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Rural tourism has emerged as one of the potential economic contributors to the country’s economic growth. To this extent, tourism stakeholders are aware of the rural tourism destination competitiveness where the development should be aligned with the objectives to achieve destination competitive advantage. Given the importance of studying factors that contribute to the development of rural tourism competitive advantage, the present study aimed to propose a research framework by identifying six predictors from the local community based on their experiential knowledge.

Data were gathered through a structured questionnaire survey where 144 respondents comprising local communities from Kampung Semadang – Borneo Heights, Sarawak, Malaysia – were involved. To assess the developed model, SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) was applied based on path modelling (measurement model assessment) followed by bootstrapping analysis (structural model assessment).

Interestingly, the findings revealed that the communities believed economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts significantly contributes to the development of rural tourism competitive advantage. Additionally, communities from Kampung Semadang viewed that both community knowledge and support for tourism greatly affect the development of rural tourism destination competitive advantage. Surprisingly, there was no significant relationship between stakeholder involvement and rural tourism competitive advantage.

From a practical point of view, the findings of the study provide valuable information to tourism stakeholders and policy planners about the importance of tri-dimensional tourism impacts, as well as community knowledge and support in the development of rural tourism destination competitive advantage. In line with policy development or planning for rural tourism development, the tourism stakeholders should pay more concern on the tri-dimensional impacts, the importance of community knowledge about tourism and gaining the community support for tourism development to achieve the goal of competitiveness.

There is lack of study in investigating the development of rural tourism competitive advantage with a holistic framework. This paper studies the intended or unintended economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts triggered by the tourism activities. This study has also investigated the local communities’ knowledge and supports toward tourism as the community efforts determine the success of a destination management, especially in the rural area. Stakeholder involvement was also examined as the collaboration among relevant parties to create competitive advantage is essential to achieve sustainable rural tourism.

This paper proposes an extended model based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) developed by Venkatesh et al. To help better explain the intention to use an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Findings from the literature review reveal that various technology acceptance models have been introduced in the past two decades. However, there are new research models that lack empirical study. With the research model proposed above, further study could be carried out to gauge whether this model can better explain end‐users' intentions to use an ERP system.

The review shows that although there has been research conducted using the UTAUT model, it has not decomposed the facilitating conditions as the authors suggest in this paper, which will be useful for intervention purposes.

Since this paper suggests a conceptual model based on a literature review, it is suggested that further study could be carried out to test whether this model can better explain end‐users' intentions to use ERP systems.

The review shows that shared beliefs, project communication and training can be used to offer intervention measures to help in the adoption and usage of ERP.

What this paper proposes is to drop the voluntariness variable from the model as a moderating factor, justifying this exclusion based on the fact that an ERP system implementation is mandatory and there is little room for the employees to oppose once the system is implemented. The authors also suggest further decomposing the facilitating condition into three components, namely shared beliefs, project communication and training can help in the design of intervention measures.

The main aim of this paper is to review the contribution made by this theme issue in responding to the strategic question: “How do we develop more sustainable and responsible rural tourism by benchmarking innovations and new practices in Asia?”

A content analysis of the papers was undertaken to learn from best practices within and outside Asia. Structured questions were used to enable the theme editors to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting point and the nature of the contribution made by the writing team.

This summary highlights the most significant outcomes in terms of the contributions to knowledge and/or professional practice, and also the implications for management action and applied research arising from the review of best practices in Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, India, China and Chinese Taipei. Some of the innovative approaches that can be adopted by Asia from non-Asian countries, namely, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Lesotho and Poland, are also presented.

This paper outlines the challenges and new approaches needed in managing and developing rural tourism initiatives that have been established in other countries.

This paper explores the extent to which the lessons and innovative approaches discussed in this theme issue could be replicated and applied in countries that are developing rural tourism.

Building on social exchange theory, this paper aims to hypothesize the direct impact of mentoring on employees' job satisfaction.

A survey method was used to gather the information that was required in this study to examine the relationship between mentoring and employees' job satisfaction among employees from small and medium enterprises in Malaysia. A total of 200 questionnaires were sent out to executives of the middle and lower management level from the 21 selected small and medium enterprises. A total of 156 Malaysian executives participated.

The results show that there was a positive relationship between career mentoring and all dimensions in job satisfaction such as co‐workers, job itself, promotion and supervisors. On the other hand, no significant relationship was found between psychosocial mentoring and three aspects of employees' job satisfaction, namely co‐workers, job itself, and promotion.

This study has helped to establish a foundation for the study of job satisfaction and mentoring. The foundation established has generated more knowledge and arguments on mentoring in the workplace to enhance performance. This paper contributes to the literature on the relationship between mentoring and employees' job satisfaction.

Considering the potential cascading effect that a good relationship can have on subordinates' job satisfaction, the paper shows that previous researches may have underestimated the impact of mentoring on job satisfaction.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the importance of rural communities’ participation in the management of tourism development.

A case study was conducted at the Katse and Mohale Tourism Development Area of Lesotho. This study was conducted in three villages adjacent to the Ts’ehlanyane Nature Reserve: Ha ‘Mali, Bokong Nature Reserve; Ha Lejone and Liphofung Nature Reserve; and Phelandaba using a mixed method design. In-depth interviews were conducted with Conservation Committee Forum members, and a survey was conducted on various stakeholders that included local rural communities, local authorities, nature reserve managers, tourism officers and environmental/conservation officers.

Respondents from all three villages (Ha Lejone, Ha ‘Mali and Phelandaba) shared the same preference of greater community involvement and decision-making power in the management of tourism. Ha ‘Mali and Ha Lejone respondents recognised community members’ participation but the Phelandaba respondents generally disagreed that the communities were involved in management, as they indicated not being consulted in any planning about tourism.

This study concluded that governments should not merely set aside conservation areas or construct tourist destinations in rural areas but should also empower local communities to participate in all stages of planning, developing and managing the tourism venture. Involving community members in the formulation of supporting tourism regulations, implementation, monitoring and evaluation procedures would be beneficial for sustainable development of rural tourism. Building partnership amongst all tourism-related stakeholders in rural tourism management is an ideal tool for promoting rural tourism.

Although the case study specifically referred to KMTD, the information gathered was used to formulate a model of the elements influencing rural tourism benefit-sharing processes from the perspective of a rural local community.

This article seeks to examine the impact of shared beliefs concerning the benefits of enterprise resource planning (ERP) among executives and engineers in the northern region of Malaysia.

Respondents comprise managers in the departments of production control, production, materials, engineering and information technology, and executives within the organization, who are cognizant of the ERP implementation. A questionnaire was sent to managers in 113 manufacturing organizations. A total of 69 responses was received, all of which were used in the analysis.

The findings support the notion that systems or technologies, which are perceived to be easy to use and understand, will be viewed as more useful from the end‐user's perspective. In addition, perceived ease of use (PEU) was found to mediate partially the effects of shared beliefs concerning the usefulness of the ERP system.

This study provides evidence that the level of managerial support, in terms of shared beliefs about the benefits of ERP, is critical in increasing the level of PEU and perceived usefulness.

There is a gap in the literature concerning what influences these two salient beliefs. Thus, this paper examines the impact of shared beliefs on the perceived usefulness and ease of use of an ERP system in a developing country.

The aim of this paper is to examine service quality dimensions and their impact on a rural tourism destination.

The study was conducted in Bario, a highland settlement in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. It attempts to add to the scant research and to bridge the gap between service quality and tourists' satisfaction in rural destinations. The service quality dimensions for this study are places of interest, sceneries, outdoor activities, atmosphere, and motives interest.

The results of this study show that places of interest, outdoor activities and atmosphere are the important dimensions to enhance tourist satisfaction.

Past studies show that good service quality often leads to a better performance and a higher satisfaction level; however, most studies examine this from the context of urban tourist destinations. This study extends the span by looking at a rural tourist destination.

The purpose of this paper is to share information on how the advantages of tourism are both a result and a determinant of the quality of life in rural areas. Consequently, it is one of the main factors for sustainable development in the social context.

Quantitative and qualitative research was undertaken of 36 villages that have been developing rural tourism for at least 20 years in Poland. In-depth interviews were conducted with destination management organizations (DMO) leaders and members of the local communities. Direct observation was used to gain an understanding of the realities in the field. Round table discussions with managers of rural tourism and members of the communities helped to perform the cost-benefit analysis of the development of rural tourism. This study was conducted between the years 2009 and 2014.

This study monitored patterns and changes in residents’ quality of life and measured their perceptions of rural tourism. The findings showed that negligence and errors during the planning stage results in a negative opinion of tourism, leading to unfavorable effects on future development, causing intolerable material, financial and social costs. Three types of factors influencing tourism were identified: social and technical infrastructure, ecology and lifestyle. These findings are important for local policymakers and rural tourism business.

Readers need to remember that only clearly determined population was considered in the research and specific sampling settings; reference to other settings may have produced different results. The extent to which the findings can be generalized certainly requires further investigation.

The development of rural tourism is considered a viable means to attract tourists to a destination and to enhance residents’ overall quality of life. However, the perception of tourism’s influence on the overall quality of life depended on internal marketing and proper communication. This study yielded interesting conclusions that have practical implications for DMO and tourism leaders who continually evaluate rural tourism initiatives.

The experience of 20 years in the Polish modern agrotourism industry represent a set of observations concerning both the improvement within the quality of life of rural residents, as well as the danger of social conflict, depending on the management tools and practices applied at rural tourist destinations. Negligence and errors during the planning stage may result in a negative opinion of tourism, leading to unfavorable effects on future development of tourism and causing intolerable material, financial and social costs.

Although this study referred to communities living in Polish villages, the findings show that detailed planning and the DMO’s communication efforts resulted in positive opinions from local residents with regard to tourism, and helped to avoid high material, financial and social costs. The case studies from Poland offer a universal benchmark in managing rural tourism destinations and show the challenges that needed to be addressed for the development of sustainable rural tourist destinations.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the long-term viability of community-based tourism (CBT) as a development tool in rural tourism, and how the best practice from the Asia Pacific region can be used to strategize the nine-stage plan to develop and sustain it in the long term.

This paper is formulated using a case study approach based on the lessons learned and the best practices in ten member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, namely, Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Based on the analyses of the ten case studies, the paper recommends nine steps for developing and sustaining CBT. These nine steps are divided into two sections – developing CBT and sustaining CBT. The first four steps relate to starting and developing CBT initiatives, which are useful for projects and sites that are embarking on CBT. The subsequent five steps are meant to address the sustainability of CBT projects, which are more appropriate for mature CBT projects that are gradually moving up the value chain. The nine steps are presented in detail and supported by the models developed from the case studies. For each step, a list of actions is recommended to guide the development of CBT.

This paper is limited by the ten case studies selected by the researcher. The conditions for these selected case studies may not be identical in other locations, and thus, the proposed nine-step framework can be used only as a guide. Each step outlined may vary from one nation to another.

The main output of this paper is designed to provide guidance for tourism/rural planners, non-government organizations (NGOs), industry players and CBT organizations in deciding whether tourism could work for a particular community and if it is feasible to be sustained over the long term.