Tourism-related Social Capital and Its Relationship with Other Forms of Capital: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine tourism-related social capital and its relationship with other forms of capital. The concept of social capital has emerged from several disciplines. Social capital has been used extensively among communities exploring a variety of economic development options, including sustainable agriculture and entrepreneurship. As part of a larger project, 307 tourism stakeholders in a four-county region of Virginia are identified and surveyed regarding their (1) perceptions of tourism-related social capital of the area and (2) perceptions of built, financial, natural, cultural, human, and political capital. Using structural equation modeling, analysis of the results shows that there is a relationship between length of residence and tourism-related social capital as well as a relationship between tourism-related social capital and cultural capital, political capital, human capital, private built capital, and financial capital, but no relationship exists between tourism-related social capital and public built capital or natural capital.