Governance-mediated value in sustainable trail tourism: shared responsibility, legitimacy, and stewardship in a nonprofit network

Long-distance walking trails support sustainable rural tourism, generating economic, environmental, and social value for host communities. Their viability often depends on governance arrangements involving public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and local tourism businesses that collectively manage environmental resources and visitor infrastructure. Although value co-creation is widely studied in tourism, less attention is given to how value is negotiated within stewardship networks supporting public tourism assets. This study examines how tourism businesses along Scotland’s West Highland Way perceive the benefits, sacrifices, and governance dynamics associated with participation in a nonprofit trail membership scheme. Adopting a social constructionist, abductive qualitative approach, the study draws on 36 interviews with tourism and hospitality providers operating along the route. Findings show that value in sustainable tourism governance is governance-mediated, morally negotiated, and relationally reversible. Beyond functional benefits, value is shaped through communication, recognition, institutional trust, and moral expectations. While participation generated social, epistemic, and stewardship-oriented value, tensions surrounding free-riding, digital exclusion, communication gaps, and perceived inequities undermined legitimacy and engagement. The study contributes to sustainable tourism governance research by introducing governance-mediated value as a lens for understanding participation within hybrid public–nonprofit–business networks and highlighting the importance of inclusion, legitimacy, and fairness in collaborative stewardship.