<![CDATA[Community-based tourism depends on how communities interpret environmental responsibility and translate local values into collective destination management. Existing studies on spirituality, culture, and environmental stewardship appear to offer few context-sensitive measures for voluntary tourism organizations. This study aimed to develop and preliminarily assess Eco-Spiritual Local Culture (ESLC) in the Banjarbakula wetland area, Indonesia. A sequential exploratory mixed-methods design was applied. Three conceptual domains (normative eco-spiritual values, relational community values, and collective environmental behavior) and 15 candidate items were formulated from a non-systematic synthesis of 18 articles and interviews with 26 purposively selected stakeholders. The items were administered in a pilot survey of 101 Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis) members, recruited through convenience sampling via Pokdarwis networks in an area comprising 86 groups, and rated on a 5-point Likert agreement scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Exploratory factor analysis used principal axis factoring on a Pearson correlation matrix in R. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure was .842, Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (χ² (105) = 472.1, p < .001), and parallel analysis indicated one factor. Thirteen items had loadings of .425 to .741, whereas ESLC2 and ESLC3 (loadings of .357 and .334) were excluded. Cronbach’s α for the 13 retained items was .866. These findings are an initial, exploratory step based on a pilot convenience sample, and the items were discussed within the research team without formal expert review or cognitive pretesting. The study contributes a locally grounded pool of candidate items and an initial one-factor pattern as a basis for further instrument development.]]>
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