Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore recent trends in the theories and methods applied to studies on residents’ attitudes. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objective of this research, this paper provides a review of 90 journal articles on residents’ attitudes towards tourism published between 2011 and 2017. The relevant articles were then analysed using content analysis. Findings Key findings revealed that although social exchange theory is still dominant in exploring residents’ attitudes towards tourism, new frameworks are beginning to emerge such as institutional theory and bottom-up spillover theory. Nonetheless, alternative theoretical perspective has only been applied once or twice and requires further engagement. Quantitative methods still dominate the field, with the geographic dispersal of studies spanning 33 countries. Research limitations/implications A potential limitation of this review is that articles published only in four leading tourism journals, namely, ATR, JTR, TM and JOST, were analysed. Originality/value This review contributes to the literature in tourism by assessing the shift in the application of theory and methodological approaches in residents’ attitudes studies from previous systematic reviews. This study adds to the body of knowledge by providing an overview of the existing status of research on residents’ attitudes towards tourism, providing direction for future scholarly inquiry. A further contribution of this review is an indication of not only the data collection methods but also data analysis techniques which have not been done in previous review articles on residents’ attitudes towards tourism. As opposed to other systematic reviews, this paper assessed the geographical setting of studies on residents’ attitudes towards tourism.
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