A critical analysis of volunteer tourism in post-socialist China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21698977 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jun Wang (0000-0003-4485-7201, Guangzhou University, corresponding author), Graham Brown (0000-0002-3066-9827, University of South Australia) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 476-491 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Current Issues in Tourism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-3500 • E-ISSN: 1747-7603 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13683500.2024.2309143 |
| OpenAlex | W4391818734 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 94 |
This study delves into post-trip transformations among Chinese volunteer tourists, challenging the conventional Western-centric lens. Traditionally, research has focused on international examples in the Western context, but this study explores the less-investigated intra-country practices in China. It employs a simplified transformative learning framework, adopting a collective autoethnographic inquiry that involves the first author’s participation as a volunteer tourist in 2011, followed by an extended advisory role and authors’ cross-cultural reflexivity. The study scrutinizes psychological, convictional, and behavioural shifts while emphasizing the interconnection of transformations with pre-trip motivations, onsite host–guest interactions, post-trip actions, and the pivotal role of local organizations including long-neglected authorities. Significantly, it uncovers the mediating influence of China’s distinct socio-political landscape, contending that volunteer tourism in China serves as a top-down response to counter Western cultural dominance. This research underscores the need for a decolonized and context-specific approach to investigating volunteer tourism practices in non-Western contexts. It highlights the dynamic interplay between tourism experiences and the intricate socio-political environment in China, offering a fresh perspective on the transformative effects of local tourism practices in this unique context
Business · China · Political science · Tourism · Hospitality and Tourism Education · Law · Religious Tourism and Spaces · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development
Volunteer tourism
Collaborative Autoethnography
The Development of Cross-Cultural (Mis)Understanding Through Volunteer Tourism
‘Doing development’
Examining transformative processes in volunteer tourism
Transformative Learning as Discourse
The possible negative impacts of volunteer tourism
Applying a transformative learning framework to volunteer tourism
Using Thematic Analysis in Tourism Research
Volunteer tourismDeconstructing volunteer activities within a dynamic environment
Volunteer Tourism
Volunteering with elephants
The role of travel influencers in volunteer tourism
Volunteer tourism, transformative learning and its impacts on careers
A diverse economies approach for promoting peace and justice in volunteer tourism
The sustainable development goals
Decolonising tourism and development
Hybridization of Chinese international development volunteering
Motivations and Satisfaction of Volunteer Tourism for the Development of a Destination
Handbook of Globalisation and Tourism
Gender and Tourism
Volunteer Tourism
Short-term volunteer teachers in rural China
Volunteer tourism
The Chinese State and Overseas NGOs
Mind the ‘gap year’
Characterizing and Shaping the Formation Process of Embodied Experience of Chinese Outbound Volunteer Tourists
An examination of not-for-profit volunteer tourism sending organisations' guiding considerations that influence volunteer tourism programmes
Hero, adventurer and advocate volunteers
Traveling for a cause
International Solidarity Movement
Predictors of intention for continuing volunteer tourism activities among young tourists
Why volunteer teaching tourism? Empirical evidence from China
Save the World in a Week
Why do graduates from prestigious universities choose to teach in disadvantaged schools? Lessons from an alternative teacher preparation program in China
The motivations and expectations of international volunteer tourists
Reflections on reflexivity in leisure and tourism studies
Volunteer Tourism
Getting ‘Entangled’
Volunteer tourism in Romania as/for global citizenship
The limits of transformation
Remember that time? ’
Citizenship, global citizenship and volunteer tourism
Making a Difference’
Mobilizing affect in the search for self-transformation
Engaging volunteer tourism in post-disaster recovery in Nepal
Gap year volunteer tourism
The unspeakable whiteness of volunteer tourism
Digging Deeper
Chinese narrative in international development and volunteer tourism
Chinese University Student Volunteering for Schools in Distant Locations
Perspective Transformation
Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience
Getting in Touch with your Inner Angelina
The Geography of Compassion in Volunteer Tourism
The white woman's burden' - the racialized, gendered politics of volunteer tourism
The Geography of Volunteer Tourism
Deep reflexivity in tourism research
Global encounters
Disturbing 'Development
Ethics in Autoethnography and Collaborative Autoethnography
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |