepts from the empirical materials and gradually developing a system with distinct dimensions. Theoretical saturation was deemed to have been reached when no repetitive concepts emerged in the text. Upon completing the exploratory phase, the texts from the remaining two interviewees were independently coded and compared with the initial coding step to confirm that no new concepts emerged, thereby passing the test for theoretical saturation (Sun et al., 2024). In the end, 218 codes were derived through the grounded theory analysis, resulting in 57 conceptual descriptions, 16 subcategories, and six primary categories (Tables 1 and 2). Based on these findings, a story-based model depicting ethnic community residents’ participation behavior was constructed (Figure 1).
Table 1 Example of open encoding
Primary data collection Initial category
DJ1 We have five villages here because the tourism development of the five villages is in an unbalanced state according to the geographical location Differences in geographical distribution lead to unbalanced development
The uneven distribution of tourism resources causes a feeling of powerlessness
PJ3 In the past, many villagers cheated tourists for economic benefits, and the government was not good at regulating them, which not only damaged the rights and interests of other villagers but also affected the overall impression of tourists on Skula Mountain The government’s restraint policies on residents should be better
PJ4 Many people in our village no longer live on Skula Mountain, but their household registration is still here, and they receive tourism dividends every year The household registration system is imperfect, making other villagers feel that it is unfair
WP4 The Skula Mountain outdoor tour is unique... In 1980, many foreigners came to climb the mountains Local villagers are very much identified with their hometown, and even proud
RD5: For the sake of tourists, we don't speak our native language. The children speak Mandarin from the beginning of kindergarten and have forgotten the Tibetan language so that they can only understand half a sentence The cultural customs gradually disappear with tourism involvement
RD6 In the past, the relationship between neighbors was very good, and they helped each other, but now the relationship is not as good as before and they even fight to rob guests The most basic neighborhood relationship connecting community groups is gradually diluted and has even gone to the edge of contradiction and disintegration
RD7 To highlight the landscape with national characteristics, the government has modified the style of our former house. Now, the villagers live with the tourists; with the villagers themselves on the first floor, and the tourists live on the other floors The traditional “production-life” space exclusively enjoyed by residents has been transformed into a mixed residential and tourist space shared by “host and guest”. The originally private space of residents has been endowed with specific public attributes
Table 2 Conceptualization and categorization processes
Main category Corresponding category Relevant concepts
Distributive justice Benefit distribution Employment opportunities, tourism revenue, ticket revenue, catering and accommodation revenue, and handicraft sales revenue
Resource allocation Number of horses, tourist reception, and opportunities to participate in decision-making
Environmental burden Environmental pollution, ecological damage, resource pressure
Procedural justice Compensatory measures are
unbalanced		 Compensatory measures may cause dissatisfaction in society, especially in those groups that believe they have not received adequate compensation, and this may feel unfair, thus exacerbating social divisions; resource reallocation, which may lead to the diversion of resources from other areas with equal needs, creating more unfairness
Policy oversight The household registration system is imperfect, residents raise business prices privately, and policies are not implemented consistently and fairly
Management mode Outdated management, unfair resource management, depriving villagers of their means of income (horses)
Participation Community residents lack the right to participate and have a say in tourism and lack fair opportunities to express their needs and demands. Often, only a few community elites or specific groups can participate while most residents are excluded
Corrective justice Government constraint Prohibit residents and villagers from building indiscriminately, overgrazing, littering, and going up the mountain to collect herbs, and strengthen residents' environmental responsibility
Punishment mechanism Fines, suspension of business, blacklisting, criticism and education, formulation of laws and regulations to protect residents engaged in tourism business activities, and standardization of business service quality
Increase education and
capacity building		 Provide education and training opportunities to empower community members to participate in tourism development
Willingness to
participate		 Protection of resource rights Protect the rights of community residents to local culture and natural resources, prevent unfair development and utilization by external interest groups, and ensure that community residents can benefit from tourism development
Emotional attachment Love outdoor work and realize self-worth, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of honor
Identity recognition Pride in being a Skula native, and residents' perception of the community's geographical environment and spatial changes, including recognition of natural and cultural landscapes
Relative deprivation Economic benefits Gaining income, improving quality of life
Horizontal deprivation Income disparities, geographical location, uneven distribution of tourism resources, differences in opportunities for residents to participate in the tourism industry
Vertical deprivation Cultural changes, social relations changes, and environmental changes before and after tourism development
Participative behavior Environmental protection Proactively picking up garbage generated by tourists, reducing the need to bring disposable items up the mountain, and reduced harvesting of herbs and plants
Infrastructure construction Road construction, housing construction, living facility construction, and scenic area construction
Tourism Scenic area staff, sightseeing bus drivers, sanitation workers, and operators
Cultural propaganda Historical culture, festival culture, and ethnic culture
Figure 1 Mechanism of tourism participation behavior formation in ethnic communities

4 Development path of ethnic community tourism participation behavior

Through grounded theory analysis, this study summarized the multiple factors influencing ethnic community tourism participation behavior and initially constructed a model of ethnic community tourism participation behavior (Figure 2). Specifically, how these influencing factors act to influence ethnic community tourism participation behavior still needs to be further explored. A comprehensive comparison of multiple methods indicated that the fsQCA method can reveal the influence of the interaction of multiple factors on a phenomenon, and it is suitable for the research situation of this study.
Figure 2 Construction of the complexity model of ethnic community tourism participation behavior
Based on the concepts and categories derived from the grounded theory mentioned above, and considering the principle of being easy to understand, the measurement questions of community residents’ participation behavior were developed (Table 3). Before preparing the questionnaire, relevant experts were invited to conduct a preliminary assessment of the relevance and clarity of the questionnaire items. Based on their input, the exploratory questionnaire was developed for distribution and collection.
Table 3 Measurement dimensions and measurement items
Measurement
dimension		 Item Factor load
capacity		 Cronbach’s alpha CR AVE
Distributive justice Q5 Equal opportunities for community residents to participate in tourism development 0.882 0.868 0.910 0.717
Q6 Equal income for community residents participating in tourism work 0.867
Q7 Equal sharing of environmental risks brought about by tourism development among community residents 0.878
Q8 Equal access to tourism resources for community residents 0.752
Procedural justice Q9 Resource allocation considers the interests of all members of the community 0.925 0.921 0.950 0.863
Q10 There is no bias in the allocation process 0.944
Q11 The allocation process has consistency among residents of different communities 0.919
Q12 The government’s resource allocation policy is sound 0.758 0.893
Corrective justice Q13 Enhancing the moral literacy of community correction objects 0.918 0.926
Q14 Creating a good environmental atmosphere in tourism development 0.935 0.759
Q15 The government has introduced relevant reward and punishment mechanisms to correct unfair phenomena 0.863
Relative deprivation D1 Others earn a higher income in the tourism industry than the surveyed individual 0.917 0.894 0.922 0.703
D2 The tourism income of other villages is higher than that of one’s own village 0.799
D3 The living standards are better than before the development of tourism 0.827
D4 The current ecological environment is not as good as before the development of tourism 0.822
D5 Neighborhood relationships are not as harmonious as before 0.821
Willingness to
participate		 C1 Engaging in tourism related work can enhance personal confidence 0.879 0.888 0.922 0.748
C2 Participating in tourism development can lead to stable employment 0.853
C3 Participating in the development of tourism industry can improve quality of life and increase economic income 0.896
C4 Proud of being a villager of Mount Skula 0.830
Participative
behavior		 E1 Villagers actively participate in protecting natural resources and the environment 0.844 0.924 0.943 0.767
E2 Villagers actively participate in the tourism policy formulation and decision-ma- king processes 0.913
E3 Villagers participate in tourism education and training 0.844
E4 Villagers actively participate in cultural activities (program performances, festival activities) 0.875
E5 Various self-operated tourism projects (homestays, catering, selling specialty products) 0.900

4.1 Reliability and validity analysis

A scale total analysis by SPSS27 showed that Cronbach’s alpha (α)=0.929>0.70, indicating good internal consistency. In addition, KMO=0.857, Bartlett’s=2845.876, and P<0.001, so EFA could be performed, Six factors were obtained later, with a variance contribution rate of 77%, indicating a good EFA effect. The validity test was performed using PLS-SEM. Tables 3 and 4 show that the range of CR values (0.910- 0.950) is more significant than 0.7. The range of AVE values (0.703-0.863) indicates that all of them satisfy the requirement of >0.50, and the autocorrelation value of the variables is greater than the correlation coefficients between the other variables, so the differentiation validity is good. However, the AVE square root ratio between the procedural justice variable and the participation behavior variable indicates a weak correlation between these two variables. To further explore its internal correlation and clarify the complex and interrelated relationships between the variables, a reverse case study was considered to introduce complexity analysis.
Table 4 Latent variable coefficient and model test
Research variable Procedural
justice		 Distributive
justice		 Corrective
justice		 Relative
deprivation		 Participative
behavior		 Willingness to participate
Procedural justice 0.929
Distributive justice 0.357 0.847
Corrective justice 0.338 0.363 0.871
Relative deprivation 0.330 0.480 0.397 0.838
Participative behavior 0.245 0.570 0.408 0.517 0.876
Willingness to participate 0.359 0.394 0.416 0.386 0.363 0.865

Note: Below the diagonal are the correlation coefficients between the latent variables, on the diagonal are the square root of the AVE values.

4.2 Reverse case analysis

Reverse case studies are critical for identifying and understanding the multi-dimensional factors that influence outcome variables (Woodside, 2016). Pappas et al. (2016) showed that counterfactual analysis is necessary to reveal the positive, negative or irrelevant relationships in data sets. Table 5 shows the positive and negative counterfactual cases between distributive justice and community participation behavior. The data show that there are counterfactual cases in the relationship between distributive justice and community participation behavior, including low distributive justice leads to high community participation behavior (16 cases), and high distributive justice leads to low community participation behavior (7 cases). Therefore, there is an asymmetric relationship between the variables involved in this study, so the fsQCA method was used to analyze the asymmetric relationships further.
Table 5 Cross contingency table
Distributive justice Participation behavior
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total
Strongly disagree Count 1 1 0 3 0 5
Percent l (%) 0.90 0.90 0.00 2.70 0.00 4.50
Disagree Count 13 8 1 10 3 35
Percent (%) 11.70 7.20 0.90 9.00 2.70 31.50
Neutral Count 0 1 2 7 0 10
Percent (%) 0.00 0.90 1.80 6.30 0.00 9.00
Agree Count 1 4 2 30 4 41
Percent (%) 0.90 3.60 1.80 27.00 3.60 36.90
Strongly agree Count 0 2 3 12 3 20
Percent (%) 0.00 1.80 2.70 10.80 2.70 18.00
Total Count 15 16 8 62 10 111
Percent (%) 13.50 14.40 7.20 55.90 9.00 100.00

4.3 QCA variable assignments and calibration

Before performing fsQCA (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis), the raw data must be calibrated to meet the requirements of Boolean algebraic operations (i.e., data between 0 and 1). According to proposed guidelines for the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis methodology, the affiliation of conditions and outcome variables were mapped between 0 and 1 (Ragin, 2008). Based on a Likert 5-point scale, the threshold for full affiliation was set at 0.95, complete unaffiliation was set at 0.05, and the threshold for the intersection was localized at 0.5. In the present study, the gender data used Ragin’s criteria of 0.05 for complete unaffiliation and 0.95 for complete affiliation for calibration (Table 6).
Table 6 Variable assignments
Research variable Anchor point Research variable Anchor point
Full
membership		 Intersection Completely
unaffiliated		 Full
membership		 Intersection Completely
unaffiliated
Gender 1.00 0 2.00 Procedural justice 4.67 3.33 1.00
Age 4.00 2.00 1.00 Corrective justice 4.88 4.00 1.38
Education 4.00 3.00 1.00 Relative deprivation 4.40 3.80 1.40
Income 5.00 3.00 2.00 Willingness to participate 4.75 3.75 1.25
Distributive justice 4.75 3.50 1.50 Participative behavior 4.60 4.00 1.40

4.4 Single factor necessity test

In fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), consistency and coverage are key indicators for assessing the impact of variables on the outcome variable. Consistency reflects the ability to explain the outcome variable and coverage indicates necessity (Du and Jia, 2017). The fsQCA 3.0 software was used to identify the necessary conditions of the outcome variables by conducting necessity tests on six conditioning variables and four demographic variables. The data in Table 7 show that none of the single factors reached the 0.9 consistency threshold, indicating that they are not sufficient conditions for community residents’ participation behavior. This means that none of the single factors are necessary conditions for influencing community participa-tion behaviors, so even if these factors are present individually, they cannot have the desired effect on the outcome variable. Therefore, a multi-factor combinatorial analysis was used to further reveal the factors influencing community participation behavior.
Table 7 Consistency and coverage of individual factors
Conditional variable Consistency Coverage
Gender 0.437201 0.575244
~Gender 0.649447 0.605850
Age 0.630137 0.677190
~Age 0.556197 0.616990
Education 0.508334 0.643678
~Education 0.740881 0.710847
Income 0.737580 0.730587
~Income 0.489190 0.594822
Distributive justice 0.777555 0.726522
~Distributive justice 0.475821 0.554103
Procedural justice 0.530120 0.615443
~Procedural justice 0.641690 0.661112
Corrective justice 0.662485 0.723504
~Corrective justice 0.550751 0.601045
Relative Deprivation 0.572702 0.686177
~Relative Deprivation 0.614128 0.615754
Willingness to participate 0.665621 0.715071
~Willingness to participate 0.538042 0.597070

Note: The “~” denotes a “not” or “complex negation” set relation.

4.5 Configuration analysis

In fsQCA analysis, consistency is the extent to which a combination of conditions leads to a particular outcome, and coverage refers to the extent to which it reveals the emergence of the outcome (Ragin, 2008). Consistency is preferably greater than 0.75 and can be ignored when lower than 0.7; coverage is more satisfactory when it is close to 0.6 and can be ignored when it is lower than 0.2. Table 8 shows the results of the fsQCA analysis for predicting the perception of ethnic intermingling of the Skula Township residents. Three constructive models were obtained, and the solutions reached good levels in terms of both coverage and consistency.
Table 8 Results of the qualitative analysis of fuzzy sets
Model Community participation behavior prediction Original coverage Unique
coverage		 Consistency
A participative behavior=ƒ(gen, age, income, edu)
~gen*~age*~edu*income
A-1 age*income 0.5002 0.2246 0.8104
A-2 edu*income 0.4402 0.1497 0.7780
A-3 gen*~age*~edu*~income 0.1707 0.0398 0.8226
Coverage of solutions 0.7067
Consistency of solutions 0.7766
B participative behavior=ƒ(distributive justice, procedural justice, corrective justice, sense of relative deprivation, participation willingness)
B-1 distributive justice*~procedural justice*corrective justice 0.3535 0.0168 0.9273
B-2 distributive justice*~procedural justice*participation willingness 0.3804 0.0593 0.9374
B-3 distributive justice*sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.3786 0.0886 0.8557
B-4 ~procedural justice*corrective justice*sense of relative deprivation*~participation willingness 0.2007 0.0172 0.9361
B-5 distributive justice*procedural justice*~corrective justice*Sense of relative deprivation 0.2302 0.0147 0.9344
B-6 ~distributive justice*procedural justice*corrective justice*~sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.1636 0.0183 0.9556
Coverage of solutions 0.6460
Consistency of solutions 0.8634
C participative behavior=ƒ(gen, age, income, edu) (distributive justice, procedural justice, corrective justice, sense of relative deprivation, participation willingness)
C-1 ~gender*age*~education*income*distributive justice*~procedural justice*~sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.2324 0.0493 0.9591
C-2 ~gender*age*~education*distributive justice*~procedural justice*corrective justice*~sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.2000 0.0087 0.9966
C-3 gender*age*~education*income*~distributive justice*~procedural justice*~corrective justice*~sense of relative deprivation*~participation willingness 0.1216 0.0378 0.9099
C-4 ~gender*~age*~education*~income*distributive justice*procedural justice*~corrective justice*~sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.1129 0.0114 0.9813
C-5 ~gender*age*~education*~income*distributive justice*procedural justice*corrective justice*~sense of relative deprivation*~participation willingness 0.1164 0.0206 0.9792
C-6 ~gender*~age*education*~income*~distributive justice*procedural justice*corrective justice*~sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.1200 0.0208 0.9719
C-7 gender*age*~education*~income*distributive justice*~procedural justice*~corrective justice*sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.1099 0.0130 0.9867
C-8 gender*~age*~education*~income*~distributive justice*procedural justice*corrective justice*sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.1140 0.0191 0.9611
C-9 gender*age*~education*~income*distributive justice*procedural justice*corrective justice*sense of relative deprivation*~participation willingness 0.1104 0.0102 0.9867
C-10 gender*age*~education*income*distributive justice*procedural justice*corrective justice*sense of relative deprivation*participation willingness 0.1220 0.0205 0.9960
Coverage of solutions 0.4321
Consistency of solutions 0.9297

Note: In Boolean algebraic logic, “*” is used to denote the set relation of “and”, and “~” is used to denote the set relation of “not” or “complex negation”, For example, A*B means that the condition variables A and B occur simultaneously, while ~A indicates that condition variable A does not occur or does not appear.

Model A revealed that high-income groups exhibit higher levels of community engagement. Model B identified two sets of combined patterns that significantly contribute to high community engagement behaviors, explicitly noting that high distributive justice and high willingness to participate positively impact enhanced engagement. Model C further considered the demographic and community engagement behavior-related variables and found that men with low education and high age tend to exhibit positive engagement behaviors with specific justice perceptions and willingness to participate. High distributive justice is seen as a critical factor that can significantly increase the participation of community residents. These findings emphasize the importance of ensuring the fair distribution of environmental rights and benefits in tourism development, as well as enhancing participation and benefit sharing among community residents.
The XY diagram is a visual representation of the causal combination relationship in a model, indicating the relationship between X and Y. This study selected the causal combination path B1-2, which had the highest consistency among the three models, for the XY diagram (Figure 3). Note that the relationship between the two condition combinations X and the corresponding results Y is asymmetric, that is, a sufficient but not necessary relationship. This means that the two condition combinations X are sufficient conditions for the corresponding results Y, but the results Y cannot be explained by only these two combinations.
Figure 3 Plot diagram of the causal algorithm

5 Discussion

In this study, we comprehensively considered various factors that influence participation behaviors, constructed three complex causal models for predicting high community participation behaviors with the help of complexity theory, and obtained nine combinations of antecedent conditions for predicting high community participation behaviors. These antecedent variables may or may not have a positive or negative effect on the prediction of different participation behaviors, and each variable is affected by other factors.
(1) Demographic factors are critical when exploring the tourism participation behavior of ethnic community residents in detail. This study reveals the complex effects of education, age, income and gender on the tourism participation behavior of community residents. In Model A1, older, higher-income and higher-educated, higher-income residents all tend to have positive perceptions of tourism participation behavior. This fits with the research of other scholars (Lv, 2019). The key influencing factor lies in high income, and the emergence of other conditions depends on the high-income condition, and they can co-emerge to positively impact the community participation behavior. According to the social exchange and stakeholder theories, people will assess the balanced relationship between benefits and costs. When the benefits exceed the costs, they will present positive attitudes, otherwise they will present negative attitudes. Elderly, high-income, highly educated, and high-income residents benefit from the social and economic benefits of mountain tourism development in Skula Township, so this group has good community participation behavior.
(2) The data showed that no single conditional variable in Model B could individually cause high tourism participation behavior among community residents. B-4 and B-6 were excluded because their coverage did not exceed 0.2. The remaining four groupings all presented high distributive justice perceptions of residents, while the other conditions presented a disordered state, so a more complex mechanism exists for the factors influencing community participation behavior in ethnic tourism locations. According to the findings, high distributive justice is a necessary but insufficient condition for the generation of high tourism participation behavior. Based on these findings, the distributive justice model for the generation of community participation behavior in ethnic tourism places can be proposed.
The villages in Skula Town show significant differences in resource distribution and income sources. Villages near tourist attractions can attract more resources and economic benefits due to their superior geographical location. This unequal distribution of resources caused by geographical location is the main reason for the differences in community participation. In particular, residents near or inside scenic spots can obtain more resources, income, and opportunities due to the unfair distribution policy. Skula Town comprises five administrative villages: Shuangqiao Village, Changping Village, Shuangdiao Village, Shaba Village, and Jinfeng Village. These villages have apparent differences in income sources, resource division, and environmental responsibility. Among them, Changping Village and Shuangqiao Village are closest to the scenic spots and have more advantages in obtaining tourism income, with per capita annual incomes of 150000 to 200000 yuan. However, the per capita annual incomes of other villages are much lower. This imbalance of income and resources caused by geographical factors has prompted the residents of other villages to have negative emotions, significantly affecting their enthusiasm and willingness to participate. In addition, the development of mountain resorts is often accompanied by significant impacts on local ecosystems. With the surge in tourists, the destruction of the mountain area's original vegetation and environmental quality is increasingly severe, resulting in a threat to the ecological balance. Although the residents around the scenic area have obtained economic benefits by participating in tourism activities, the distribution of such benefits is heterogeneous. Residents far from the scenic area still need to share the tourism benefits equally but bear the environmental burden, which intensifies the dissatisfaction with mountain tourism within the community and may lead to declining community participation. The findings of this study align with the research view by Ma (2015) that in the absence of environmental justice, residents may sacrifice environmental quality for short-term economic benefits. This kind of unfair distribution of benefits is not fair for the residents who do not benefit, affecting their positive attitude towards tourism development and willingness to participate. Based on the above findings, a “distributive justice model” is proposed, which provides a new perspective for understanding the emergence of community participation behavior in ethnic tourism destinations. This model emphasizes the central role of distributive justice in promoting community participation and, at the same time, it emphasizes that local governments should adopt more equitable and inclusive policy measures in tourism resource allocation and community development planning to ensure that all community members can benefit equitably from tourism development.
(3) Elderly, low-educated, and high-income male groups show significant willingness to participate in the community in the Skula Mountain area (Model C-3). The critical factor is that this group is limited by age and education, resulting in a lack of competitiveness in traditional occupational fields. However, they can still obtain higher economic income by engaging in tourism-related occupations, such as mountain guides, folklore, and club management. The realization of high income can enhance this group’s positive perception of distributive justice. It makes them feel that they have received the rewards they deserve from tourism development, which, to a certain extent, weakens their focus on relative deprivation. However, with the rapid development of tourism in Skula Mount and the evaluation of 5A-level scenic spots, the local management department has introduced a series of policies and systems to regulate the market order. Therefore, the perception of procedural justice was somewhat weakened in this situation. However, positive perceptions of distributive justice and low relative deprivation prompted them to be willing to participate in the community and translate that willingness into practical actions. This study revealed the critical role of distributive justice in stimulating community participation willingness in a specific socioeconomic context. This finding emphasizes the importance of equitable resource and benefit distribution in tourism development for promoting the active participation of community residents in community affairs. At the same time, it also reminds policymakers to consider both distributive justice and procedural justice when formulating tourism policies and management measures for promoting the harmonious development of the community and the sustainable development of tourism. This echoes the research, which pointed out that when people feel a sense of fairness about their environment, they will have positive attitudes and behavior. It is intuitive that an individual’s sense of fairness will motivate behavior.
Older, less-educated male groups can show strong willingness and behavior for community participation when they perceive a high degree of distributional fairness and effective reward and punishment mechanisms, even when the relevant policy support is insufficient (Model C-3). Taking the occupation of alpine guides as an example, such groups are generally older and less educated, and they earn income by providing services to tourists such as horse- drawn transportation and backpacking. Local outdoor companies can effectively mitigate the relative deprivation due to policy imbalance, occupational disparity, and working environment by providing reasonable treatment and imposing penalties for non-compliance. Second, tourism has become an important economic source for older, less-educated men who have lived in the ecotourism areas for a long time. They pay close attention to tourism’s economic opportunities and expect better economic returns from active participation. Participation in tourism development is seen as an effective means for improving livelihoods and increasing incomes, even when the policy environment is not entirely equitable. This suggests that the effects of income and incentives on community participation behavior are complex and diverse (Chaudhary et al., 2018).

6 Conclusions

Community residents are the owners and core stakeholders of traditional villages. High-quality tourism development must consider the “subjectivity” and sustainable development of the community and ensure that tourism development strategies consider the well-being and cultural heritage of the community, to realize the harmonious coexistence of tourism and the community. This study focused on the role of environmental justice in promoting the participation of ethnic communities in tourism. Taking the town of Skula Township in Xiaojin County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, as an example, we identified the influencing factors and mechanisms affecting tourism participation by the ethnic communities based on the relationships between distributive justice, procedural justice, corrective justice, willingness to participate, and relative deprivation and their tourism participation behaviors. We also empirically analyzed 150 questionnaires using grounded theory and fsQCA to explore the antecedents of ethnic community tourism participation behavior, and their relationships with each other, in order to solve the “poverty trap” faced by ethnic tourist communities due to the lack of rights, uneven distribution of benefits, and contradictions and disintegration of neighborly relations. The main conclusions of the study are twofold. First, the results of the grounded theory analysis show that community participation behavior is affected by multiple environmental justice factors and that distributive justice, procedural justice, and corrective justice interact with community participation rather than acting in isolation. Second, the fsQCA analysis identified multiple groupings that provide a more comprehensive explanation of the mechanisms influencing ethnic community tourism participation behavior in complex situations, including positive influences, adverse effects, and other interactive effects. This analysis confirmed the critical roles played by environmental justice, relative deprivation, and willingness to participate in promoting participation behavior. This study provides new perspectives and empirical evidence for understanding the role of environmental justice in promoting tourism participation in ethnic communities. The results have important theoretical and practical significance for guiding tourism development in ethnic areas, promoting harmony in ethnic relations, and facilitating ethnic community building.

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