THE UNIVERSITY of HULL Power, Stakeholders and The
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THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL Power, Stakeholders and the Theory of Planned Behaviour: Understanding Stakeholder Engagement in an English Seaside Context being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Hull by Victoria Goossens, BA (Hons) December 2011 Acknowledgements Many people have played an important part in the course of this research and I would like to acknowledge their support without which this research would not have been possible. I am particularly grateful to my supervisor Dr Ian Pownall, who has been outstanding in his support, guidance and encouragement throughout the whole research process. I am extremely thankful for the time he has given to help me complete this thesis, not only for his time spent reading through various drafts of chapters but for the many, many meetings and emails over the years. His advice has been invaluable to me and I could not have wished for a more understanding and helpful supervisor. Thank you! Many thanks also to my second supervisor, Dr Marcjanna Augustyn, who provided valuable and insightful pointers for discussions and providing a fresh perspective on the research topic. Special thanks to those people who have participated in the primary research, especially the Scarborough Forum for Tourism and the chairman of the Forum, Graham North, who have provided me with an opportunity to conduct my study. Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family, and especially my fiancé, who have been there to support and encourage me throughout, when times were good and especially when times were tough. I genuinely could not have achieved this without you all. 2 Abstract In destination development and planning literature much emphasis has been placed upon structural and geographical interpretations of how destinations can be viewed. There is a lack of attention to agency and stakeholder perspectives in destination development and planning. This research has sought to address this gap by focusing upon stakeholder power and engagement with tourism policy development in an English seaside context. Not only is the English seaside context important conceptually, practical connotations are also evident, particularly following the disbanding of the Regional Development Agencies in the summer of 2010 and the impact this has had on tourism organisation in Britain. The research objectives of this study focus upon compiling a conceptual framework which draws upon how power can be used in an enabling and not constraining fashion as an empowerment of people, by focusing on key concepts in stakeholder theory literature. The aim is to provide an alternative to a purely structural and geographical interpretation of the organisation of tourism policy, by focusing on agency and structure, as well as utilising the theory of planned behaviour in determining stakeholder engagement with tourism policy development. This research contributes to the stakeholder theory literature, particularly in defining the power of a stakeholder and how this can help address stakeholder engagement in tourism policy development. In addition contributions are made to the literature on English seaside tourism in utilising insights from the literature on power, structure and agency and stakeholder theory. From a methodological perspective a mixed method research approach has been adopted to add to the emerging qualitative research in the tourism literature in gaining rich contextual insights to the research problem. 3 Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 3 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ 4 List of Tables ................................................................................................................... 8 List of Figures .................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1 - Introduction .............................................................................................. 11 1.1 Introducing the research problem ..................................................................... 11 1.2 Research Aim and Objectives .......................................................................... 26 1.3 Contribution to knowledge ............................................................................... 27 1.4 Structure and outline of the thesis .................................................................... 29 Chapter 2 – Literature Review .................................................................................... 30 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 30 2.2 Tourism Destinations ....................................................................................... 30 2.3 Tourism Policy ................................................................................................. 36 2.4 English Seaside Resorts .................................................................................... 44 2.5 Stakeholder Theory .......................................................................................... 54 2.6 The stakeholder model ..................................................................................... 64 2.6.1 Different dimensions of stakeholder theory .............................................. 67 2.6.2 Identifying the ‘stake’ ............................................................................... 71 2.7 Stakeholder Influence Strategies ...................................................................... 78 2.8 Stakeholder theory and the tourism literature .................................................. 85 2.9 Summary .......................................................................................................... 89 Chapter 3 – Conceptual framework ............................................................................ 92 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 92 3.2 Structure and Agency ....................................................................................... 92 3.2.1 Structure .................................................................................................... 96 3.2.2 Agency .................................................................................................... 104 3.3 Power .............................................................................................................. 107 3.3.1 Foucault ................................................................................................... 114 3.3.2 Arendt ...................................................................................................... 120 3.4 Theory of planned behaviour.......................................................................... 133 4 3.5 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................. 144 3.6 Summary ........................................................................................................ 155 Chapter 4 – Research Methodology .......................................................................... 158 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 158 4.2 Research philosophy ....................................................................................... 158 4.3 Research approach .......................................................................................... 163 4.4 Case Study Setting .......................................................................................... 166 4.5 Data Collection Methods and Analysis .......................................................... 170 4.5.1 Questionnaire .......................................................................................... 172 Pilot study ......................................................................................................... 174 Sample and Population ...................................................................................... 175 Ethical Considerations ...................................................................................... 177 Questionnaire Design ........................................................................................ 178 4.5.2 Telephone Interviews .............................................................................. 182 4.5.3 Stakeholder mapping ............................................................................... 184 4.5.4 Document Analysis ................................................................................. 186 4.5.5 Quantitative Data Analysis ..................................................................... 186 4.6 Summary ........................................................................................................ 195 Chapter 5 – Case Study Setting ................................................................................. 199 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 199 5.2 Scarborough ...................................................................................................