Tourism coopetition for a better world: a cycle of creation, appropriation, and devolution of social value

Coopetition is a win-win game to obtain competitive advantages through value creation and appropriation. Strategic networks for tourism development must consider who benefits from the value created, which in this case is society. This research examines the effects of tourism coopetition on the social value cycle, creation-appropriation and devolution of value to society. The methodology used is quantitative, through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Data collection was carried out in Areia City, Brazil, a historical heritage tourism destination, and the sample includes 539 respondents. Results demonstrated that tourism coopetition could lead to the same benefits as social businesses and provide social value devolution if it focuses on society-centric tourism development. Practical implications indicated drivers generate social value for tourism. Besides creating and devolving value to society, coopetition in tourism indirectly improves the appropriation of the collective value created by the networks. It is another way of balancing the negative impacts of competition or societal asymmetries. Furthermore, this study developed the concepts of tourism social value creation, appropriation, devolution and society-centric tourism development, which are fundamental contributions from the tourism sector.