Entrepreneurship education in hospitality and tourism: insights from entrepreneurs

The perceptions of entrepreneurs in businesses related to hospitality and tourism in a rural community were explored through interviews to better understand their backgrounds, experiences, and insights into education for future entrepreneurs. The data were analyzed for themes and the findings provided ideas for entrepreneurship education in hospitality and tourism and indicated that further attention could be given toward helping students to develop creativity and critical thinking skills, engage in deeper self-discovery experiences, and understand tourism more fully to help prepare them for entrepreneurial roles.     

中国旅游与酒店创业研究回顾与展望--一个基于文献和实践调查的理论框架

自20世纪末大众旅游兴起，一批旅游与酒店创业企业开始出现，如今已发展成为当前旅游企业中的领跑者。在“大众创业万众创新”的政策出台与国内外旅游需求出现新变化的环境下，更加多元化的、庞大的旅游与酒店创业企业群体正在成长。与如此蓬勃发展的旅游创业实践相比，国内外旅游创业学术研究还没有深入展开。文章在对国内外旅游与酒店创业文献回顾的基础上，发现旅游创业研究在对创业理论中的几个基础维度，包括创业环境、创业主体、创业企业、创业过程和创业绩效以及这些维度间的关系方面需要进一步深入研究。进而，在一般创业理论框架基础上，提出了一个旅游与酒店创业研究的理论框架，并结合自2007年以来对70多家旅游与酒店企业实地调研所发现的管理实践问题，提出了一个研究问题清单，为后续学者拓展旅游与酒店创业研究提供借鉴参考。     

Entrepreneurship in island contexts: A systematic review of the tourism and hospitality literature

Entrepreneurship is vital to the success of tourism and hospitality and the sector makes an important contribution to many island economies. Despite this, far too little attention has been paid by researchers to tourism and hospitality entrepreneurship in islands (THEI). This research helps to address this gap through a systematic review of the literature, conducted to provide a platform for further research and to help investigators set their research priorities. Using the Scopus database and the PRISMA technique, a total of 132 articles were included in bibliometric and thematic content analyses. Although there has been an increase in THEI research, this has tended to focus on the Asia-Pacific region. It is suggested that researchers consider redressing this geographical bias and conduct more quantitative and comparative THEI studies. Further opportunities exist to investigate the characteristics and behaviors of island entrepreneurs and the impacts of the industrial and spatial aspects of THEI.     

生计资本视角下大都市近郊区农民旅游创业的影响因素——以北京市怀柔区莲花池村为例

十九大报告明确指出，促进农村一二三产业融合发展，支持和鼓励农民就业创业，拓宽增收渠道。乡村旅游是农民创业的热点行业，也是乡村振兴的重要举措。本研究以北京市怀柔区旅游山村莲花池村为例，利用半结构式访谈及田野调研资料，基于扎根理论分析了农民旅游创业的行动逻辑及影响因素，建立了创业者特征、创业条件以及创业环境3个主范畴下农民旅游创业的影响因素理论模型，采用二元logistic回归分析方法，从是否旅游创业、是否存续的角度，讨论了农民旅游创业因素作用的动态变化。研究发现：（1）农民旅游创业决策模型分为创业者与创业条件两个维度。其中，创业条件包括家庭人力资本、物质资本和社会资本；（2）农民旅游创业存在女性化、年轻化趋向，家庭劳动能力、道路便捷性是进行创业的先决条件，家庭社交支出、创业者周围人群以及区域大环境是创业存续的促进条件；（3）农民旅游创业主导因素由个体因素转为外部社会化因素。     

Digital identity and the construction of distinctiveness by American wineries

Hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs need to balance uniqueness with conformity. Organizational identity theory proposes that an organization’s central and enduring attributes make it distinctive while helping observers categorize it. Since distinctive value creation is central to success in hospitality, this study asks how entrepreneurs in hospitality and tourism construct distinctive identity claims and how these identities help firms create distinctive value. The research context is the American winemaking industry, where entrepreneurs strive to present their wineries as destinations. The data comes from the digital identity statements of 314 members of the WineAmerica trade association. We identify seventeen identity themes and several clusters of themes that demonstrate how entrepreneurial claims shape distinctive organizational identities and contribute to distinctive value creation.     

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Alpine Tourism

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses the need for more research in the field of entrepreneurial education in tourism, using the models of Butler's destination life cycle and Porter's diamond of competitive advantages. Following is a discussion of entrepreneurship in tourism in light of these analytical frameworks. As a consequence, key qualification and skill areas for tourism entrepreneurs are derived. Finally, the authors provide an overview of the main institutions that offer education in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with a focus on entrepreneurship in tourism and establish critical needs for tourism entrepreneurship curricula and research.     

The Place Identity - Performance relationship among tourism entrepreneurs: A structural equation modelling analysis

Drawing on the literature on tourism, entrepreneurship, environmental psychology, and corporate philanthropy, this research examines how place identity, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and support for community influence the entrepreneurial performance of small and medium tourism enterprise (SMTE) owners. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling are used to analyse the responses from 301 tourism entrepreneurs operating in regional South Australia. The data supports a model suggesting that the place identity of tourism entrepreneurs has a significant, positive effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and support for the community. Findings also suggest that the place identity of tourism entrepreneurs has a positive, indirect effect on entrepreneurial performance: a tourism entrepreneur’s sense of identity with the place in which his/her business operates contributes toward entrepreneurial success.     

Motivations for entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector: A social cognitive theory perspective

A critical examination of the literature suggests that further work is needed to understand the relationship between small tourism and hospitality businesses and their external social-economic environments. In particular, the nature of personal and environmental factors influencing tourism entrepreneurship remains unknown. Focusing on one type of small business, guest houses, this study aims to examine entrepreneurs’ motivations from a dynamic perspective and explore the nature of personal and environmental factors affecting motivations for entrepreneurship. Taking a qualitative approach, four patterns of change in (or maintenance of) motivation are identified. Guided by social cognitive theory, this study finds that, among the relevant personal factors are cognitive beliefs, intrinsic needs, and demographic factors, while the environmental facilitators include changes in the tourism market, changes within the industry, and changes in setting/location. Finally, a model of small business operators’ motivations for engaging in entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector is proposed.     

Entrepreneurial bricolage,ambidexterity structure,and new venture growth: Evidence from the hospitality and tourism sector

This study aims to investigate the links between entrepreneurial bricolage, ambidexterity structure, and new venture growth in the Chinese hospitality and tourism industry. Survey data were collected from 345 entrepreneurs involved with new hospitality and tourism ventures in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of this study. The results indicate that both the combined and balanced dimensions of ambidexterity play mediating roles between entrepreneurial bricolage and new venture growth performance. By exploring the underlying mechanism of the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and new venture growth in the hospitality and tourism sector using a comprehensive theoretical model viewed through the lens of ambidexterity, the theoretical and practical implications for management are addressed, and possible directions for future research are discussed.     

The nature of ethical entrepreneurship in tourism

This article examines ethical entrepreneurship in tourism by developing a Weberian Ideal-Type Construct for an ethical tourism entrepreneur, and thereby deeper understanding of ethical tourism entrepreneurship. This research contributes to the extremely scarce literature at the academic juncture of ethics, tourism and entrepreneurship, which is significant as tourism is characterised by entrepreneurial idiosyncrasies with ethical challenges. The study is methodologically rooted in Personal Construct Theory. The qualitative findings from 15 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, who have been commended for their ethical business conduct, show that ethical entrepreneurship in tourism is based on intuitionism, care and relationships, future-orientation, humility and benevolence as key virtues. These findings challenge the more traditional views of entrepreneurial attributes, such as egoism, risk-taking and opportunism.     

Veza: An informal network of tourism entrepreneurs

This longitudinal research positioned at the juncture of tourism, entrepreneurship and transition economies studies investigates the specific informal personal network veza of tourism entrepreneurs. The study discusses the triggers of network formation and their role and utilisation through the entire business lifecycle. Findings demonstrate that veza ties have a dual role in the lifecycle both as main facilitator of entrepreneurial activity and as driver of success of entrepreneurial ventures by providing necessary resources and overcoming barriers in a turbulent institutional environment. This study contributes to tourism social sciences by providing an integrative framework to study the emergence, formation and utilisation of entrepreneurial informal networks in tourism in transition economies.     

Women as vectors of social entrepreneurship

Drawing on the literature examining women in the tourism sector and social entrepreneurship, this article critically explores a theoretical framework for analyzing the role of women owner-managers of small tourism firms (STFs) as social entrepreneurs. Through a qualitative analysis of owner-managers of STFs, the article provides evidence of how women integrate social transformational and commercial goals in their business strategies, while serving defined communities around the tourism sector. By critically examining the operationalization of these goals and community needs, the development impacts of women-owned STFs and opportunities for women social entrepreneurship in the tourism sector are identified and discussed.     

Changing role of lifestyle in tourism entrepreneurship: Case study of Naked Retreats Enterprise

Despite increased academic attention to tourism lifestyle entrepreneurship (TLE), different discourses and continuous controversy have impeded an understanding of the phenomenon. This paper seeks to provide a new and in-depth understanding through a case study. We select the case of Naked Retreats Enterprise (NRE), a well-known tourism lifestyle corporation in China that has distinctive and deviant TLE. Based on the proposed research framework and multiple-source longitudinal data, we described and interpreted the change in the lifestyle role during the tourism entrepreneurial process. The findings suggest that the role of lifestyle in NRE changed from entrepreneurial motivation to a customer product and then to enterprise capital. The change dynamic is complex and related to contextual factors. This research verifies the effectiveness of a case study and features a dynamic lens and contextual sensibility as applied to TLE research. Moreover, and more broadly, the possibility of bridging the isolated lifestyle discourse in tourism is reflected.     

The influence of demographic characteristics of hospitality alumni on entrepreneurship factors in Egypt

The purpose of this article is to study the effect of demographic characteristics of hospitality alumni on entrepreneurship factors, and determine which factors are the most important for the alumni to become entrepreneurs. A questionnaire had been developed and distributed online using Google Forms. Data were collected from 314 hospitality alumni. All the hypotheses have been supported, proving that the investigated demographic characteristics have a significant effect on entrepreneurship factors, particularly motivation, innovation and personal skills. The study’s sample was limited to alumni of faculties of tourism and hotels in governmental universities only. Policy-makers implication, practical implication, and social implication are discussed based on the results of this study. This is one of the first studies in Egypt to study the effect of demographic characteristics of hospitality alumni on entrepreneurship. Moreover, it provides significant findings that can enhance the overall status of entrepreneurship in Egypt’s hospitality industry.     

Entrepreneurial strategies and tourism industry growth

This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurship strategies and industry growth. Drawing on a longitudinal database of 481 tourism strategic planning documents, a sampling framework is used to map tourism strategies, tourism entrepreneurship strategies and tourism entrepreneurship strategic themes to tourism region by year (across a 10-year cycle), as well as to compile corresponding tourism jobs and visitation growth data. Exploratory bibliometric visuals and logistic regression reveal that regions with a tourism strategy and targeted strategies to support entrepreneurs predict tourism growth, specifically strategies for human capital development and tourism incubation programs. Future research should focus on the efficacy of tourism incubation programs for stimulating entrepreneurial activity in regional areas and as a mechanism to stimulate recovery from global crises.     

Social capital and entrepreneurial mobility in early-stage tourism development: A case from rural China

Early-stage tourism destinations often seek external capital to establish, invest and participate in tourism businesses at various levels. Entrepreneurial mobility at these destinations is thus an important phenomenon in need of further exploration both empirically and theoretically. This study uses an early-stage destination in rural China as a case to explore the experiences of inward entrepreneurial migrants in tourism development and associates their mobility, geographical and organisational, with dimensions of social capital, including institutional support, community openness and personal social networks. Primary interview data were collected from inward tourism entrepreneurs, key local community members and government officials related to tourism projects. The findings suggest that the inward entrepreneurs had unrealistic perceptions of the tourism industry before they entered. Entrepreneurial mobility in tourism development is influenced by all three social capital dimensions. The integration with the locality enhances the potential contribution of entrepreneurial mobility to tourism development.     

Importance and Measurement of Entrepreneurial Quality and Processes in Tourism

ABSTRACT

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the tourism industry in Europe. In the European Union, 94.4% of the accommodation and food sector has been classified as small businesses employing nine or less employees. In central and southern Europe for example, the average establishment size of hotels is 37 beds in 1998 (Hubertus, 2000, Weiermair and Peters, 2002). Due to the fact that small businesses are characterized by a preponderance of owner manager influence (Gagnon et al., 2000), entrepreneurial processes in tourism should be considered as one of the major fields of tourism research.

The behaviour of the owner manager moulds all factors that are relevant for the service delivery process (service quality, processes, structure, corporate culture, innovation management, etc.). The entrepreneur converts detected opportunities into marketable improvements and innovations and his perception and information processing mechanisms influence his actions.

Given the scant literature on entrepreneurial processes and decision making in tourism (but see Leghorél et al., 2000), the authors have developed an experimental design to form the conceptual foundation of enquiry into entrepreneurial processes. In particular, we postulate entrepreneurial quality to be measured not only by output, but by taking into account the structure, availability and use of information in the respective economic environment (Cooper et al., 1995, Magee, 1998).

While social sciences substantially contribute to entrepreneurial studies, their theoretical constructs are rather conceptional and sometimes difficult to link with economic reality (Swedberg, 2000). In some areas however these studies show considerable deficits. Economic theory for example neglects the psychological aspects of entrepreneurial behaviour. The psychology of entrepreneurs thus requires closer attention.

The entrepreneur's cognitive procedures have an influence on the design of the service delivery process. Psychological aspects of the entrepreneur particularly have an impact on information search and the detection of new opportunities as well as the realization of information and ideas. This paper thus investigates the market-related behaviour of entrepreneurs and the implementation of their ideas. The process of information acquisition is in the middle of attention.

The paper starts with a short overview on the role of cognition and affection in service processes. It is argued that tourism research should not be limited to analyzing entrepreneurs' personality structures but has to focus on the information handling and decision making behaviour of entrepreneurs. The second part hence provides a literature review of entrepreneurial processes, in general, and entrepreneurial behaviour, in particular, with the aim to construct a model of the entrepreneurial process (Koh, 1996, Wall, 2001). Our specific research agenda includes, as a special feature, information search and information usage behaviour of entrepreneurs in tourism as well as perception of and reaction to changes in the respective economic environment. Open research questions can be derived and will be the starting point for the main part of the paper, namely the experimental design. The aim of experimental methods is to exclude as many external variables as possible and thus to gather valid data on entrepreneurial processes and the respective independent variables which influence entrepreneurs' activities and decisions. The authors conclude with recommendations for future tourism research agendas.     

Recontextualising gender in entrepreneurial leadership

Drawing on the literature examining the nexus between gender, entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurial performance, this article critically explores a framework for analysing the role of gender in shaping entrepreneurial performance and leadership in tourism firms in a non-western context. Utilising a poststructural feminist lens that challenges normative accounts of entrepreneurial leadership practices, a qualitative analysis of interview data from tourism entrepreneurs in Ghana and Nigeria provides evidence of how entrepreneurial performances and leadership are gendered, fluid and constantly being negotiated. The article extends current discussions within tourism entrepreneurship to engage more meaningfully with gender, thereby assisting in deconstructing homogenous, fixed conceptualisation of entrepreneurial leadership - often evident within the broader leadership and entrepreneurship literature dominated by Anglo-Western approaches.     

Challenging the principles of ecotourism: insights from entrepreneurs on environmental and economic sustainability in Langkawi,Malaysia

Ecotourism is a normative concept defined and driven by generalized principles concerning local livelihoods and conservation of natural and cultural environments. Supply-side studies considering the applicability of these principles in practice are limited. In particular, an understanding of how entrepreneurialism shapes ecotourism is largely absent from the literature. We investigate the intersection of entrepreneurialism, ecotourism, and governance using a case study of actors at the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (KKGP) in Langkawi, Malaysia, which has seen a rapid rise in entrepreneurial “ecotourism” activities. However, levels of competition between actors, their perceptions of ecotourism, and the challenges and tensions they face are unknown. To address this, a “hierarchy of entrepreneurship” is presented, grouping actors into three tiers: governing institutions, tour companies, and independent entrepreneurs, from whom qualitative data are elicited. Opinions and contestations between and among tiers are elucidated around themes including how understandings of ecotourism influence entrepreneurial strategies, and how challenges and tensions may inhibit the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of ecotourism at KKGP. The study demonstrates that the normative dogma guiding how ecotourism should be practised must be balanced against the diverse understandings, motivations, and capacities of ecotourism entrepreneurs on the ground and the effectiveness of governance systems.     

Effects of entrepreneur passion on persuasion: Study of venture capitalist funding decisions toward hospitality and tourism business plan presentation

This study investigates the effects of entrepreneurs' passion on persuasion by focusing on venture capitalist funding decisions toward hospitality and tourism business plan presentation. To this end, we conducted two studies. In study 1, we collected evidence from 13 hospitality and tourism start-up financing projects broadcasted on China Central Television Channel 2 by utilizing a Linguistic csQCA. In study 2, we conducted an experimental analysis of entrepreneur passion and venture capitalists'(VCs') funding decisions via the causality test of 277 participants. Our findings indicate that both cognitive and affective passion have significantly positive effects on VCs' funding decisions and that VCs' involvement moderates the effects of cognitive passion and affective passion on VCs' funding decisions. The established integrative model has important implications for research on entrepreneur passion and investment decisions in entrepreneurial pitches from an involvement perspective, and the impact of entrepreneur passion on persuasion in hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship.