The Moderating Effect of Tourism Competitiveness on the Impact of Gender Equality Level on Residents’ Happiness

This study analyzes the individual effect of gender equality on happiness level. Also, this study analyzes the moderating effect of tourism competitiveness on the relationship between gender equality and happiness level. The purpose of this study is to emphasize the importance of gender equality on the residents’ happiness and the role of tourism competitiveness with gender environment on enhancing happiness, considering industrial structure of tourism with higher women participation as labor force. To achieve the purpose of the study, two multiple regression models were used to analyze 583 observations from 133 countries from 2013 to 2021. The multiple regression model used the happiness index from World Happiness Report as dependent variable, the gender gap index from Global Gender Gap Report as independent variable, and tourism competitiveness index from Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report as moderating variable. National income, higher education, and unemployment were considered as control variables to control possible effects on happiness level. The results found that gender equality shows significantly positive effect on happiness level individually. Furthermore, tourism competitiveness moderates the relationship between gender equality and happiness level positively. Therefore, this study suggests that the residents’ happiness can be enhanced by simultaneously developing multi-dimensional environments of gender equality and competitive tourism-oriented capabilities.