International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

Frequency: 12

line decor
  
line decor

 Volume 13, Issue 6 (June 2026), Pages: 72-83

----------------------------------------------

 Original Research Paper

Integrating local wisdom into tourism human resource behavior in sustainable tourism development

 Author(s): 

Ance Marintan D. Sitohang 1, *, Yeni Absah 1, R. Hamdani Harahap 2, Robert Sibarani 3

 Affiliation(s):

1Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20222, Indonesia
2Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20222, Indonesia
3Faculty of Cultural Studies, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20222, Indonesia

 Full text

    Full Text - PDF

 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0125-6249

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.06.007

 Abstract

This study investigates how indigenous local wisdom influences tourism human resource (HR) behavior and supports sustainable tourism development in culturally unique destinations. The research focuses on Samosir Regency in the Lake Toba UNESCO Global Geopark and combines the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) to develop a culturally based behavioral model. A qualitative exploratory approach was applied, and data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, and document analysis involving 20 tourism stakeholders. The findings show that Batak Toba local wisdom, reflected in Dalihan Na Tolu, Poda Na Lima, and oral traditions such as umpasa and umpama, serves as a moral foundation that influences attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control among tourism workers. When these cultural values are integrated into HRM practices, they improve service consistency, community involvement, trust-based cooperation, and sustainability performance. The study contributes to theory by extending TPB through cultural perspectives and strengthening SHRM through human-centered values. It also provides a practical, evidence-based model for integrating local wisdom into tourism HR development to promote environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

 © 2026 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

Local wisdom, Tourism human resources, Sustainable tourism, Service behavior, Cultural values

 Article history

Received 22 October 2025, Received in revised form 16 May 2026, Accepted 7 June 2026

 Funding

This study was funded by Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia. 

 Acknowledgment

No Acknowledgment. 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations

Ethical considerations were carefully observed in this study. Data were collected through guided interviews with voluntary participants. Informed consent was obtained prior to the interviews, and all participant information was kept confidential and anonymized for research purposes only. 

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

Sitohang AMD, Absah Y, Harahap RH, and Sibarani R (2026). Integrating local wisdom into tourism human resource behavior in sustainable tourism development. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 13(6): 72-83

  Permanent Link to this page

---------------------------------------------- 

 References (21)

  1. Agyeiwaah E and Bangwayo-Skeete P (2024). Segmenting and predicting prosocial behaviours among tourists: A latent class approach. Current Issues in Tourism, 27(15): 2462-2481. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2229935   [Google Scholar]
  2. Ajzen I (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2): 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T   [Google Scholar]
  3. Al-Romeedy BS and Alharethi T (2025). Leveraging green human resource management for sustainable tourism and hospitality: A mediation model for enhancing green reputation. Discover Sustainability, 6: 67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-00829-2   [Google Scholar]
  4. Bindawas AM (2025). Promoting sustainable tourism through employee skills: Contextualizing quality education and the human resource management perspective (SDG-4). Sustainability, 17(2): 748. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020748   [Google Scholar]
  5. Duxbury N, Bakas FE, Vinagre de Castro T, and Silva S (2020). Creative tourism development models towards sustainable and regenerative tourism. Sustainability, 13(1): 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010002   [Google Scholar]
  6. Foris D, Florescu A, Foris T, and Barabas S (2020). Improving the management of tourist destinations: A new approach to strategic management at the DMO level by integrating lean techniques. Sustainability, 12(23): 10201. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310201   [Google Scholar]
  7. Hoang HT (2022). How does service climate influence hotel employees’ brand citizenship behavior? A social exchange and social identity perspective. Australasian Marketing Journal, 30(1): 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1839334921998873   [Google Scholar]
  8. Lajante M, Del Prete M, Sasseville B, Rouleau G, Gagnon MP, and Pelletier N (2023). Empathy training for service employees: A mixed-methods systematic review. PLOS ONE, 18(8): e0289793. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289793   [Google Scholar] PMid:37578963 PMCid:PMC10424876
  9. Li R, Liu J, Xia W, and Ma J (2023). Linking frontline employee self-efficacy to customers service performance in healthcare industry: A dynamic capability perspective. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 16: 2727-2739. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S440120   [Google Scholar] PMid:38107439 PMCid:PMC10725681
  10. Mahrinasari MS, Bangsawan S, and Sabri MF (2024). Local wisdom and government's role in strengthening the sustainable competitive advantage of creative industries. Heliyon, 10(10): e31133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31133   [Google Scholar] PMid:38799741 PMCid:PMC11126842
  11. Miles MB, Huberman AM, and Saldana J (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. 3rd Edition, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, USA.   [Google Scholar]
  12. Morse JM (2000). Determining sample size. Qualitative Health Research, 10(1): 3-5. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973200129118183   [Google Scholar]
  13. Prayag G and Dassanayake DC (2023). Tourism employee resilience, organizational resilience and financial performance: The role of creative self-efficacy. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 31(10): 2312-2336. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2022.2108040   [Google Scholar]
  14. Sayuti RH (2023). Community readiness in implementing sustainable tourism on small islands: Evidence from Lombok, Indonesia. Sustainability, 15(12): 9725. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129725   [Google Scholar]
  15. Sibarani R (2018). Batak Toba society’s local wisdom of mutual cooperation in Toba Lake area: A linguistic anthropology study. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, 11(1): 40-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-08-2017-0035   [Google Scholar]
  16. Sitohang AMD, Siahaan E, Fachrudin KA, and Siregar AZ (2024). Building excellent human resources in the effort to improve sustainable tourism in Samosir district. In the Proceedings of the 3rd Economics and Business International Conference, EBIC 2022, European Alliance for Innovation (EAI), Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.22-9-2022.2337431   [Google Scholar]
  17. Tresiana N and Kartika T (2024). Developing a model for sustainable traditional tourism village. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 19(6): 2135-2145. https://doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.190613   [Google Scholar]
  18. Ulker-Demirel E and Ciftci G (2020). A systematic literature review of the theory of planned behavior in tourism, leisure and hospitality management research. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 43: 209-219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.04.003   [Google Scholar]
  19. Yusoff YM, Nejati M, Kee DMH, and Amran A (2020). Linking green human resource management practices to environmental performance in hotel industry. Global Business Review, 21(3): 663-680. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150918779294   [Google Scholar]
  20. Zhang X, Zhang S, and Wang M (2022). Corporate social responsibility and frontline employees’ service improvisation: The mediating role of self-efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology, 13: 898476. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.898476   [Google Scholar] PMid:36467205 PMCid:PMC9716185
  21. Zhu D, Doan T, Kanjanakan P, and Kim PB (2022). The impact of emotional intelligence on hospitality employees’ work outcomes: A systematic and meta-analytical review. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 31(3): 326-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2021.1978914   [Google Scholar]