DIT PhD/MPhil Project

Supervisor name & contact details: / Dr. Ziene Mottiar & Dr. Theresa Ryan
4027559, 4027565
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http://www.dit.ie/hospitalitymanagementtourism/people/staff/staffarticles/staffname,85189,en.html
Research Centre Name and Website (if applicable) / School of Hospitality Management and Tourism
http://www.dit.ie/hospitalitymanagementtourism/
Funding Agency / If no funding is available, please leave blank
Scholarship Details / Please give details of student stipend and research fees covered by the funding
Subject Area / Tourism
Title of the Project / Developing a typology of tourism destination leaders
Project Description (max 300 words)
Tourism is a rapidly expanding industry with a wide range of positive economic benefits, enhancing rural, regional and national job creation and investment. It is increasingly viewed as an important component of rural economic potential, especially in peripheral regions. Its importance is such that the factors that influence its development have been of particular interest to academics and policymakers alike. While many different factors have been discussed in the literature, ‘the role of leaders as vital to rural tourism development, remains under-researched (George, Mair, and Reid, 2009). The importance of local leadership in instigating, operationalising and affecting change and development at a destination is without doubt acknowledged in the literature, for example in his list of the ten most important world tourism issues for 2012, Edgell (2011) cites, as number ten, the need for increased national/local leadership in tourism policy and planning. Similarly, Richards and Palmer (2010: 130) use of the term ‘place leadership’ supposes that places need ‘vision and effective leadership of different kinds in order to achieve their objectives’ , while Wilson et. al (2001: 137) stress the importance of ‘good community leadership’ for tourism development.
In the broader business literature studies of leadership characteristics and skills are well developed and much attention has been paid to what makes a leader successful (Thach et. al., 2006). However, a comprehensive understanding of destination leaders in their many guises remains unexplored. Fundamentally, a number of questions regarding destination leaders remain unanswered, these include: how do leaders emerge and how do we define them? And how and why do they influence destination development? This project addresses these key questions and its overarching aim is to develop a typology of destination leaders. This research will add to our understanding of what constitutes a destination leader, the way in which they influence the activities of others by encouraging cooperation, and their overall impact on destination development.
Please indicate the student requirements for this project
A 2.1 or higher in a relevant degree (e.g. tourism, Geography, Business)
Deadline to submit applications (only for funded projects)
Please choose College as appropriate
College of Arts and Tourism