Applying self-perception theory to explain residents' attitudes about tourism development through travel histories Kyle M. Woosnam a, * , Jason Draper b , Jingxian (Kelly) Jiang c , Kayode D. Aleshinloye d , Emrullah Erul e a Natural Resources Recreation and Tourism, University of Georgia,180 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, USA b College of Hotel & Restaurant Management, University of Houston, 4450 University Drive, Houston, TX 77204, USA c Management Department, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA d Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA e Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University, 600 Kimbrough Avenue, College Station, TX 77843, USA highlights  Self-perception theory is introduced as guiding framework to explain residents' attitudes involving degree of travel.  Travel use history (TUH) is a useful predictor of residents' attitudes toward tourism and tourism development.  Adoption of self-perception theory expands the pool of limited theories in resident attitudes research. article info Article history: Received 1 June 2017 Received in revised form 13 September 2017 Accepted 17 September 2017 Available online 23 September 2017 Keywords: Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (TIAS) Tourism Use History (TUH) Residents Self-perception theory abstract This study introduces self-perception theory as a guiding framework in explaining residents' attitudes from an introspective approach involving residents' own degree of travel. To date, measures explaining such attitudes have primarily come in the form of sociodemographic, socioeconomic, spatial, personal benefit/dependence, etc. variables. Results reveal that travel use history (TUH) is a useful predictor of residents' attitudes about tourism development. Residents who were infrequent travelers indicated less support for tourism than those who were intermediate or frequent travelers. For intermediate travelers, residents who had traveled internationally over the past two years had stronger support than those who had not for selected items within both attitude factors: support for tourism development and tourism contributions to the community. Findings provide support for the continued use of self-perception theory as a framework to consider in explaining residents' attitudes involving tourism and corre- sponding development. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Residents in tourism destinations play a vital role in providing quality experiences for tourists and maintaining sustainable tourism development (Gursoy, Chi, & Dyer, 2010). Relatively few theories and frameworks (e.g., social exchange theory, social representations theory, emotional solidarity, etc.) have been applied or tested to explain residents' attitudes toward tourism and/or tourism development. Guided by those theories, certain explanatory variables have been identified, including social ex- change (Deery, Jago, & Fredline, 2011; Nunkoo & Gursoy, 2012), social demographics (Cavus & Tanrisevdi, 2002; McGehee & Andereck, 2004; Pulina, Meleddu, & Del Chiappa, 2013), residen- tial proximity (Belisle & Hoy, 1980; Harrill & Potts, 2003; Pulina et al., 2013), and economic dependence on the tourism economy (Long, Perdue, & Allen, 1990; McGehee & Andereck, 2004). Faulkner and Tideswell (1997) examined resident attitudes from the perspective of extrinsic (e.g., stage of development) and intrinsic (e.g., residents' length of residence, involvement in tourism) elements of tourism development. Such variables are attributes externally observable to residents; they seek to account for residents' attitudes from an outsider's perspective. As such, existing research on residents' attitudes does not consider factors * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: woosnam@uga.edu (K.M. Woosnam), jdraper@uh.edu (J. Draper), jjiang@frostburg.edu (J. Jiang), kayodealesh@gmail.com (K.D. Aleshinloye), eerul86@ tamu.edu (E. Erul). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.09.015 0261-5177/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Tourism Management 64 (2018) 357e368