Ecolodge Success Model: Antecedents and Consequences

The aim of the research is to design a success model of ecolodge: antecedents and consequences. The research methodology is qualitative with meta-synthesis approach. The information sources of this step included articles published in international scientific databases which have been selected based on the criteria of meta-synthesis process. According to this, after searching the databases in the time range of 1380 to 1402 for Persian articles and 1998 to 2023 for English ones, 597 related studies have been evaluated and finally, after the necessary survey, 55 articles were selected. Using Seven-step method of Sandelowski and Barroso, the findings of 55 previous studies related to the research objectives were reviewed, aggregated, combined and interpreted. Using the coding method, the number of 100 codes, 24 themes and 8 dimensions were identified and the validity of the coding was confirmed through the Cohen's kappa test, and the success model of the ecolodge: antecedents and consequences was presented and drawn. The results of this research extracted 8 factors as the ecolodge success factors that the dimensions of "legal" and "ecolodge features" are among the antecedents of success, the dimensions of "leadership", "services" and "marketing" are among the dimensions of success, and the dimensions of "sustainable development", "economic and social benefits" and "revisit intention" are among the consequences of the ecolodge success. 1. Introduction Ecolodges are a unique group of small and medium-sized enterprises. The term ecotourism was introduced by the International Ecotourism Association in 1994 to explicitly identify and recognize accommodations that are dependent on nature and conform to the philosophy and principles of ecotourism. It has been observed many times that the owners of the ecolodges have established the ecolodges regardless of the needs of the market, location and resources, which has had negative consequences, including the lack of natural and cultural protection, the peresent of low quality services, and the dissatisfaction of the local community and tourists, which ultimately leads to the failure of the ecolodge. In this research, the main goal is to identify the critical success factors of ecolodge and the sub-goals are to determine and identify the antecedents of the ecolodge success model and the consequences of the ecolodge success model and provide a comprehensive model for the success of ecolodge. According to preliminary reviews of previous studies, a model that includes critical success factors for ecolodge was not found. Most of the previous researches have investigated the sustainability model of ecolodge. In the few cases that have focused on the success of ecolodge, no research has provided a comprehensive model that includes antecedents and consequences. Therefore, presenting a model for the success of ecolodge is the innovation of this research. In this research, we want to answer the main question, what is the ecolodge success model? And We also answer two sub-questions, what are the antecedents of the ecolodge success model? And what are the consequences of the ecolodge success model? For this purpose, we examined the previous researches through a systematic review, and with the method of metasynthesising and three-stage coding, the desired objectives and model were extracted. 2. Literature Review In a research titled "Sustainability and ecotourism principles adoption by leading ecolodges: learning from best practices", the best practices in sustainable management of leading ecologies around the world were identified based on qualitative content analysis. Key issues in these dimensions included biodiversity conservation, preserving socio-cultural heritage, improving social wellbeing, contributing to the local economy, learning opportunities for guests, influencing local attitudes, creating opportunities for visitors to get involved, sharing profits with local people, social justice, and seeking third-party recognition. In another research titled "Communicating sustainability and ecotourism principles by ecolodges: a global analysis", the aim of the study is to address the need for a global scale study of sustainability practices and principles of ecotourism in ecolodges, focusing on their connections from It was through the Internet. This study established a framework for evaluating the principles of ecotourism and sustainability communication in ecolodges in five dimensions (nature-based focus, the moral imperative, environmental sustainability, community development, and education and research) and the communication status of related plans by a sample of Identified and reviewed ecotourism accommodations from around the world and improved areas for Internet communications. In another research titled "Tangible and Intangible Indicators of Successful aborginal Tourism initiatives: A Case Study of Two Successful aborginal Tourism lodges in Northern Canada" it focuses on two criteria. Success criteria and success evaluation criteria. Success criteria include six economic, planning, leadership, empowerment, community, and legal criteria, and success evaluation criteria include year of establishment, operation season, annual referral rate, income, geographic location, accessibility, marketing, important attractions, ownership structure, Local control, culture-appropriate training, sustainable development, personnel, recognition of local traditions, etc. In a research entitled "Designing the framework of the sustainable business model of ecolodges using the mixed method", a framework for designing the business models of ecolodge is presented, which not only covers all aspects of their business, but also predicts the requirements related to sustainable development. In order to design the considered framework, first, using the method of supercomposition of the components of the identification framework, and then to evaluate the components, two focus groups including 9 experts were interviewed. In the end, 34 components were confirmed, which were categorized under 9 more general themes including background factors, world view, assets model, operation model, partnership model, marketing model, financial model, impact model and value proposition. As mentioned above, a comprehensive model including the antecedents and consequences of ecolodge success has not been presented in the previous articles and only on the ecolodge sustainability or on the few success factors is focused. But in the current research, a comprehensive model of critical success factors including antecedents and consequences and success evaluation indicators is presented. 3. Methodology In terms of the data nature and the method of analysis, The research is qualitative and in terms of the method of data collection, it is based on documentary studies. In order to collect data, all published researches in the field of ecolodge success in valid databases were selected based on the Specified keywords like "ecolodge", "Ecolodge accommodation", "Ecolodge success", "Ecolodge satisfaction", "Ecolodge sustainability", "Ecolodge outcomes", "Ecolodge satisfaction", "Ecolodge requirements". The research method is analytical-descriptive. In this research, a meta synthesis has been used. In order to analyze the data, the coding method was used and the data was analyzed. The metasynthesis approach is to combine the results of qualitative research and helps to advance current knowledge by creating a new interpretive synthesis. 4. Results In this research, a proper classification of the critical success factors of ecolodges was presented based on the research background. finally, the number of 100 codes, 24 themes and 8 dimensions were identified and the validity of the coding was confirmed through the Cohen's kappa test, and the success model of the ecolodge: antecedents and consequences was presented and drawn. The results of this research showed that the dimensions of "legal" and "ecolodge features" are among the antecedents of success, the dimensions of "leadership", "services" and "marketing" are among the dimensions of success, and the dimensions of "sustainable development", "economic-social benefits" and "revisit intention" are among the consequences of the ecolodge success. 5. Conclusion Many factors are involved in the success of a business, but some factors play a vital role in success of a business, which are called critical success factors. In this research, the critical success factors of ecolodge success were extracted through the meta synthesis of past studies. Finally, with a holistic view to ecolodge, 3 ecolodge success factors and 2 antecedents of ecolodge success and 3 consequences of ecolodge success were obtained and a comprehensive model including the antecedents and consequences of the success of ecolodge has been presented and success evaluation indicators will also be presented.

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