Understanding the Value Co-Creation Behavior of Rural Tourists: An Application of Fsqca

Abstract: Promoting rural tourism development is an important way to achieve rural revitalisation and common prosperity. Tourists are facilitators and participants of rural tourism, whose participation in value co-creation is of great significance. However, previous research on tourists' value co-creation behaviors mostly explored the linear relationship between variables, with the complex mechanisms being insufficiently examined. Based on complexity theory, this study created a theoretical framework, where destination support (information support, emotional support), personal psychological driving forces (self-efficacy, outcome expectation) and destination emotion (place identity, destination trust) are treated as condition variables and the value co-creation behaviors of rural tourists as outcome variable, and empirical tests were carried out using a survey questionnaire with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) analysis being employed. It finds that none of the six conditional variables can constitute a sufficiently necessary condition for tourists' value co-creation behavior; Six conditional variables together generate 64 path combinations, resulting in five paths that drive tourist participation in value co-creation behavior through three modes. These modes include perceived outcome value-driven, people-place emotional connection and people-place-environment integration driven. Among them, emotional support plays a significant role in influencing tourist value co-creation behavior. The study expands the research on value co-creation behavior, revealing the complex mechanisms of tourists value co-creation behaviors and provides a theoretical basis for promoting tourists' engagement in value co-creation behavior that enhance the tourist experience and promote rural tourism high-quality development.