Sustainably changing small traders' harassment behaviors – A theoretical framework

•A model for sustainably reducing small traders' harassment behaviors was proposed.•The framework was based on established theories of behavior modification.•The framework was used to analyze Jamaica's visitor harassment mitigation program.•Jamaica's program had clear learning gaps which compromised its long-term success.

The goal of the paper was to put forward a theoretical model for sustainably changing small traders' harassment behaviors and to apply it to a destination that has been grappling with the problem for decades. One hundred and eighty-one newspaper articles, 37 annual tourism reports, and 20 other government documents were reviewed to determine Jamaica's visitor harassment mitigation initiatives and activities from 1957 to 2013. Also, seven leaders from 14 of the island's craft markets were interviewed to determine the effects of these programs on their constituents' harassment behaviors. The archives and interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The case analysis revealed that while Jamaica had initiatives likely to discourage their small independent traders' engagement in harassment behaviors, the initiatives developed to strengthen their knowledge of the desired less aggressive trading behaviors had deficiencies likely to limit their engagement in these behaviors. The framework had implicationsfor how measures to curtail visitor harassment are developed and tested.