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Journal of Resources and Ecology >

2025 , Vol. 16 >Issue 4: 1219 - 1230

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2025.04.024

Special Column: Ecotourism and Rural Revitalization

Estimation of Residents’ Subjective Well-being and Pro-tourism Behavior in Tourist Destinations: A Case Study of Wulong Village, Langzhong City

  • LI Huan ,
  • XIANG Cheng ,
  • LI Yuexian ,
  • FENG Yixiong ,
  • HE Xingying
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  • Tourism Department, Nanchong Vocational College of Culture and Tourism, Langzhong, Sichuan 637400, China
*XIANG Cheng, E-mail:

LI Huan, E-mail:

Received date: 2024-04-01

  Accepted date: 2024-09-08

  Online published: 2025-08-05

Supported by

The Nanchong Social Science Research “14th Five-Year Plan”(NC24B162)

The Nanchong Vocational College of Culture and Tourism Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Team Construction(NVCCT‌‌-2024-85-02)

The Sichuan Tourism Development Research Center-Key Research Base of Sichuan Social Science(LY21-28)

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Abstract

Residents constitute the core stakeholders in tourist destinations such as traditional villages, with their subjective well-being serving as a pivotal determinant for the sustainable development of tourist destinations and the enhancement of tourism quality and efficiency. Wulong Village of Langzhong City is chosen as a case site, and an index system through literature analysis is constructed, anchored in social exchange theory. Some mathematical methods are utilized for a comprehensive analysis of residents’ subjective well-being level, influence factors and the relation between subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior. The findings reveal that: (1) Both the explicit driving factors and the recessive association factors demonstrate positive correlations with residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior. Residents exhibit a pronounced focus on future-oriented dimensions, with the spiritual facets of these dimensions directly shaping their pro-tourism behavioral tendencies; (2) The weight values of explicit driving factors correspond to the ranking of measurement index values, whereas coefficient of variation values show significant fluctuations, exerting a substantial moderating effect on pro-tourism behaviors; (3) Recessive associative factors exert both significant positive and negative impacts on residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behaviors, while educational attainment functions as an explicit or implicit transmission mechanism, influencing the emotional cohesion underlying residents’ pro-tourism behaviors; (4) Residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behaviors across four explicit driving dimensions (material well-being, livelihood security, self-worth, and future expectations) significantly and positively influence pro-tourism behaviors. Additionally, senses of gain act as intermediary drivers for pro-tourism behaviors, generating positive supportive effects that facilitate local tourism development.

Key words： rural tourism; subjective well-being; pro-tourism behavior; residents; Wulong Village

Cite this article

LI Huan , XIANG Cheng , LI Yuexian , FENG Yixiong , HE Xingying . Estimation of Residents’ Subjective Well-being and Pro-tourism Behavior in Tourist Destinations: A Case Study of Wulong Village, Langzhong City[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2025 , 16(4) : 1219 -1230 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2025.04.024

1 Introduction

“Sense of happiness” represents a form of subjective well- being, denoting residents’ experiential happiness and satisfaction in a given context, which is termed “subjective well- being” in academic literature (Zhang and Li, 2022). The sustainable development of rural tourist destinations and the enhancement of tourism quality and efficiency serve as essential pathways for realizing rural revitalization. The primary objective of rural tourism development is to construct ecologically livable villages, thereby enabling residents to achieve greater happiness. It follows that the grand idea of construction of pleasant village and making residents gain much more happiness are so embedded in people’s brains, so shifting the focus to residents’ subjective well-being becomes the focal point of rural tourism development. In essence, rural tourism development under the rural revitalization strategy is inherently linked to well-being studies. The impact of rural tourism on residents’ subjective well-being constitutes a comprehensive evaluation of their emotional perceptions and life satisfaction derived from tourism participation, which not only reflects their subjective feelings and psychological states but also manifests as residents’ pro-tourism behavior (Zhang and Li, 2021). Currently, residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior have emerged as critical indicators for assessing living quality, social welfare, and tourism impacts in destination areas (Guo et al., 2022). Therefore, integrating residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior into the evaluation criteria for tourism development efficiency is essential in the comprehensive promotion of rural tourism and rural revitalization.
Residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior under the rural revitalization strategy have emerged as a central focus of current academic research. In terms of studies on subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior in tourist destinations, existing research at home and abroad predominantly focuses on tourists’ subjective well-being (Farkić et al., 2020; Su et al., 2021; Zhao, 2022), while investigations into residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior remain relatively scarce. Notably, these constructs represent shared concerns at national, local, and individual levels, directly shaping the developmental trajectory of rural tourism. Regarding research methodologies, financial models (Zhang and Deng, 2022), correlation analysis (Yang et al., 2022), and variable coefficient (Sun and Xu, 2022) have been widely applied. However, quantitative studies on the actual impact of residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior are abnormally limited, hardly forming a comprehensive research framework. In terms of study areas, existing research spans national, provincial, and county-level dimensions. Domestic studies are predominantly distributed in economically developed regions of eastern China (Wang and Li, 2022; Wu and Lei, 2022; Yu et al., 2022), while comprehensive investigations into residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior in western provinces remain scarce. Notably, rural tourism development serves not only as a primary pathway to enhance residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior but also as an innovative model to advance rural revitalization, construct charming countryside, and transform village images (Yang and Ying, 2022). Regarding research trends, domestic and foreign studies exhibit a trajectory toward cross-cultural, cross-regional, interdisciplinary, and multi-perspective inquiry, with researchers increasingly focusing on vulnerable resident groups in tourist destinations. While research objects have been deepened through analyses of different destination types and resident demographics, the scope of research coverage requires further expansion. Qualitative analysis remains the dominant methodology, though the integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches is emerging as a frontier in this field. In terms of research content, analyses of influencing factors constitute a hotspot in resident happiness studies. However, scholars have approached resident happiness from divergent angles, often ignoring individual-level factors and requiring improvement in index system construction. Future research should solidify theoretical foundations and control for interfering variables. As a major tourism province and western highland, Sichuan has leveraged rural tourism as a crucial means to invigorate the rural economy, inherit rural culture, promote rural transformation, consolidate poverty alleviation achievements, and enhance residents’ subjective well-being (Fang, 2012). Wulong Village of Langzhong City is chosen as case site in this study, and index system based on social exchange theory is constructed. Some mathematical methods like subjective well-being measurement indices, corresponding models, and Pearson correlation coefficient in this study are employed to comprehensively analyze residents’ subjective well-being levels, influencing factors, and their relationship with pro-tourism behavior, aiming to enrich the rural tourism research system.

2 Study area

Wulong Village, administered by Tiangong Town, is situated in the southwestern part of Langzhong City, Sichuan Province. As a key node along the ancient Shu Road’s central-eastern route, it lies 25 km from the Langzhong Ancient City and boasts a total population exceeding 1600. Surrounded by undulating mountains, the village features a flat valley terrain, highly fertile soil, and a superior ecological environment. It also preserves well-integrated traditional folk customs, agricultural civilization, and abundant tourist resources (Xiang et al., 2022). Infrastructure developments include a visitor center, rural inns, viewing platforms, cycling trails, a rural performance stage, agricultural expo park, experiential cultural creativity park, cultivation center, and agricultural civilization exploration hall—all designed to retain the ancient agricultural landscapes, traditional spatial textures, and cultural practices of northeastern Sichuan. Wulong Village has been honored with titles such as National AAA-level Tourist Attraction, National Demonstration Village for Democracy and the Rule of Law, Sichuan Province Tourism Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Village, and Employment Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Village (Xiang et al., 2023). Under the coordinated promotion of national targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategies, Wulong Village has adopted the development orientation of a “characteristic tourism village” with the theme of “lucid waters and lush mountains + local culture.” Notably, the village has achieved remarkable success in tourism-driven development.

3 Data sources and methods

3.1 Data sources

3.1.1 Conceptual model construction

Rural tourist destinations serve as the fundamental carriers of rural tourism, where residents act as primary stakeholders. Their subjective well-being constitutes not only a comprehensive perception of living quality but also a subjective reflection of internal states (Li and Guo, 2022). As such, residents’ subjective well-being has emerged as a leading indicator for evaluating life satisfaction and a direct determinant of rural tourism sustainability. Under the combined influence of tourism development and tourist presence, residents in rural destinations form distinct individual perceptions, which shape their participatory behaviors and supportive attitudes toward tourism. This process also leads residents to automatically modify and reinforce the original social representation of the tourist destination (Yu et al., 2022). Within the shared knowledge hierarchy of rural tourist destinations, explicit driving factors influencing residents’ SWB include the social security level (Tu, 2021), public service facilities (Li, 2021), community hygienic conditions (Gao, 2020), and public security (Li et al., 2020) —all of which embody residents’ sense of livelihood security. When tourism generates profits for residents, it enhances their spiritual self-worth and fosters emotional cohesion toward hometown tourism development, thereby increasing their support and willingness to participate (Meng and Liu, 2020). Residents’ self-worth in tourism development primarily involves equitable participation in decision-making (Wang and Sun, 2019), benefit acquisition (Liang, 2019), self-awareness enhancement (Zhang, 2019) and hometown pride (Chen, 2019). Positive tourism benefits evoke a significant sense of prosperity among residents (Su et al., 2019), with explicit driving factors in the exchange between their support or participation intent and tourism-related activities including whether tourism can increase personal income (Melville et al., 2018), create employment opportunities (Chen, 2018), promote local economic development (Liang, 2018), improve living standards (Ye, 2017). The construction of residents’ future expectation drivers is rooted in Diener’s subjective well-being scale, positing that future expectations are closely linked to affluence perception, life satisfaction, and self-worth—thereby raising anticipations for the future. Residents’ future expectations are manifested in whether tourism can make them look forward to a better life (Liu and Li, 2017), provide future welfare (Xiang, 2019), support new tourism projects (Pan and Shen., 2015), and enhance tourist services (Li, 2015). In summary, the subjective well-being, life satisfaction, and emotional perceptions derived from tourism originate from the shared knowledge system within the destination’s social representation, with these explicit drivers influencing residents’ supportive attitudes and participation willingness. Beyond explicit drivers, recessive associative factors (e.g., residents’ demographic attributes) also influence their tourism support and participation to some extent, serving as intermediaries for subjective well-being (Wu and Xu, 2022). Tourism development shapes residents’ overall life evaluations, which in turn affect their subjective well- being and attitudes toward local tourism, thereby forming pro-tourism behaviors.
Based on the aforementioned theoretical analysis, it is posited that explicit driving factors of residents’ subjective well-being in rural tourist destinations may induce congruent or opposing shifts in their emotional states and life satisfaction. These shifts, in turn, exhibit differentiated patterns under the influence of recessive associative factors—such as residents’ demographic attributes. Ultimately, these variations in residents’ life satisfaction and emotional perceptions toward tourism development affect fluctuations in their subjective well-being. Drawing on these insights, a conceptual model of the influence mechanism governing residents’ SWB and pro-tourism behavior is constructed (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Conceptual model of the influence mechanism of residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior

3.1.2 Data sources and analysis

The primary data for this study were collected through a questionnaire survey. Guided by grounded theory, the questionnaire was designed using accidental sampling and in-depth interviews. Building on existing research (Gao, 2011; Ye and Zhu, 2020) and incorporating insights from experts in related fields, the measurement items for residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behaviors were systematically screened. This screening process adhered to the principles of completeness and representativeness, with reference to the conceptual model of the influence mechanism governing residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior (Figure 1). Key factors exerting significant impacts on residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behaviors were identified to construct the index system for the questionnaire survey (Table 1).
Table 1 Subjective well-being measure index system of residents in rural tourist destinations
Explicit driving factors Measurement items
Sense of affluence (A) A1 Tourism development has improved personal income
A2 Tourism development has increased employment opportunities
A3 Tourism development has promoted local economic development
A4 Tourism development has improved living standard
Sense of life satisfaction (B) B1 Tourism development has advanced the level of social insurance
B2 Tourism development has ameliorated the community public service facilities
B3 Tourism development has ameliorated the community health environment
B4 Tourism development has enhanced the level of social security
Sense of self-worth (C) C1 I have equitable participation in tourism development decisions
C2 I can benefit from tourism development
C3 Tourism development has improved my cognitive level
C4 Tourism development has given me a strong sense of hometown pride
Sense of future expectation (D) D1 Tourism development can make me look forward to a better life in the future
D2 Tourism development can provide me with more benefits in the future
D3 Tourism development can enable me to support some new tourism projects
D4 Tourism development can enable me to serve tourists better
Pro-tourism behaviors (E) E1 I hope more tourists will visit here
E2 I hope more plannings will promote forms of tourism development
E3 I will support the development of local tourism
E4 I will participate in activities that benefit tourism zealously
The questionnaire comprises three sections: Recessive associative factors influencing residents’ subjective well-being, which includes demographic attribute variables such as gender, age, length of residence, educational attainment, occupation, and average monthly income. Explicit driving factors related to residents’ subjective well-being, where responses to measurement items are quantified using a 5-point Likert scale to facilitate statistical analysis of survey data. Measurement items pertain to residents’ pro-tourism behaviors.
Data sources. This quantitative empirical study was conducted in August 2022, with the primary survey respondents being local residents of Wulong Village. The determination of the total sample size was primarily based on the population size of Wulong Village. The Scheaffer sampling method (Formula 1) was employed to estimate the total sample size, and the minimum required sample size for the questionnaire was determined to be 277. A total of 346 questionnaires were distributed to local residents in this quantitative empirical study, with 339 valid responses retrieved, yielding an effective response rate of 97.98%. Based on Formula (2), the maximum margin of error for the valid sample size within a 95% confidence interval is ±4.56%, which falls within the acceptable range (±5%). Additionally, the sample size exceeds the minimum required threshold and meets the criterion proposed by Nunnally and Bernstein (Xiang, 2019), that the effective sample size should be at least 10 times the number of measurement items. These results confirm the representativeness of the survey data.
Sn=NN−1ε2+1
In the Formula (1), Sn denotes the total sample size of residents in Wulong Village; N represents the number of residents in Wulong Village in 2022; ε indicates the sampling error (with the error value set to 0.06 in this study).
θ=±μ∂2×ρ×1−ρn
In the Formula (2), θ represents sample error; μ denotes the constant of 95% confidence interval (μ=1.96); ∂ stands for quantile; ρ indicates sample proportion; and n signifies the total sample size.
Descriptive statistical analysis of samples. The statistics of valid samples show that: In terms of gender, the proportion of male and female residents surveyed is moderate, and the proportion of male (51.9174%) is slightly higher than that of female (48.0826%) (Table 2). In terms of age, the age distribution of the surveyed residents is relatively obvious, and the age group above 26 years old is more than others, accounting for 72.5663%. In terms of occupation, the surveyed residents mainly engaged in local farming and local tourism, accounting for 39.2330% and 46.3127% respectively. In terms of educational attainment, the proportion of residents with junior high school education is the highest (43.3627%). In terms of average monthly income, most of the surveyed residents are between the middle and high level, accounting for 39.8230% and 38.3481% respectively. In terms of length of residence, proportion of the surveyed residents who have lived for more than 30 years is the highest (57.8171%).
Table 2 Population attribute characteristics statistics of survey sample
Essential attribute Category Proportion (%) Essential attribute Category Proportion (%)
Gender Male 51.9174 Length of residence (yr) Above 30 57.8171
Female 48.0826 21-30 27.4336
Age (yr) 18-25 27.4366 10-20 10.0295
26-35 41.0029 Below 10 4.7198
36-55 23.8938 Occupation Local farming 39.2330
Above 55 7.6696 Local tourism 46.3127
Education
 Below junior high school 16.8142 Migrant worker 8.5546
Junior high school 43.3627 Other 5.8997
Senior high school 20.3540 Average monthly income (yuan) Below 4000 21.8289
Bachelor 18.5841 4000-6000 39.8230
Master or doctor 0.8850 Above 6000 38.3481
Test of validity and reliability. The reliability and validity of valid sample data were tested using SPSS 22.0. The Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficients for all measurement items exceeded 0.800, indicating good internal consistency and reliability for each questionnaire index. The KMO test value was 0.829 or higher, confirming that the validity test met acceptable standards. The Sig. value for the Bartlett’s sphericity test was less than 0.001, which is below the 0.05 significance level. Overall, the validity test results demonstrate that the sample data exhibits high construct validity, supporting the suitability of conducting confirmatory factor analysis.

3.2 Research methods

3.2.1 Measure index of residents’ subjective well-being

In this study, Entropy Weighting Method, an objective comprehensive weighting approach, is employed to quantify the significance of information provided by residents in tourist destinations. This method is particularly suitable here because the information—characterized by high volume and quantification challenges—originates from the subjective judgments of interviewed residents. Consequently, the entropy weight method was selected to calculate both the weight values and the residents’ subjective well-being measurement indices in the tourist destination.
The first step is to construct the measure data matrix X. Based on the tourist destination residents’ subjective well- being measure index system, the measure index quantity n and the survey sample size m are established, and the data matrix X of the residents’ subjective well-being measurement system is constructed (Formula 3).
X=x11x12⋯x1nx21x22⋯x2n⋮⋮⋮⋮xm1xm2⋯xmn
Given the differences in the order of magnitude and dimensionality among measurement indices, the z-score standardization method was first employed to standardize each index, thereby eliminating the interference of varying index dimensions on the measurement results.
The second step is to determine the proportion Pij of j-th index in i-th sample. According to the data matrix X of the established residents’ subjective well-being measurement system, the probability theory is applied to obtain the proportion of each indicator (Formula 4), and the comparison matrix P (Formula 5) of the proportion data is established.
Pij=xij/∑i=1mxij (i=1,2,3,⋯,m;j=1,2,3,⋯,n)
P=Pijm×n
The third step is to calculate entropy ej of each index.
ej=−K∑i=1mPijlnPij(0≤ej≤1; i=1,2,3,⋯,m; j=1,2,3,⋯,n)
In the Formula (6), K=1lnm, m stands for the sample size and n stands for the index size.
The fourth step is to calculate index differentiation coefficient hj. The differentiation coefficient (information utility value) of residents’ subjective well-being measure index is determined by the difference between information entropy ej and 1 of each measure index (Formula 7), and the difference directly affects the weight value of each measure index. If the greater the differentiation coefficient (information utility value) is, the greater the importance to the measure will be, also the greater the weight value of the corresponding measure index will be as well.
hj=1−ej
The fifth step is to calculate index weight wj. The weight value (Formula 8) is determined according to the value coefficient (Formula 7) of the residents’ subjective well-being measure index information. That the higher the value coefficient of residents’ subjective well-being measure index is, indicates that the higher its importance level to the measurement is, namely, the greater the weight value is.
wj=hj∑j=1nhj
The sixth step is to calculate the measure index Z. Based on the determined weights, the measure index of the samples is calculated by weighted sum method, and the comprehensive evaluation value is obtained (Formula 9).
Z=∑j=1nPijwj
In the Formula (9), Z stands for the measure index (comprehensive evaluation value); n stands for the quantity of indicators; and wj stands for the weight value of j-th index.

3.2.2 Measurement model of residents’ subjective well-being

The first step is to establish the measurement model of residents’ subjective well-being. Based on Likert Five-level Scale, residents’ subjective well-being in tourist destinations is quantitatively analyzed to confirm measure rank score vector xj={x1, x2, x3, x4, x5}={1, 2, 3, 4, 5}={strongly disagreed, disagreed, partly agreed, agreed, fully agreed}. The measurement model of residents’ subjective well-being (Formula (10)) is constructed by combining the above methods of entropy weight and measure index.
U=∑j=1nxijwj (i=1,2,3,⋯m;j=1,2,3,⋯n)
In the Formula (10), U stands for the subjective well-being index of individual residents; n stands for the quantity of index; and wj stands for the weight of j-th index. According to the formula principle, the larger the comprehensive measure value U is, the higher the subjective well-being of individual residents will be, indicating the better the effect of the survey sample will be. According to the Likert Five-level Scale and the current research results (Zhang et al., 2022), the subjective well-being of individual residents is divided into 5 levels (0 < U≤1 stands for “very unhappy”, 1 < U≤2 stands for “unhappy”, 2 < U≤3 stands for “general”, 3 < U≤4 stands for “happy”, and 4 < U≤5 stands for “very happy”).
The second step is to calculate the average index of residents’ subjective well-being. According to the mean value of individual subjective well-being index of residents, the entire subjective well-being of residents is calculated (Formula 11).
fU=1m∑i=1mUi
In the Formula (11), f(U) stands for the average index of residents’ subjective well-being, indicating the entire happiness level of residents in tourist destinations; u stands for residents’ individual subjective well-being index; m stands for survey sample size.

3.2.3 Pearson correlation coefficient

The correlation between residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior in rural tourist destinations can be quantified using correlation analysis. The Pearson correlation coefficient is primarily employed to measure linear relationships between interval-scale variables. Accordingly, based on data from each measurement item within the explicit driving factors, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to calculate the correlation between residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior in rural tourist destinations (Formula (12)).
rxy=∑i=1n(xi−x¯)(yi−y¯)∑i=1n(xi−x¯)2∑i=1n(yi−y¯)2
In the Formula (12), rxystands for correlation coefficient between x and y, namely statistical items of the degree of correlation between item x and item y, rxyϵ[-1, 1]; when rxyϵ(0, 1], indicating that x and y are positively correlated, namely of the codirectional correlation; when rxyϵ[-1, 0), indicating that x and y are negatively correlated, namely of the inverse correlation; when rxy=0, indicating no linear correlation. The closer xij is to 1, the stronger the linear relationship between variables x and y.

4 Results and analysis

4.1 Analysis of measure index of residents’ subjective well-being

Based on survey sample statistics, the total number of valid samples (m) is 339, with 16 measurement indices (n) in total. Using the 5-point Likert scale, a quantitative analysis of residents’ subjective well-being measurement indices in Wulong Village was conducted to determine the measurement grade score vector (xj). Survey data were input and analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and Excel, with the following metrics calculated for the subjective well-being measurement indices: entropy value, differentiation coefficient, weight value, and index score (Table 3).
Table 3 The entropy, differentiation coefficient and weight of the subjective well-being measure index of Wulong Village residents
Explicit driving
factors		 Measurement items Pij ej hj wj Rank of wj w Rank of w Z
A A1 0.8743 0.9799 0.0201 0.0618 8 0.2495 3 0.0541
A2 0.8702 0.9792 0.0208 0.0640 7 0.0557
A3 0.8968 0.9832 0.0168 0.0517 12 0.0464
A4 0.8519 0.9766 0.0234 0.0720 4 0.0613
B B1 0.8389 0.9747 0.0253 0.0778 3 0.2603 2 0.0653
B2 0.8773 0.9803 0.0197 0.0606 10 0.0532
B3 0.8602 0.9778 0.0222 0.0683 6 0.0588
B4 0.8926 0.9826 0.0174 0.0535 11 0.0478
C C1 0.9469 0.9911 0.0089 0.0274 16 0.2034 4 0.0259
C2 0.9127 0.9857 0.0143 0.0440 14 0.0402
C3 0.8767 0.9802 0.0198 0.0609 9 0.0534
C4 0.8543 0.9769 0.0231 0.0711 5 0.0607
D D1 0.7788 0.9666 0.0334 0.1028 1 0.2868 1 0.0800
D2 0.7959 0.9688 0.0312 0.0960 2 0.0764
D3 0.9121 0.9856 0.0144 0.0443 13 0.0404
D4 0.9133 0.9858 0.0142 0.0437 15 0.0399
According to the calculation results, the weights of index A (sense of affluence), B (sense of life satisfaction), C (sense of self-worth) and D (sense of future expectation) among the explicit driving factors are 0.2495, 0.2603, 0.2034 and 0.2868 respectively, which shows that Wulong Village residents’ expectation of tourism development in future has the strongest influence on their subjective well-being, followed by their sense of livelihood, sense of affluence and sense of self-worth. Residents’ future expectations directly mirror their intentions and behaviors toward tourism development: the stronger their positive perceptions, the more pronounced their pro-tourism behavioral tendencies. Meanwhile, a sense of self-worth serves as a critical foundation for enhancing individual happiness—greater self-worth correlates with higher life satisfaction and stronger subjective well-being. The weight values of the indicators in the explicit driving factors reflect that residents’ perception of the spiritual level (D and C) is more likely to resonate with their individual subjective well-being than that of the material level (A and B). On one hand, evaluating the effectiveness of tourism development in rural destinations should be grounded in the material benefits residents gain from improved living standards. On the other hand, greater attention must be paid to their satisfaction with spiritual needs—including fairness, dignity, social status, stability, and self-actualization.
Among the measurement items of the explicit driving factors, the order of the weight is completely consistent with the Z-value of the measure index (linear weighted sum). The top 3 items are D1, D2 and B1, with weight values of 0.1028, 0.0960 and 0.0778, measure index of 0.0800, 0.0764 and 0.0653, and differentiation coefficient of 0.0334, 0.0312 and 0.0253, respectively. This indicates that the scores for these three items exhibit the most significant variability, reflecting substantial differences in the impact of three factors on residents’ subjective well-being in Wulong Village: social security level, aspirations for a better future life, and additional welfare derived from tourism development. Among these, their influence on residents’ subjective well-being is the most pronounced. The last four items in the ranking are D3, C2, D4 and C1, with weight values of 0.0443, 0.0440, 0.0437 and 0.0274, and measurement index of 0.0404, 0.0402, 0.0399 and 0.0259, respectively. The differentiation coefficient is 0.0144, 0.0143, 0.0142 and 0.0089 respectively, indicating that the corresponding scores of these four items have the lowest variation degree and have no significant impact on residents’ subjective well- being. Empirical analysis reveals that Wulong Village’s tourism development model remains relatively simplistic, with its existing tourism project system still underdeveloped. Residents’ deep participation has not been fully achieved, leading to limited sources of tourism-related income. Furthermore, residents exhibit weak enthusiasm for and support toward future new tourism projects.

4.2 Analysis of comprehensive measurement of residents’ subjective well-being

According to measurement model of residents’ subjective well-being, the individual subjective well-being index U and the average subjective well-being index f(u) of Wulong Village residents are calculated. The results show that the individual subjective well-being index of Wulong Village residents has a significant difference, the maximum value of which is 4.7689, the minimum value is 3.1327, the mean value is 3.9711, and the standard variance is 0.1091. According to the degree classification of residents’ individual subjective well-being, it belongs to the fourth gradient level, which is at a “relatively happy” perception level. According to the average index of subjective well-being, the average index f(U) of Wulong Village residents is 4.0012, which reflects that the overall average happy level of Wulong Village residents is relatively high, indicating that the comprehensive benefits generated by tourism development in Wulong Village are very significant. Descriptive statistics software SPSS 22.0 is applied to analyze the frequency and proportion of samples corresponding to different gradient levels of subjective well-being. The results show that residents with 3 <U≤4 (“happy” level) account for 68.7500%, and residents with 4<U≤5 (“very happy” level) account for 31.2500%, indicating that the individual subjective well-being level of Wulong Village residents is relatively high. Tourism development in the local has a good positive effect on residents.
Based on the conceptual model of the influence mechanism between residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior, an ordered logistic regression (OLR) model in Stata was employed to assess the impact of recessive associative factors (i.e., demographic attribute variables) on residents’ subjective well-being in Wulong Village. Combined
with the analysis results of Spearson correlation coefficient, it is concluded that the sequential regression model of 6 population attribute feature variables is significant in 95% confidence interval, and the regression passes 0.1 significance test, indicating that the linear relationship is significant. According to the analysis, the implicit association factors of the subjective well-being of Wulong Village residents are mainly manifested as gender, age, average monthly income, educational level, occupation and length of residence among the population attribute characteristic variables (Table 4).
Table 4 Regression coefficient of recessive association factors of residents’ subjective well-being
Recessive association factors Gender Age Length of residence Education Occupation Average monthly income
Coefficient 0.1538 0.2267 0.4195 ‒0.3659 0.4163 0.1579
Z 0.7981 2.6694*** 2.3725* ‒2.6277** 0.6189* 2.1367**

Note: *, ** and *** indicate that the significant levels are at 0.10, 0.05 and 0.01, respectively.

Among the factors analyzed, age, average monthly income, occupation, and length of residence exhibit significant positive correlations with residents’ subjective well-being, with the influence order being: age>average monthly income>length of residence>occupation. The study reveals that residents of various ages significantly impact their subjective well-being, with older residents reporting stronger perceptions. Additionally, higher average monthly incomes positively affect residents’ subjective well-being; the greater the income, the stronger the perception. Differences in occupation type also significantly influence subjective well-being, as they directly affect tourism economic benefits, which in turn impacts residents' perceptions. However, higher educational levels have a significant negative effect on subjective well-being; the more educated a resident is, the lower their perceived well-being. Based on the conceptual model analyzing the influence mechanisms of residents’ subjective well-being in rural tourist destinations, population attribute characteristics have both explicit and implicit effects on residents’ emotional perception, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being in Wulong Village.
From the perspective of social exchange theory, residents’ positive perceptions of tourism-related income positively correlate with their pro-tourism behavioral tendencies: stronger perceptions correspond to more pronounced tendencies. Specifically, when residents perceive that the benefits derived from tourism outweigh the living costs incurred by tourism development, they exhibit greater willingness and enthusiasm to participate in tourism activities and express higher levels of support for such development. Conversely, imbalanced perceptions (where costs exceed benefits) may hinder tourism progress. This conclusion has been validated across diverse types of tourist destinations (Jing and Luo, 2013; Zhang et al., 2018). Combined with the descriptive statistical analysis results of samples and empirical research, it is found that the development of tourism in Wulong Village provides a large number of employment opportunities for residents (46.3127% of the surveyed residents are engaged in tourism-related occupations). However, due to the low educational level of residents (60.1769% of the residents have a junior high school education or even below), the professional level of employment is low. Their occupation has an obvious substitutability, and the positive benefits obtained in the process of tourism participation are not desirable. With the improvement and upgrading of modern rural tourism and the emergence of living cost crises such as rising prices caused by tourism development, the emotional perception, life satisfaction and subjective well-being of residents in Wulong Village will be inevitably changed.

4.3 Analysis of correlation between residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior

Pearson correlation coefficient is applied to calculate the correlation between the subjective well-being of residents in rural tourist destinations and their pro-tourism behaviors (Table 5). In Wulong Village, residents’ subjective well-being is positively correlated with their pro-tourism behavior across four explicit driving factors: sense of affluence, sense of livelihood, sense of self-worth, and sense of future expectation.
Table 5 Correlation between residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior
Explicit driving factors Sense of affluence Sense of livelihood Sense of self-worth Sense of future expectation
Pro-tourism behavior 0.8527** 0.8416** 0.8362* 0.8197*

Note: The significance of Pearson’s correlation coefficient is denoted by a two-tail test probability P-value; ** (P<0.01) stands for a extremely significant correlation, * (0.01˂P≤0.05) stands for a significant correlation.

Specifically, there is a highly significant correlation between residents' subjective well-being related to life affluence and livelihood and their pro-tourism behavior. Additionally, there is a significant correlation between residents’ subjective well-being concerning self-worth and future expectations and their pro-tourism behavior.

5 Conclusions and prospects

5.1 Conclusions

Based on relevant sociological theories, a conceptual model has been developed to understand the influence mechanism of residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior in rural tourist destinations. Measurement items have also been designed. Using indices and models for measuring residents’ subjective well-being, along with various mathematical methods, we have comprehensively analyzed residents’ subjective well-being, pro-tourism behavior, and their influencing factors. The following conclusions have been drawn:
(1) The weight relationship of the explicit driving factors of subjective well-being of Wulong Village residents is D (sense of future expectation) > B (sense of livelihood) > A (sense of affluence) > C (sense of self-worth), which indicates that the importance of future expectation brought by tourism is relatively the strongest. Residents’ perception on the spiritual level (sense of future expectations, sense of self-worth) is more likely to resonate with their individual subjective well-being than the perception on the material level (sense of affluence, sense of livelihood). Therefore, the benefits brought by the improvement of material level and the satisfaction of residents in the spiritual aspects of fairness, dignity, status, stability and self-realization should be taken into account when tourism development effectiveness is evaluated.
(2)Among the explicit driving factors, the weight of each measurement item aligns perfectly with the magnitude of the measurement index value, while the score value of the differentiation coefficient varies significantly. These findings indicate that tourism’s role in enhancing social security, improving quality of life, and boosting social welfare has a substantial impact on residents’ subjective well-being, showing the highest level of perceived differentiation. However, tourism’s influence on residents supporting new tourism projects, benefiting from tourist activities, providing better services to tourists, and participating in tourism decision- making is minimal, with the lowest degree of perceived differentiation.
(3) The individual subjective well-being index of Wulong Village residents has significant differences, and the individual average perception level belonged to the fourth gradient level, which is at a “relatively happy” perception level. The frequency and proportion of residents corresponding to fourth-to-fifth gradient subjective well-being level are relatively high, indicating that tourism has a good positive effect on residents. The overall subjective well-being level of the village belongs to the fifth gradient “very happy”-level, and the overall perception level of subjective well-being is highest, indicating that the comprehensive benefits generated by the tourism development of Wulong Village are grand.
(4) Such recessive association factors as age, average monthly income, occupation and length of residence has a significant positive relationship with residents’ subjective well-being, and the order of influence is age>average monthly income>length of residence>occupation. There is a significant negative relationship between education level and subjective well-being of residents. Educational attainment significantly influences residents’ emotional perception, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being, and it also mediates their emotional cohesion in tourism. The tourism industry in Wulong Village offers numerous employment opportunities, but due to residents’ low educational levels, these jobs often require unsatisfactory professional skills. Consequently, the village’s tourism sector lacks sufficient endogenous development capacity, and residents may not experience stable positive income. Moreover, the advancement of modern rural tourism and the rising living costs associated with it will inevitably impact residents’ subjective well-being.
(5) Residents’ subjective well-being across the four explicit driving dimensions (sense of affluence, livelihood security, self-worth, and future expectations) exerts a significant positive overall impact on pro-tourism behavior. This indicates that enhancing residents’ subjective well-being contributes to fostering positive supportive behaviors toward local tourism development. A critical finding is that the sense of gain among explicit driving factors functions as a key mediator in shaping pro-tourism behavior. Consequently, in the tourism development of Wulong Village, priority should be given to improving residents’ subjective well-being and sense of gain in both material and spiritual domains. Additionally, attention must be paid to their personal subjective experiences when participating in tourism-related activities.

5.2 Prospects

The subjective well-being and pro-tourism behaviors of Wulong Village residents exhibit both immediate and ongoing characteristics. Future research should investigate whether residents’ perceptions and actions influence tourism emotional cohesion. Subsequent studies should broaden the sample size, conduct long-term research, and categorize research subjects more precisely. Instead of using a single sample, employing clustered samples can enhance the research’s external validity and applicability. While this thesis primarily focuses on mathematical analysis, future studies should incorporate more qualitative research, develop comprehensive indicator systems and scales, and integrate these with tourism theories to better understand residents' actual thoughts and conditions. With collaborative efforts from various sectors, rural tourism will likely boost the subjective well-being and pro-tourism behaviors of rural residents. Rural tourist destinations will also become environments that are conducive to both resident living and visitor experiences.

6 Suggestions

The subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior of Wulong Village residents are the key factors affecting the sustainable development of tourism. With the rapid development of tourism, the commercialization of Wulong Village is inevitable. Some community disempowerment phenomenons like drain of local residents, the flow of tourism income to local tourism elites and foreign operators will inevitably lead to the hollowing out of villages. In this thesis, community empowerment will be used to improve local residents’ participation in tourism and improve the effectiveness of residents’ participation in tourism development, so as to improve residents’ happiness and achieve sustainable development of rural tourism.
(1) Economic empowerment. The local governments should further support and guide to establish the residents’ status of core interest subject in Wulong Village in process of tourism development, enable the residents to obtain sustained economic benefits, and stimulate the enthusiasm of local residents and enterprises to participate in tourism development. The local government of Wulong Village should strengthen support and guidance in tourism development, and provide full employment opportunities for local residents through the diversified development of tourism industry structure of Wulong Village. Also, the local government should give full play to the demonstration and leading role of tourism elites in Wulong Village, optimize the relationship of economic interaction and cultural interaction between local residents and enterprises, and encourage more local residents to participate in production directly and management and benefit. Moreover, the local governments should coordinate the relationship between local residents and enterprises, help to form a good interaction between residents’ subjective well-being and pro-tourism behavior, ensure the fairness of interest distribution, stimulate the enthusiasm of local residents and enterprises to participate in cultural protection, as well as improve residents’ sense of prosperity fundamentally.
(2) Psychological empowerment. Residents of Wulong Village should respect their autonomy and enhance their pride and self-confidence by themselves. They should organize activities such as local cultural protection, education on the impact of eco-tourism and training on tourism service skills actively, so that they can fully realize the value of local culture and understand the impact that tourism may bring to the local area. In addition, local residents should make choices about the ways and development directions of tourism participation, and fundamentally eliminate the community disempowerment phenomenons of foreign contract management. Moreover, local residents should enhance the pride and protection awareness of tourist resources in Wulong Village, improve the ability to participate in tourism management and self-confidence in their own survival ability, and form a diversified and comprehensive ways of community participation, so as to consolidate the intrinsic motivation of their subjective well-being and improve their sense of self-worth and future expectations.
(3) Social empowerment. The government and tourism enterprises should form a joint force to enhance the integration and cohesion of Wulong Village, and enhance the local awareness and sense of belonging of local residents. The local government and tourism enterprises in Wulong Village should strengthen the construction of infrastructure in the village, and strengthen the overall active protection of traditional buildings and culture in the village. Also, they should improve local residents’ sense of local culture in order to avoid the emergence of a single “consumer culture” in Wulong Village and the strong culture of tourists to the erosion of local culture by means of mobile network, media and so on. Moreover, local residents’ local awareness, satisfaction and sense of belonging should be enhance further to form a harmonious cultural environment, and improve their sense of livelihood.
(4) Political empowerment. The government should further establish a decision-making participation mechanism and endow local residents equal rights to participate in decision-making in process of the local tourism development. The political institutions of Wulong Village should be established to represent the interests and needs of local residents, aiming to strengthen their democratic awareness and enhance their ability to participate in politics. The local government of Wulong Village should strengthen the construction of political institutions and participation mode, and allow full play to the leading role of the village. Moreover, the local government of Wulong Village should strengthen the grassroots democracy construction of Wulong Village, improve the guarantee mechanism of local residents’ participation, so as to improve residents’ subjective well-being fundamentally.

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