Resident Empowerment and Community Citizenship Behavior: A New Perspective on the Sustainability of Resident Behavior

Rural tourism has grown rapidly in recent years but continues to face significant sustainability challenges. Empowerment is widely recognized as a critical driver of sustainable tourism in rural areas; however, its causal relationship with residents’ community citizenship behavior (CCB) remains under explored. This study adopts an integrative theoretical framework combining empowerment and role theories in order to examine how resident empowerment influence CCB through the mediating roles of role clarity, place attachment, and role identity. The case study site was Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province in China, due to its established rural tourism context and the pressing need for sustainable growth. Data were collected from 543 local residents. The results reveal that empowerment positively affects role clarity, place attachment, role identity and CCB. In addition, role clarity, place attachment, and role identity partially mediate the relationship between empowerment and CCB. This study represents the first attempt to link empowerment with CCB by applying role theory to the community context, thereby enriching current knowledge and providing practical implications for destination management organizations.