The Community Sustainability of ICH Festivals: A Dual Mechanism Model of Psychology and Economy

Justice has received more and more attention in the management of tourist destinations, but its function in cultural heritage situations is still insufficiently investigated. This research investigates the supportive attitudes of the residents towards the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)-related festivals by using an integrated framework including the perceived justice, festival identity and perceived economic benefits. A quantitative study was conducted based on 552 returned valid questionnaires. After reliability and validity tests, structural equation modeling, bootstrap mediation analysis, and multi-group structural equation modeling were employed to test the research hypotheses. The results indicate that all three aspects of the perceived justice have a positive effect on the festival identity of the residents, which consequently enhances their support for the development of the festival. These findings broaden the justice-based views in tourism research and offer useful suggestions for promoting fair and community-supported festival tourism development.