Oeconomica Jadertina, Vol. 14 No. 1, 2024.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.15291/oec.4407
Research design of stakeholder networks in a tourist destination
Damir Pavlović
; Sveučilište Libertas, Zagreb
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
The aim of this work is to make a critical analysis of research design in tourism with an
emphasis on stakeholders in the destination network, which should result in finding the most optimal
research and methodological model for the purpose of scientific and practical application in adaptable
and efficient destination management. The paper considers a wide range/map of research design and
approach in all phases of the research process: data collection and processing, and interpretation of the
obtained results. Recommendations for finding an adequate methodological approach to research in
tourism and tourist destinations were obtained by testing, that is, by projecting the specificity of the
research process in tourism onto the general research matrix/paradigm represented by the successive
gradation of research steps: context, paradigm, epistemology, general methodological orientation and
applied concrete methods. The so-called method of chain referral proved to be the most effective in
collecting data on the topological structure of the destination network of stakeholders. A hybrid
explanatory sequential design in a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodological approach
seems to be the most optimal and can be the most useful in researching the relationship between
stakeholders in the management of a tourist destination. In previous research in the conceptual field of
destination stakeholder networks, the proposed research model is not as specified and focused as in the
case of this paper. management. However, there are also certain limitations of this work, which primarily
refer to the need for multiple testing of the proposed research model on concrete case studies. Following
the highlighted limitations in future research, it is recommended to test the proposed methodological
approach and concept on case studies of two qualitatively different destination networks of stakeholders
(e.g. coastal and continental) in Croatia to confirm its validity.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
318444
URI
Publication date:
1.6.2024.
Visits: 330 *