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.     

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.     

Sustainability approaches and nature tourism development

This article shows how combinations of different sustainability approaches of tourism entrepreneurs and other actors restrict nature tourism development in a nature park context. Drawing on the literature on nature tourism and sustainable entrepreneurship and a case study of a Danish nature park, we show how different actors' sustainability orientations cannot clearly be assigned specific theoretical sustainability approaches. Instead, they express different degrees of focus on various parameters of sustainability, thereby shaping the actors' ‘sustainability DNA’. The analysis shows how different DNAs are incommensurable and that this limits nature tourism development. The incommensurability arises from underlying ontological beliefs about sustainability, including the reasons for which sustainability is included in organisational strategies. We suggest a root-cause model to help solve conflicts arising from the incommensurability.     

A theoretical framework for sustaining culture: Culturally sustainable entrepreneurship

While the three phenomena—culture, sustainability, and entrepreneurship—have been discussed separately, or paired in the tourism literature, they have rarely been studied together. This paper proposes culturally sustainable entrepreneurship as a new, theoretical framework for insight and advocacy in indigenous and non-indigenous tourism contexts. Culturally sustainable entrepreneurship encourages adapting entrepreneurial models that sustain and enhance the values and traditions of a community for its self-defined benefits, rather than imposing economic entrepreneurial models that may change conditions within a community. Entrepreneurial strategies in the mainstream proceed upon values that may diverge sharply from those of non-mainstream cultures. Culturally sustainable entrepreneurship promotes sustainable empowerment through owned-decision making for marginalized populations. Living cultures are presented as particular application for culturally sustainable entrepreneurship.     

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.     

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.     

Collective tourism social entrepreneurship: A means for community mobilization and social transformation

Communities depicted by lack of opportunities for development often look to tourism initiatives as a means to combine economic growth and community building. Such activity highlights a nexus between tourism, social entrepreneurship and community development. This nexus has been investigated somewhat in tourism literature, but lacks empirical backing, as well as theoretical refinement. We argue that a collective perspective on social entrepreneurship in the tourism context is needed, and introduce a concept and framework for ‘Collective Tourism Social Entrepreneurship’. We investigate how these principles are utilized by local communities to combat depopulation and deterioration in two Danish destinations, and find that the proposed process can create (social) value even if the expected result is never reached.     

Female empowerment and tourism: a focus on businesses in a Fijian village

Women’s participation in business is gaining momentum amongst communities in the South Pacific, yet very few studies have explored this area in the context of tourism in Fiji. Based on ethnographic research, this study focuses on the gender dimension of community-based tourism development in Vatuolalai village, along with the Coral Coast of Fiji. In particular, this study seeks to extend our understanding of the links between female empowerment, tourism and business in this indigenous Fijian community. The paper discusses how indigenous Fijian women, through their involvement in tourism, have adapted to becoming successful business operators and influential drivers of socio-political change affecting established gender relations within an indigenous Fijian setting. Therefore, the current study argues that through tourism-based entrepreneurship, local women have attained not only economic but also psychological, social and political empowerment. Given the literature, this is not a mainstream result, particularly in patriarchal and embedded indigenous communities.     

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.     

Locating Muslimah in the travel and tourism research

Female Muslims have commonly been stereotyped as a subordinate group. However, their tourism participations have evolved through time that recently, it became a niche tourism segment of its own. Through reviewing existing literature, this study provides a comprehensive analysis and interpretation on the phenomenon of female Muslim travel/tourism. Common research domains were: ‘Choice of travel companion(s)’, ‘Issue of gender subordination’, ‘Gendered identity and religious stereotypes’ and ‘Factors facilitating travel’. This study asserted that female Muslims' perceptions and experiences of travel/tourism are majorly impacted by their religious and gendered identities. The literature appraisal also demonstrated scholarship progressions by analyzing and discussing research approaches taken by existing studies. Ultimately, it drew insights on research gaps and future research directions.     

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.     

The intention to quit entrepreneurship in tourism SMEs: The effect of work addiction

Entrepreneurship is one of the fundamental tools in the generation of economic activity and labor in the tourism industry, with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) playing a relevant role in the sector. Academic studies on entrepreneurship have focused more on the keys to entrepreneurial success, rather than on the factors leading to its abandonment. In the tourism sector, the lack of research on this matter is even more significant. In response to this gap in literature, this article aims to be a first approach to the study of work addiction as an antecedent of entrepreneurial abandonment. The main contribution of this study confirms the relationship between the different constructs that relate work addiction to entrepreneurship withdrawal. Thus, hypotheses relating driveness and lack of work enjoyment to the intention to quit entrepreneurship are supported. The hypothesis relating work involvement with the intention to quit is not supported, however. A number of important implications derive from this study. Among them, our results demonstrate that the relationship between workaholism and the intention to quit entrepreneurship in the tourist SME sector is supported, and that work enjoyment can act as a mediator strengthening the effect of the driveness to work on the intention to quit.     

Social value creation through tourism enterprise

Despite the role of social entrepreneurship to create social value and transformation, little is still known about how social value can be generated. Drawing upon the service dominant logic and entrepreneurship literature, the paper aims to identify the resource needs of a tourism social enterprise and evaluate the means by which these resources are mobilised. Twenty seven face-to-face interviews were conducted with key informants in a developing country case study context. The key resources required for social value creation in tourism are natural; financial; political and institutional and human capital. These resources enable the generation of social value at three levels with interlocking value creation processes: at an individual stakeholder level; at the meso level and at the macro-level. Strategies associated with resource mobilisation are stakeholder involvement and collaboration; and relationship development and local community empowerment. A shared understanding of the role of tourism and cultural values is critical.     

Gender and sustainable tourism: reflections on theory and practice

Despite the rich and diverse tradition of research on the gender dimensions of tourism, such studies have had little impact on transforming unequal gendered power relations in the sector itself. In this paper, we are concerned with why this is the case and what steps might be taken to redress this situation. The paper argues that the challenges inherent in gender mainstreaming processes within public policies worldwide are replicated and – to some extent – exacerbated in the tourism sector. We contend that, despite its substantive insight into the sector, the impact of such literature has been minimal. We further suggest that this is, in part, due to the sustainable tourism paradigm's resistance to incorporating gender equality and gender analysis as core principles. In order to develop these arguments, we reflect on our experiences as specialist consultants in gender and sustainable tourism, drawing out some of the key tensions of integrating gender into sustainable tourism projects. In conclusion, we argue that there is substantive work to be done for gender to be integrated into the theory and practice of sustainable tourism, offering recommendations as to how this process might be improved.     

A review of entrepreneurship research published in the hospitality and tourism management journals

This research evaluates the entrepreneurship research in field of the Hospitality and Tourism Management to obtain a better understanding of its progress and potential. The study examines entrepreneurship articles published in seven leading hospitality and tourism management journals from 1986 to 2006. Findings indicate that Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management are the top three journals that publish entrepreneurship research. However, the amount of entrepreneurship research in the leading hospitality and tourism management journals appears less than expected. Publication of empirical work has not increased over time over the past 21 years, and theoretical work remains at a consistently low level. Even for empirical studies, there is a lack of methodological sophistication of analytical and statistical tools. The results suggest a concern that entrepreneurship research remains under studied; therefore, more theoretical work is needed to map a course of study and to develop a framework unique to the entrepreneurship domain of hospitality and tourism research. The good news is that there are abundant opportunities for scholars in hospitality and tourism management to explore the field of entrepreneurship as a viable research paradigm.     

Informal microfinance institutions and development-led tourism entrepreneurship

This paper explores how informal microfinance institutions (IMFIs) support development-led tourism entrepreneurship through providing microcredit and development opportunities to small tourism firms (STFs), as well as undertaking communitarian projects and outreach activities that promote the business activities of STFs. Drawing on resilience and social capital as central concepts, the paper argues that the form of collective action found in IMFIs can be examined to understand their impact on development-led tourism entrepreneurship. Using Cameroon as a case study important policy challenges in destinations where regulatory constrains cause many STFs to become dependent on IMFIs as opposed to formal (regulated) financial institutions in development-led tourism are highlighted.     

The interface between hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship,integration and well-being: A study of refugee entrepreneurs

Previous hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship research has emphasized the economic and financial outcomes of entrepreneurship whilst paying less attention to social outcomes. Specifically, minimal academic attention, both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and hospitality and tourism scholarship, has been paid to entrepreneurship as a means to facilitate the integration of refugees and enhance their well-being. To address this gap, this study aims to showcase how entrepreneurial activities in the hospitality and tourism industry contribute to the integration and subjective well-being of entrepreneurs. Drawing on data collected through 38 semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Turkey and the UK, the findings reveal that several factors influence the contribution of entrepreneurial activities to the integration of entrepreneurs and their families within the host society. Entrepreneurial activities also appear to have positive spillover effects on subjective well-being. This paper offers new insights into the social outcomes of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship by conceptualizing and empirically supporting the relationship between hospitality entrepreneurship, integration and well-being.     

The entrepreneurship research in hospitality and tourism

The purpose of this study is to review entrepreneurship research in hospitality and tourism (H&T), draw a map of the evolving domain, and propose a framework for future research. The entrepreneurship literature is categorized by identifying the antecedents and consequences in the context of H&T. The study findings suggest that entrepreneurship research subjects in H&T are extended from developed countries to emerging economies. The research level begins at the meso level (firms) and gradually develops to the micro level (individual entrepreneurs) and macro level (environment). Entrepreneurship in H&T is currently rich in practice but poor in theoretical development. This study is one of the few to critically review entrepreneurship research in H&T. This paper identifies a range of research issues in H&T entrepreneurship.     

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.     

Three decades of tourism scholarship: Gender,collaboration and research methods

Despite ongoing problems with gender inequalities in tourism, little is known about gender differences in first and solo authorships, collaboration, and choice of research approaches. This study analyzes these academic practices using 4973 articles (11,033 authors) in three major tourism journals from 1990 to 2017. The results show evidence of gender homophilic collaboration behaviors. Gender heterogeneous co-authorships are becoming pervasive and seem to be driven by female first authors. Solo female researchers strongly associate with qualitative research. While male-only teams have the lowest likelihood of using qualitative research, the situation is more complex for gender heterogeneous teams. Practical suggestions derived from the findings for the gender equality agenda in tourism are discussed to promote more gender-diverse collaborations and female-led research.