Researchers have recently begun to explore residents’ perceptions of short-term vacation rental (STVR) from both qualitative and quantitative approaches, but there is still a need for strong theoretical underpinnings to support this growing body of research. This study addresses this gap through applying a theoretical perspective that combines Social Exchange Theory and Weber’s Theory of Formal and Substantive Rationality to assess residents’ attitudes toward STVRs in the US city of Savannah, Georgia. Results from 384 resident surveys revealed that support for STVRs was a function of both the costs and benefits associated with STVRs, as well as perceived social and psychological empowerment from STVR development. These findings highlight the need for regulatory approaches that ensure STVRs do not infringe on residents’ sense of community and that STVR activity reflects the values and norms of residents so that STVR visits induce resident’ pride in their neighborhoods.

In urban destinations, Peer-to-peer accommodations (P2PAs), e.g., Airbnb, HomeAway, have experienced exponential growth and are shifting the vertices of the residential and tourism landscapes. As the nodes of visitor access appear deeper within backstage places, resident non-hosts face socio-cultural impacts that can influence their attitudes towards P2PAs and subsequent P2PA success in urban destinations. Predicated upon the resident non-host stakeholder’s attitudes towards P2PAs, this paper offers a conceptual model situated within socio-ecological systems and chaos theories to help guide P2PA management and planning within urban tourism destinations. The proposed model posits that P2PA density, location, and the pace of their growth can propel a destination towards its critical social carrying capacity or delay reaching this critical threshold depending on how urban destinations leverage P2PA disruptions.

This case study aims to provide higher education instructors a template to design service-learning courses that wish to not only further transformative pedagogy in tourism education, but also inform the development of students’ self-efficacy in critically examining social equity and justice at a personal and community level. The case illustrates transformative field experiences, both in person and virtual, in two undergraduate courses at two separate universities in the Southeast United States of America. Each course included a project consisting of collaboration with a local community partner to further the education, development, marketing, and promotion of African American and Black heritage tourism in their respective communities.

Rural communities face persistent economic challenges, and universities increasingly serve as catalysts for regional entrepreneurial development. This study evaluates the RISE29 program, a consulting-based internship initiative placing interdisciplinary undergraduate teams as paid interns with small businesses in economically distressed counties of Eastern North Carolina, examining what students across disciplines learned. Drawing on Cope’s entrepreneurial learning framework as a sensitizing theoretical lens, the study asks: (1) What themes characterize the entrepreneurial learning experiences described by RISE29 interns across cohorts and disciplines? (2) How do reflective depth, student agency, and program satisfaction vary across cohort periods, disciplinary affiliations, and program structures? A multi-layered qualitative analysis of 158 written reflection papers submitted across ten cohorts (Spring 2019–Summer 2022) was integrated with deductive qualitative analysis guided by Cope’s entrepreneurial learning framework, constructivist grounded theory coding, reflexive thematic analysis, reflective depth coding, sentiment and tone analysis, and cross-group comparison. Seven themes emerged: communication as the central axis of learning; collaborative identity development; leadership identity formation; encounter with Eastern North Carolina’s rural communities; professional identity and career clarity; real-world learning and classroom transfer; and program satisfaction with constructive critique. All four dimensions of Cope’s framework were present across disciplines, and non-Business students, in several cases, demonstrated a high degree of analytical depth warranting further investigation. Reflective depth increased in cohorts using an expanded prompt, though overlapping structural changes across the study period preclude single-factor attribution. Place-based, consulting-driven experiential programs generate substantive entrepreneurial learning across disciplinary lines, though findings reflect students’ perceived learning rather than verified competency acquisition. These results support investment in client vetting, structured reflection, cross-disciplinary teaming, and in-person community engagement.