The moderating role of emotional solidarity in the relationship between the perceived effects of island tourism and the life satisfaction of local residents

Tourism development in the islands is related to the attitudes of the local people towards the tourism sector. In a typical tourist destination, interaction between visitors and local residents is inevitable due to tourism activity. As a result of the interaction between these two groups, a phenomenon conceptualized as emotional solidarity emerges in the literature. In addition, tourism development in the islands can also affect the life satisfaction of the local people. With this research, it is aimed to determine whether emotional solidarity has a moderating role in the relationship between the effects of tourism development in the islands and the life satisfaction of the local people. For this purpose, a research was carried out on the local people of Bozcaada. In this study, in which the quantitative research approach was adopted, the data were collected by the questionnaire technique. As a result of the research, 483 questionnaire forms suitable for providing data were reached and the data were analyzed with statistical analysis programs developed for social sciences research. As a result of the fieldwork, the moderating effect of emotional solidarity in the relationship between the perceived positive effects of tourism and life satisfaction was found to be statistically significant. On the other hand; it has been determined that the perceived positive and negative effects of tourism significantly and positively affect the sense of emotional solidarity of the local people for the tourists visiting the island, but the perceived positive effects have a stronger effect on emotional solidarity. However, it has been determined that the emotional solidarity felt towards the tourists visiting the island has a positive effect on the life satisfaction of the local people. Another important finding of the research is; a significant relationship was found between the perceived negative environmental and social effects of tourism and emotional solidarity. In addition, it has been determined that there is a significant relationship between the perceived positive economic and environmental effects of tourism and life satisfaction. In addition, it was seen that the sub-dimensions of sympathetic understanding and emotional closeness, which constitute emotional solidarity, were significantly related to life satisfaction. Finally; it has been determined that the answers given to the main variables of the research (perceived positive and negative effects of tourism, emotional solidarity, life satisfaction) show significant differences according to some socio-demographic characteristics of the participants.