社会交换理论的源流及其在旅游研究中的应用:一个批判性的思考

The Origin of Social Exchange Theory and Its Application in Tourism Research: A Critical Thinking

在旅游研究领域中,社会交换理论的应用已经积累了一定的成果,但仍然存在着理论贡献不足和解释力不强等问题。文章通过厘清社会交换理论的源流和后续发展,追溯其在旅游领域的起源,对其在旅游领域中存在的问题进行批判性思考。通过文献梳理发现,社会交换理论属于经济学、社会学和心理学的理论范畴,有着多种哲学基础和理论来源;旅游领域的研究对社会交换理论进行了一些简化,但是社会交换理论有着复杂的理论背景与基础,旅游研究找出了容易量化的部分做研究,而忽略了其他一些对旅游领域具有解释力的部分。未来应该厘清社会交换理论的理论基础、来源和内涵等,坚持追本溯源,坚持问题导向,重视其他对旅游领域具有解释力的部分。

Social Exchange Theory has been widely used in tourism research.It has strong explanatory power and is widely used in studies about community support,forecasting tourism development and other issues.Social Exchange Theory has a long history of development and theoretical connotation.However,many researchers in tourism studies simplified Social Exchange Theory to concepts such as cost and benefit,which is convenient for quantitative research.It should be noted that some phenomena in the field of tourism cannot be explained by Social Exchange Theory,and some complex problems cannot be accurately explained by Social Exchange Theory.This paper aims to clarify the origin of Social Exchange Theory in sociology,critique the use of Social Exchange Theory in the field of tourism,analyze various research methods and scales,and critically reflect on the problems in the utilisation of Social Exchange Theory in the field of tourism.This paper points out that Social Exchange Theory has an interdisciplinary nature that integrates economics,sociology and psychology.It has many philosophical foundations and theoretical sources,such as the behaviorism exchange theory of Homans,the dialectical exchange theory of Blau,the later exchange network theory,the rational choice theory and the social exchange resource theory.In the tourism research,researchers tend to apply parts of the theory that are easy to quantify and ignore other parts that have explanatory power but difficult to operationalise.For example,the cost-benefit model commonly used by tourism researchers is convenient for quantitative explanation of some phenomena.However,the existing research framework and models are oversimplified,which ignores the original rich connotation of its important variables and principles,to the extent of mistaking the theory of having only the connotation of cost and benefit.In future studies,tourism research should clarify the theoretical basis and connotation of Social Exchange Theory,adhere to the problem-oriented research design,and explore the previously ignored connotations,so as to improve the explanatory power of Social Exchange Theory on complex tourism phenomena.