Influential mechanism of farmers' sense of relative deprivation in the sustainable development of rural tourism

Local farmers in rural areas are directly related to the sustainable development of rural tourism. We used in-depth interviews and grounded theory to construct a relationship model of the farmers' sense of relative deprivation, coping behavior, and sustainable tourism development; the model was tested by a questionnaire survey and a structural equation model. We found that farmers perceive 3 types of deprivation: horizontal deprivation, deprivation based on the concept of equity, and vertical deprivation. They typically choose 3 coping behaviors: passive acceptance, public opinion attack, and active resistance. These behaviors have different impacts on the sustainable development of rural tourism in regards to the economy, society, management, and ecology. Therefore, it is of practical significance to study and expand the understanding of the mechanism of these behaviors to construct a system that incorporates qualitative and quantitative information and provides suggestions for managing outcomes.