Resident support in China’s new national parks: an extension of the Prism of Sustainability

Gaps persist in the literature on resident support for tourism in relation to protected area sustainability and resident satisfaction. This study extends Prism of Sustainability research to analyze these linkages, focusing on four communities of China’s newly established Shennongjia National Park. An ‘interpretation’ mixed methods research design focuses primarily on SEM and bootstrap analyses of surveys (n = 403) from 2018–19 fieldwork, augmented by qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews (n = 151) conducted during that time. Results suggest satisfaction fully mediates the economic dimension-to-support relationship, but partially suppresses the institutional dimension-to-support relationship. These findings hold implications for rural and protected area tourism more broadly, underscoring with empirical data the importance of considering resident satisfaction as a possible mediator between support and certain sustainability dimensions.