Hotel entrepreneurship in a turbulent environment

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the factors that stimulate entrepreneurship among small hotels in a former socialist economy which experienced a turbulent economic and social transition period. The study investigates how specific aspects such as a low level of competition and position of the entrepreneurs in society, acted as facilitating or inhibiting factors for entrepreneurship. The findings from in-depth interviews with 37 hotel entrepreneurs demonstrate that institutional deficiencies influence market orientation of the entrepreneurs and that the specific social context sets the conditions by which lifestyle-related motives will exist or not. They also underscore that investigation of entrepreneurs needs to take account of a broad range of sociocultural factors and not solely entrepreneurial agency. Inclusion of a transitional economic and social setting into the broader theoretical framework of hospitality entrepreneurial research demonstrates the value of a contextualized approach.

Philoxenia offered to tourists? A rural tourism perspective

“…Interviews were subsequently conducted with 23 owners and hosts of rural tourism organizations over a two-month period. Other relevant studies have followed a similar method, such as Skokic, Lynch and Morrison's (2016) qualitative research which included findings from in-depth interviews with 37 entrepreneurs. In this study, the informants included the owners/hosts of eight rural tourism-hosting (accommodation) venues, nine food and beverage enterprises (including traditional taverns and restaurants), three small rural tourism hotels, one endemic-animal theme park, the owner of a traditional workshop, and the host of a community municipality (event department) center (see Table 1: Informants' profiles).…”

Macro-economic Factors Influencing Tourism Entrepreneurship: The Case of Kazakhstan

“…Their structural equation modelling approach also found the rule of law, regulatory quality and business support to be significant contributors. Skokic et al (2016) note the issues hindering entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector of another former socialist economy, Croatia. These macroeconomic influences, which are critical factors for entrepreneurial growth, include a shortage of capital and, hence, the ability to secure loans as well as the financial regulatory environment which includes taxes.…”

Determinants of the Propensity for Innovation among Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Industry

“…Although entrepreneurship and innovation are central to the success and development of the tourism industry, there is scant literature on innovative entrepreneurship within the sector [22] and insufficient research on tourism innovation [23,24]. The literature on entrepreneurship in the tourism sector [25][26][27] has analysed such topics as tourism entrepreneurship [28][29][30], sustainable tourism entrepreneurship [31][32][33][34][35], innovation in restaurants [36,37] and the relationship between tourism entrepreneurship and innovation [38], but the factors that motivate the more or less innovative behaviour of the entrepreneur in tourism have not yet been studied, hence innovative behaviour remains subject to debate.…”