Community-based ecotourism management for sustainable development of marine protected areas in Malaysia Muhammad Mehedi Masud a, * , Abdullah Mohammed Aldakhil b , Abdelmohsen A. Nassani b , Mohammad Nurul Azam c, d a Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia b King Saud University, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia c King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia d Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh article info Article history: Received 15 June 2016 Received in revised form 22 October 2016 Accepted 16 November 2016 Keywords: Community Ecotourism Environment Management Sustainable development abstract This study explores the factors that influence the community's participation in managing community- based ecotourism (CBETM) for sustainable development of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Penin- sular Malaysia. CBETM ensures community involvement for effective sustainable management as well as supporting environmental conservation practices. To achieve the objectives of the study, a quantitative method was applied, and data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The major findings of this study indicate that environmental knowledge for sustainable development, motivation to be involved with CBETM, perceived economic impact of CBETM, perceived social impact of CBETM and perceived cultural impact of CBETM have a greater influence on intention to participate in CBETM. It implies that these factors lead to the formation of positive intention in managing CBETM and promote community participation. This study will help policymakers to take relevant management policies to increase environmental knowledge for sustainable development, to motivate local community in CBETM, and to increase economic, social and cultural benefits among residents. These benefits encourage community involvement in CBETM that will support environmental planning to ensure environmental conservation practices among tourists and residents. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Malaysia is considered one of the most prosperous countries in Southeast Asia partly because of its rich marine resources. This enables Malaysia to maintain its position as an exceptional tourist destination and has supported economic growth, which directly increases the standard of living of the local community. Specifically, MPAs are considered exceptional tourist destinations in Malaysia (Tahir, 2008). The tourism industry of Malaysia contributes signif- icantly to the economy and has proven itself a sector that stimulates economic growth (Vasanth, 2005; Jaafar and Maideen, 2012). MPAs in Malaysia are managed by a top-down approach because of its strong centralist political interference on coastal and fisheries management (Siry, 2006). It indicates that Federal Government controls MPAs, not State governments. This has resulted in the lack of coordination between the Federal and the State governments where each planning agency is in conflict with others (Siry, 2006). Another important issue is that the Federal Government estab- lished the MPAs without prior discussion with the local community. This has hampered local community-based management practices within MPAs in Malaysia (Siry, 2006) leading to a negative perception of community-based ecotourism (Er et al., 2012). The local community's understanding of economic, social and environmental issues is the basis of shaping related policies. T€ orn et al. (2008) found that poor involvement of local communities in the establishment and management of protected areas resulted in unfavourable behaviour towards sustainable use of natural re- sources. Social capital plays a vital role to improve cooperation and coordination of the local community for the development of community-based ecotourism (Liu et al., 2014). Participation of the local community helps build confidence for long term sustainability * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: mehedi_rajapur@yahoo.com (M.M. Masud), aaldakhil@ hotmail.com (A.M. Aldakhil), m0hsenn@hotmail.com (A.A. Nassani), mazamd@ gmail.com (M.N. Azam). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.11.023 0964-5691/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Ocean & Coastal Management 136 (2017) 104e112