The Social Production of Unequal Development: A Structuration Analysis of Tourism in Mandalika Special Economic Zone

Abstract

Tourism-led development can expand employment and business opportunities while simultaneously producing uneven social outcomes. This study examined how institutional rules, access to resources, and community agency shaped differentiated development outcomes in Kuta Village within Indonesia’s Mandalika Special Economic Zone. An interpretive qualitative single-case study was conducted with ten participants. Community members’ and business actors’ perspectives were collected through semi-structured interviews, while institutional and local elite perspectives were obtained through an online qualitative questionnaire containing open-ended questions. Nonparticipant observation and documentary materials provided additional contextual evidence. Data were analyzed using abductive thematic analysis informed by Giddens’ Structuration Theory. The findings showed that tourism development expanded employment, entrepreneurship, market access, and opportunities for livelihood adaptation; however, participants differed in their capacity to convert these opportunities into secure and sustained benefits. Unequal access to land, capital, commercial space, markets, strategic information, institutional networks, and decision-making authority contributed to differentiated economic outcomes and varying levels of community influence. Residents exercised agency through entrepreneurship, trading, skills development, and livelihood adaptation, while participation was stronger in economic activities and program implementation than in strategic decision-making processes. The findings indicate that more equitable development requires broader access to resources, substantive participation in decision-making, and differentiated capacity-building strategies.