Demystifying Symbiotic Rationality in Tourism SMEs: Conceptualization and Scale Development

There is a high degree of interdependence between tourism small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and natural resources and between tourism SMEs themselves, necessitating a symbiotic rationality to guide them toward more sustainable practices. Current rational perspectives—instrumental rationality and value rationality—due to their inherently conflicting nature, are inadequate to fundamentally address these inherent symbiotic relationships. This study thus proposes a holistic rationality—termed symbiotic rationality—that integrates both instrumental and value rationality to guide sustainable practices, with the aim of conceptualizing this new rational perspective and developing a validated scale for measuring it. Using a four-stage study with a mixed-methods design, this study’s findings point to a four-dimensional scale consisting of systematic thinking, long-term orientation, reconciliation, and sustainability. This study also finds that symbiotic rationality has a significant positive impact on SMEs’ ecological innovation tendency. By addressing the limitations of singular rational perspectives, this research contributes to the theoretical foundation and practical application of symbiotic rationality. It has the potential to advance future research in rationality and the sustainable development of SMEs while also providing a valuable tool for guiding tourism SMEs in implementing sustainable practices.