Causal Modelling Methodology In Tourism: An Empirical Analysis | Prakash Chathoth

This study captures the relationship between three constructs, i.e. the economy, the infrastructure, and tourism to explain the direction and magnitude of the relationship between these constructs. To do so, an apriori multidimensional causal model was hypothesised and tested using Structural Equations Modelling methodology. The economy was hypothesised to have a positive significant relationship with the infrastructure construct and a negative relationship with the tourism construct, while the infrastructure construct was hypothesised to have a positive significant relationship with the tourism construct. The sample comprised of 189 countries, which was extracted from the World Bank (1995) data set. Results supported the structural relationship between economy and infrastructure and infrastructure and tourism. Contrary to the hypothesised relationship, the direct relationship between the economy and tourism was found to be insignificant. The significance of this study is in terms of verifying causal relationships between constructs at the aggregate level using countries as the unit of analysis.