Community Participation, Destination Quality, and Authenticity: Determinants of Tourist Satisfaction in Community-Based Tourism Villages Lejja

Abstract

Community-based tourism (CBT) villages increasingly depend on tourist satisfaction as a sustainability indicator, yet few studies test community participation, destination quality, and perceived authenticity together, leaving authenticity's role as a direct predictor versus a moderator of the participation-satisfaction link unresolved. This study addresses that gap through a cross-sectional survey of 275 tourists at a CBT village, analyzed via Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling with a two-stage interaction approach and bootstrapping (2,000 resamples). All constructs met reflective validity and reliability criteria, and the model showed adequate fit (SRMR = 0.050). Community participation (β = 0.297, p < 0.001) and destination quality (β = 0.380, p < 0.001) significantly predicted tourist satisfaction (R² = 0.395), with destination quality the strongest predictor. Perceived authenticity also significantly predicted satisfaction (β = 0.126, p = 0.027) but did not moderate the participation-satisfaction relationship (β = 0.065, p = 0.111). The model showed adequate predictive relevance (Q² = 0.270) with no serious common method bias. A multi-group analysis revealed that authenticity significantly predicted satisfaction among repeat visitors (β = 0.240). However, it did not predict satisfaction among first-time visitors (β = 0.016), suggesting visit frequency, rather than community participation, may be the more relevant boundary condition for authenticity's effect. These results indicate that perceived authenticity functions as a direct antecedent rather than a moderator in CBT settings; destination managers should therefore prioritize destination quality and community participation as primary levers for tourist satisfaction, treating authenticity enhancement as a complementary strategy tailored to visitors' experience level.