Determinants of local participation in forest governance under ecotourism using social exchange theory

Forest-based ecotourism is increasingly promoted as a mechanism to align biodiversity conservation with livelihood sustainability in forest-dependent regions. However, the extent to which such initiatives foster meaningful local participation in forest governance remains insufficiently understood. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study develops and empirically tests a model explaining how forest-dependent communities evaluate ecotourism-related exchanges and how these evaluations shape their participation in governance processes. Data were collected from 398 residents in the Zagros forest region of western Iran and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that participation in forest governance is primarily associated with residents’ overall evaluation of the balance between perceived benefits and costs, rather than by these factors in isolation. While perceived benefits positively influenced participation and perceived costs exerted a negative effect, the cost–benefit balance emerged as the strongest predictor and a key mediating mechanism. In addition, institutional trust and perceived fairness significantly enhanced participation, highlighting the importance of governance legitimacy alongside economic considerations. The model explained a substantial proportion of variance in participation behavior (R² = 0.62), indicating strong explanatory power. These findings advanced understanding of participatory forest governance by conceptualizing community engagement as a behavioral response to multidimensional exchange evaluations embedded in ecotourism systems. The study underscored that ecotourism can support inclusive and sustainable forest governance only when benefits are perceived as proportionate to local costs and when governance processes are transparent, trustworthy, and equitable.