Stakeholders’ engagement in conservation of build heritage: a case of Local Residents in Tanzania

Engaging local residents in conservation activities is the state of the art in heritage management today. But perceptions and appreciation of the value of the build heritage varies across individuals. Thus, understanding factors behind individuals’ engagement in conservation is central to altering the behavior of local residents towards conservation. The main goal of this study was to investigate factors influencing local residents’ engagement in the conservation of built heritage. The study proposed a theoretical extension of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by complementing it with heritage affection and socio-economic (extrinsic) variables as informed by the attachment theory and incentive and path dependency theories respectively. Qualitative interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted with 45 and 398 households respectively in Zanzibar Stone Town, Pangani and Kilwa Kivinje. Thematic analysis was employed to analyses the qualitative data. Structural equation modeling was employed to evaluate the model concerning factors behind local residents’ engagement in conservation. The results show that local and civic means. The results also demonstrate that intention to conserve relates to (actual) engagement in conservation, although this is not the only factor immediate to engagement in conservation. The results further indicate that socio-psychological (intrinsic) variables including attitude towards conservation, heritage affection, perceived social pressure and perceived control on the one hand, and socio-economic (extrinsic) variables including level of tourism development at the destination and tourism employment status of an individual on the other, relate positively to intention to conserve. The study has shown the relevance of applying multiple theories to explain engagement in conservation from the point of view of the built heritage in a developing economy. The study argues for the designation of policies and managerial practices that address cognitive and affective-based socio-psychological and tourism-based socio-economic factors encouraging local residents’ behavioral change towards conservation.