When entrepreneurs become custodians: Categories’ place-based identity and collective coping response in extreme contexts

Abstract

We conducted a qualitative study of the category of independent tourism entrepreneurs in the politically contested territory of Northern Cyprus to understand how a collective of entrepreneurs whose shared identity is deeply rooted in place perceives and copes with threats arising in an extreme context. Northern Cyprus is an extreme context as it suffers from enduring political and socio-cultural challenges. Our findings reveal that the entrepreneurs’ collective identity is rooted in a deep-seated attachment to local family, culture, and region. This place-based collective identity drives not only their entrepreneurial engagement, but also their explicit concern for cultural suppression and dilution as a core identity threat and commons problem within the extreme context. Our findings show how the place-based entrepreneurs, in coping with this threat, become custodians of local culture as they engage in a set of collective custodial activities aimed at preserving the local cultural heritage. Our study holds important contributions for research on categories and place, custodianship, and entrepreneurship in extreme contexts.

Putting categories in their place: A research agenda for theorizing place in category research

“…If geographic communities are a mobilizing platform, they also convey a sense of belonging rooted in collective identities, as shown in Haşim and Soppe’s (2022) study. In their case, tourism entrepreneurs in Northern Cyprus cope with threats to the culture of that place by taking upon a custodian role that both promotes and protects the place they are bound and attached to.…”

“…Does place unify when there is a dominant, shared identity but create variance when identities diverge? Both Northern Cyprus (Haşim and Soppe, 2022) and Quebec (Boghossian and David, 2021) could be said to have a dominant identity that is under threat, prompting categorical action. In a place where identities are fragmented this may be less likely to occur.…”

“…While the effects of place on categories via collective action has received some attention (Mechanisms A in Figure 1), we know much less about how the collective action of the members of a category affect place (Mechanisms B in Figure 1). Haşim and Soppe (2022) point to custodianship of place, but collective action among category members may work in the opposite direction, to change important elements of place. How might the composition of a category affect the likelihood, form, and effectiveness of collective action aimed at changing aspects of a place?…”

“…As the authors explain, the category of small, independent hotels is place-based in a way that large chain hotels are not. Characterizing Northern Cyprus as an "extreme case," Haşim and Soppe (2022) leverage their rich data to show how the attachment category members have for place leads them to "become custodians of local culture and traditions as they collectively mobilize a set of custodial activities aimed at conveying and maintaining the local cultural heritage. "…”

“…In their article “When entrepreneurs become custodians: Place-based identity and collective coping responses in extreme contexts,” Kemal Haşim and Birthe Soppe (2022) explore how entrepreneurs who share a collective identity rooted in a deep-seated attachment to place cope with threats to this place. They examine the collective action of a group of independent hoteliers in the politically contested territory of Northern Cyprus, a place that faces cultural suppression.…”