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Social Dilemmas in Nature-Based Tourism Depend on Social Value Orientations

Honjo, Keita, Kubo, Takahiro (2020) Social Dilemmas in Nature-Based Tourism Depend on Social Value Orientations. Scientific Reports, 10 . E-ISSN 2045-2322. (doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60349-z) (KAR id:80704)

Abstract

Nature-based tourism (NBT) is vulnerable to a rapid increase in visitors because natural resources are often open access. Market failure caused by over-exploitation of natural resources is an example of social dilemmas in common-pool resource systems. Game theory, which describes people’s decision making under conflicts, has been applied to the analysis of social dilemmas in NBT. However, previous studies use non-cooperative games assuming individualistic players and discuss the emergence of social dilemmas only in a limited situation. Here, we demonstrate, by developing a two-player non-cooperative game of wildlife viewing, that the traditional game-theoretic approach fails to find social dilemmas. By analysing the competition between tour operators (players) with different social value orientations (SVOs), we found that concentration of tours becomes a Pareto-inefficient Nash equilibrium (PINE) when both players are competitive. Whether the wildlife-viewing market is a Prisoner’s dilemma depends on players’ SVOs. Furthermore, we found that fair punishment on competitive players promotes rather than suppresses the emergence of PINE. Our results suggest that the diversity of SVOs is an essential factor in understanding social dilemmas in NBT.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1038/s41598-020-60349-z
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: Takahiro Kubo
Date Deposited: 02 Apr 2020 13:39 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 19:20 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/80704 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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