Necessary condition analysis in tourism research

Toth, Zsofia; Dul, Jan; Li, Chunxiao

Abstract

Necessary condition analysis (abbreviated as NCA) is a data analysis method based on the causal logic of necessity: if the necessary condition is absent, then the outcome will not occur. This approach offers valuable insights into whether and the extent to which certain conditions are necessary for the outcome of interest, which is different from the underlying sufficiency interpretations of regression and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). With the growth of NCA applications across scientific domains (Dul, 2016a; Dul et al., forthcoming; Vis & Dul, 2018, Karwowski et al., 2016; Van der Valk et al., 2016), there is also potential for novel applications in tourism.
This research note presents information for scholars seeking to understand the potential applicability of NCA in tourism, as well as guidelines for appropriate application and interpretation of results. The note provides useful details on the underlying logic, the formulation of the necessary condition hypothesis, core steps of the analysis, and interpretation of results with the help of an illustrative case. Researchers wanting to learn more about the approach should consult Dul (2016a & 2019) and download the free NCA software package in R through https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=NCA.

Citation

Toth, Z., Dul, J., & Li, C. (2019). Necessary condition analysis in tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 79, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102821

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 19, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Nov 4, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Deposit Date: Nov 4, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 5, 2021
• Journal: Annals of Tourism Research
• Print ISSN: 0160-7383
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 79
• Article Number: 102821
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102821
• Keywords: Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management; Development
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3049325
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738319301781