Sustainability Based on Synergy Between Competitive Advantage and Local Community Participation in A Developing Tourism Village in The Highlands of Central Java

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of competitive advantage and local community participation on the sustainability of tourism villages, with operational risk management as a moderating variable. This study focuses on developing tourism villages in the Central Java highlands, which have the highest MDPL (Sea Surface Area). The research method used a quantitative approach with a survey of 250 respondents, including managers and community members involved in tourism activities. The results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach indicate that competitive advantage has a positive and significant influence on tourism village sustainability (β = 0.2527, t = 2.0528, p = 0.0406). Similarly, local community participation also showed a positive and significant influence on tourism village sustainability (β = 0.2477, t = 2.0620, p = 0.0396). The most important finding is the moderating role of operational risk management, which significantly strengthens the relationship between competitive advantage and tourism village sustainability (β = 0.3806, t = 2.4072, p = 0.0163). This study concludes that the synergy between competitive advantage and community participation, supported by effective risk management, is crucial for achieving the sustainability of tourism villages in the highlands. The conclusion of this study is that the sustainability of tourism villages is highly dependent on the synergy between competitive advantage and community participation, effectively managed through the implementation of operational risk management. These results also provide practical implications for tourism village managers to prioritize these factors to maintain and enhance the long-term competitiveness of their destinations.

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Local Community Participation; Operational Risk Management; Tourism Village Sustainability; Highland Tourism Villages;