CREATIVE LEADERSHIP, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN GREEN DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT: A TOURIST PERSPECTIVE STUDY IN RURAL LOWER NORTHERN THAILAND

บทคัดย่อ

This study aims to examine the effects of creative leadership and social media utilization on green destination development, with cultural change acting as a mediating variable, from the tourist perspective in rural communities of Lower Northern Thailand. The research adopts a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, integrating quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive understanding of sustainable tourism dynamics. The quantitative component employed a structured questionnaire administered to 400 tourists, selected using stratified random sampling across four provinces in Lower Northern Thailand. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships. The qualitative component involved in-depth interviews with 40 key informants, including community leaders and tourism practitioners, with data analyzed through thematic analysis.

          The findings reveal that cultural change exerts the strongest direct effect on green destination development (β = 0.35), followed by creative leadership (β = 0.31) and social media utilization (β = 0.27). In addition, cultural change partially mediates the relationships between creative leadership, social media utilization, and sustainable tourism outcomes. The model demonstrates strong explanatory power (R² = 0.62), indicating that green destination development is driven by the synergistic interaction of leadership, digital engagement, and cultural transformation. Qualitative findings further highlight that creative leadership fosters community participation and innovation, social media enhances destination identity through digital storytelling, and cultural change embeds sustainability into everyday practices. This study contributes to the literature by shifting the analytical focus from internal stakeholder management to a tourist-centered perspective, and by positioning cultural change as a key behavioral mechanism in sustainable tourism development. The findings provide practical implications for policymakers and practitioners in promoting culturally grounded and environmentally sustainable tourism in rural contexts.