Factors affecting tour operator effectiveness in South Thailand

This paper aims to examine the effect of competitive advantage, business innovation, corporate social responsibility, social media, business adaptation, and human capital management on the effectiveness of tour operators in South Thailand. This quantitative study used a questionnaire as a research tool. Five hundred owners/executives of tour operators in South Thailand were asked to fill in the questionnaire during the survey; however, only 470 questionnaires were accepted for further data analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the data and hypotheses.According to the empirical results, competitive advantage, social media, business adaptation, and human capital management significantly, positively, and directly affect effectiveness. Moreover, business innovation and corporate social responsibility have a significant, positive, but indirect effect on effectiveness through competitive advantage. Whereas business innovation and corporate social responsibility have an insignificant, negative, and direct effect on effectiveness. Human capital management also has a direct effect on effectiveness through business innovation. This shows that competitive advantage, social media, business adaptation, and human capital management are, respectively, the factors that could directly increase the tour operator’s effectiveness. In contrast, innovation and corporate social responsibility do not directly promote effectiveness. However, these results cannot be generalized, as they may be different if conducting the research in other regions of Thailand.