Search Results (17)

This study explores sustainable rural tourism entrepreneurship within the Urlaub am Bauernhof (UaB) cooperative network in Austria, offering an integrated model that unites financial, social, environmental, institutional, and marketing dimensions. Employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) on data from 393 farm-based accommodation stakeholders, this research identifies sustainable entrepreneurship as comprising six interconnected dimensions: Economic Resilience and Diversification, Sociocultural Integration, Environmental and Regional Commitment, Market Visibility and Strategic Communication, Quality Assurance and Institutional Support, and Perceived Value and Branding. This multidimensional and hierarchically structured framework reflects the complex yet coherent nature of sustainability-driven entrepreneurship in cooperative tourism networks. The findings confirm the multidimensional nature of sustainable entrepreneurship and support the hypothesized structural relationships. The UaB network is presented as a transferable model that demonstrates how cooperative frameworks can enhance sustainability, regional identity, and rural revitalization, offering valuable insights and practical guidance for rural regions in the Western Balkans, where economic challenges, depopulation, and underdeveloped tourism infrastructure prevail. By illustrating a successful cooperative approach rooted in sustainability and regional identity, this study contributes to policy-making aimed at fostering resilient, culturally rich, and environmentally responsible rural tourism entrepreneurship in transitioning contexts. Full article

This research aims to determine the utilization levels of local products and the challenges and opportunities of creating a recognizable food-centered cultural identity based on collaborative networks developed between agriculture and tourism. This has the potential to strengthen collaborative entrepreneurship. It uniquely contributes to the existing literature by exploring the connections between agri-food and tourism, while proposing strategies to maximize business opportunities centered on food culture. Descriptive and inferential statistics are conducted based on primary data collected by distributing a questionnaire to 59 public and private organizations in the Peloponnese region in Greece, which has significant agricultural production but limited tourist flows. The results indicate a lack of collective action and business recognition of the value of regional food culture among participants. The human resources employed in tourism lack the skills to highlight traditional food heritage. The presence of structural and operational barriers undermines efforts to facilitate communication, manage suppliers, and enhance the visibility of products designated with Geographical Indications. This paper offers preliminary results; however, extensive future studies are needed to validate the findings fully. The study highlights key implications: Improved communication between stakeholders could enhance the management of the local food network. Agri-food and tourism businesses can develop educational programs and food-focused tourism packages that promote social cohesion and preserve cultural heritage. Full article

This research examines how sustainability driven innovation and performance factors influence Nepali tourism-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating with limited resources. It investigates the relationships between entrepreneurial leadership (EL), network orientation (NO), and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) by integrating the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Strategic Fit Theory. The study positions strategic flexibility (SF) as a moderator between EL and NO in shaping startup performance (SP), with technological innovation capabilities (TIC) acting as a mediator. EO plays a critical role in startup success, helping businesses overcome resource constraints and adopt sustainable practices such as green technologies and energy-saving methods. Through TIC, SMEs convert strategic orientations into competitive advantages, enabling them to address environmental and social sustainability challenges. In Nepal’s fragmented tourism sector, NO and EL do not directly affect organizational performance. However, the findings confirm that SF’s adaptive capability bridges EL and SP, underscoring adaptability as a key driver of sustainable growth. The research provides valuable insights into tourism and entrepreneurship in resource-scarce settings, highlighting adaptive strategies and technological advancement as critical for resilience and long-term sustainability. To explain how tourism SMEs in resource-constrained contexts, such as Nepal, achieve sustainable growth, the study integrates the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Strategic Fit Theory. The findings indicate that strategic flexibility (SF) and technological innovation capabilities (TIC) play significant mediating and moderating roles in linking entrepreneurial strategies to performance within fragile ecosystems. While previous research has primarily focused on advanced economies, this study demonstrates how SF and TIC mediate entrepreneurial strategies in fragile environments, offering practical implications for sustainable development in emerging markets. Full article

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of entrepreneurship education on the social entrepreneurial intentions of undergraduate tourism students at a Greek university. Using a qualitative diary-based research tool, the study examined how different educational practices shape students’ learning experiences, emotional involvement, and intentions to become social entrepreneurs. In total, 64 participants voluntarily decided to participate in the diary research, and they recorded their views on a weekly basis regarding their experience of and feelings on a variety of educational activities. The findings indicate that experiential and team-based methods greatly improved students’ knowledge of and enthusiasm for social entrepreneurship. Interactive videos of real-life examples boosted their sensitivity and critical thinking, while team activities such as the creation of business canvases and idea development and presentation enhanced their collaboration and practical application of concepts. Emotional engagement through team collaboration and the creation of business canvases on their personal entrepreneurial ideas were identified as major factors in boosting social entrepreneurial intention. This study emphasizes the significant impact of entrepreneurship education on promoting social entrepreneurial mindsets among tourism students, offering practical implications for designing impactful educational strategies in higher education and integrating experiential learning methods into entrepreneurship curricula. Full article

This study analyzed the effects of insect-based diets on rural leisure activities, tourism, and consumption. A questionnaire survey was conducted, with 900 valid samples being obtained. The collected data were then analyzed through descriptive statistical analysis, a t-test, and a Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient test by using the SPSS 26.0 statistical software. Subsequently, semistructured interviews were conducted to collect expert and public opinions on the analysis results. Finally, literature findings and the collected questionnaire and interview data were reviewed through multivariate validation analysis. According to the results, the public agrees that entomophagy culture and insect cuisine can enhance leisure and tourism appeal. Entomophagy culture can also stimulate rural economic, social, and environmental development as well as rural consumption. However, modern public infrastructure and medical facilities are still required to increase tourism accessibility. Local governments must improve public sanitation, moral standards, and the overall quality of tourism and living environments. They must also attract corporate investment and cultivate entrepreneurship among residents to develop new insect-based tourism and leisure activities, food, and products. These measures can enhance the influence of insects on the sustainable development of leisure activities, tourism, and economies in rural regions. Full article

As creative tourism consolidates both as an autonomous research area and a valid sustainable form of tourism based on learning, active participation, co-creation, creative self-expression, and local community engagement, its economic models have evolved from simple creative activities to complex territorial and technological-based networks, boosting the entrepreneurship of creative communities in tourism. Seen as a means of territorial development strategy through tourism, creative networks can stem from private partnerships, the public sector, the local community, or third sector organisations. Focusing on a case study approach, this research adopts a multidimensional framework with the goal of analysing the benefits of creative tourism towards a creative tourism network. Using a quantitative approach through Likert scale statements of five items, this research aimed to study the creative supply and demand linked to a creative tourism network. Based on the principles and benefits of creative tourism and the goals of the creative network, the following dimensions were analysed: job creation; production and commerce of creative products; safeguarding of tangible and intangible heritage; development of social capital between network agents; creative and innovative images of the region; the active role of the local community in the network; and the consumption profile of the creative tourist through the network. The main conclusions of the study point to the network boosting local job creation and preserving local traditions but struggling to expand sales and increase tourist stays. While it enhances the region’s image, there is a need for stronger collaboration and community engagement. Full article

This study unpacked the key sustainability drivers for successful social enterprises or community-based tourism enterprises (CBTEs), based on a study of a Thailand’s Best Responsible Tourism award-winner at Sapphaya Community in Chai Nat Province. Using a grounded-theory qualitative case study, our key research objective is to gain insights into how community and enterprise leaders of a national award-winning CBTE in Thailand can generate value by revalorizing its cultural heritage and local assets to achieve sustainable community-based tourism. The research also explores how the CBTE can increase local engagement with multi-stakeholders. Our findings indicated two key sustainability drivers, including leadership and local engagement, for sustainable social enterprises. An emergent model of leadership and local engagement in driving the sustainability of CBTEs is proposed. It implies an importance of CBTE leadership as a critical factor that helps preserve community endowments (e.g., historical sites and cultural heritage) as well as develops social capital. The local engagement with a good sense of ownership and community participation is the key enabler toward sustainable tourism. The results also suggest how-to processes in cultivating sustainable social enterprises in practice and toward policy implications. Full article

In Rupea area, in central Romania, Romanians, Saxons, Magyars and Roma people live. Their traditional ethnic cuisines represent intangible cultural heritage resources. In a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with respondents from all four ethnicities, we identified the dishes, spices and tastes considered representative by them through thematic analysis. We compared ethnic gastronomic characteristics using doublets of gustemes, based on Claude Lévi-Strauss’ model, and highlighted the touristic potential of serving the soups of all ethnic groups as a common touristic package. The comparison highlighted similarities due to the dependence of all locals on indigenous food resources, but also differences due to the different propensity to capitalize on spontaneous flora or to adopt Austro-Hungarian influences. The soups, with their similarities and differences, are gastronomic reflections of the historical status and the long coexistence of the ethnic groups in Transylvania. The touristic capitalization of soups as an intangible cultural heritage resource can become a source of income for local people, contributing to the strengthening of local identity and the sustainable development of the area. It is supported by social entrepreneurship tourism and the consolidation of local networks of producers. In addition, ethnic soups can also be used as a quick and effective lunch option for assisted elderly people, students or busy employees. Full article

Although in many cases community-based tourism does not take place within the formal parameters of the company, your practices encompass responsible tourism activities that allow the active participation of the community, from an intercultural perspective, adequate management of the natural and cultural heritage, based on a principle of equity and the distribution of local benefits. The aim of this research was to understand the relationship between the actions and dimensions of social responsibility carried out in communities that practice community-based tourism, with the aim of establishing appropriate indicators of organisation and sustainable local development. However, no studies linking community-based tourism and social responsibility were found in the literature, as the latter was always related to formal organisations. In order to achieve this objective, a interview was carried out from an exploratory qualitative perspective. The data analysed made it possible to understand the level of SR of the actors in rural communities and its close relationship with the social responsibility actions carried out in the practice of community-based tourism. Indicators of local organisation and development that influence the sustainability of rural communities as tourist destinations were also detected. Full article

Făgăraș Land (Romania) is a very old administrative formation with its own identity, preserved from the beginning of the Middle Ages. The mapping of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) highlighted the groups of caroling lads as the main strategic heritage resource, but also the existence of many other ICH resources that can be exploited towards the sustainable development of the area. These include local soups, an ICH gastronomic resource that can help build the area’s tourism brand. All resources, together with the peculiarities of the local medieval history, the memory of the anti-communist resistance in the Făgăraș Mountains and the religious pilgrimage to the local Orthodox monasteries, support the configuration of Făgăraș Land as a multidimensional associative cultural landscape. The content analysis of the information on ICH available on the official websites of the administrative territorial units (ATUs), correlated with the data from the interviews with local leaders, highlighted the types of local narratives regarding the capitalization of cultural resources and the openness to culture-centered community-based development, namely glocal, dynamic local and static local visions. The unitary and integrated approach of tourist resources, tourism social entrepreneurship, support from the local commons and a better management of the local cultural potential are ways to capitalize on belonging to the Făgăraș Land cultural landscape, towards sustainable community development of the area. Full article

Current studies on how a sustainability leadership theory can influence the practice of SMEs, such as a context of community-based social enterprises, is still lacking, with scanty research to date. These small enterprises in the bottom of the pyramid settings are indeed the important socio-economic backbone of many nations around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has significantly hit all sectors and has adversely impacted them. Our study aims to broaden the limited scholarly knowledge and advance the developing SL theory in this realm. Hence, our critical research inquiries address: (1) What are the essential sustainable leadership practices and sustainability competencies for sustainability and resilience in a CBSE context? (2) How can a CBSE business apply the theoretical frameworks in practice to survive and thrive for sustainable futures, especially during the COVID-19 era? This study employs an integrative theoretical examination of sustainable leadership frameworks and sustainability leadership competencies to investigate the sustainable business practices in the SME sector, particularly in a community-based social enterprise context. Our business case centers on a green, social enterprise, which is an award-winner of Best Responsible Tourism and is located in a small coastal fishing village of Thailand. Using a case study research method, the multi-data collection methods include in-depth interviews and focus groups with multiple stakeholders. Evidence was found to comply with six-category sustainable leadership practices and five essential sustainability leadership competencies to varying degrees. The findings suggest that sustainable leaders and entrepreneurs should develop and integrate the value-based practices and competencies (i.e., strategic, systems thinking, interpersonal, anticipatory, ethical competencies) in business. The critical sustainable practices include enabling human capital with care for stakeholders, fostering ethical values and norms via altruism, cultivating social capital through social innovation, and supporting pro-environmental behavior and social responsibility to achieve inclusive growth, sustainability and resilience. The research results advance the theoretical development of the interconnected fields of sustainability leadership and sustainable entrepreneurship. An alternative sustainable business model for sustainability and resilience is also proposed. Overall, the insightful findings can provide practical advice and beneficial policy implications for sustainable futures. Full article

Montesinho Natural Park is one of the largest Portuguese natural protected areas, presenting good biodiversity and a cultural heritage with a strong connection to the territory and its people. It constitutes a low-density territory, characterized by a human and social landscape based on community practices, such as joint aid and the community use of goods and means of agricultural production, which have contributed to the construction of the “transmontana” identity and to the richness of the habitats. The promotion of the sustainable development of this low-density rural region demands the understanding of its specificities and an appropriate approach to grasp its challenges and develop effective management tools, allowing to preserve and exploit the region’s potential from various perspectives. The purpose of this article is to develop an analytical model using a literature review and a survey of the region’s specificities. This analytical model intends to provide the basis for designing and assessing sustainable development solutions, increasing local entrepreneurship and community empowerment through regional dynamism, with a focus on environment and heritage preservation, universal tourism accessibility, collective memory and endogenous product development. The suggested model adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and stresses that, in order to ensure that the new initiatives will contribute to the territory’s sustainable development, they should be scrutinized by asking four main questions: Is the initiative promoting the rural development of the territory through the creation of synergies between agroforestry and tourism activities? Is the initiative promoting an inclusive and sustainable tourism that is based on the territory’s resources? Are heritage and collective memory being preserved and valued through the initiative? Is the initiative promoting the empowerment of local communities? Full article

Ibiza is very dependent on the tourism sector and is a highly recognized international brand. However, before the tourist boom, the situation was different, since it was an economically underdeveloped and almost unknown island. In the 1950s, an eminently endogenous tourism development began thanks to local entrepreneurship, usually workers and modest traders who dared to invest in the new sector. The development was not homogeneous throughout the island, with Sant Antoni de Portmany being the pioneer town in the post-Spanish Civil War recovery (1939–1959), the example from which the rest of the island learned and the starting point of the current image of Ibiza. This article seeks to delve into the social context of Sant Antoni in its tourist beginnings, especially in the mentality and way of being of the workers and businessmen of that time. It is an economic history paper that analyzes bibliography and testimonies of that time to provide a vision of what society, tourism and pioneering entrepreneurs were like. The peculiarities of the society, workers and entrepreneurs from the beginnings of the tourism sector have generated many of the positive and negative elements of current society and tourism in Ibiza, highlighting the survival of a mentality, way of doing and vital approach based on networking, irregularities and improvisation. Full article

In times of uncertainty, new ideas, concepts and business solutions are born. The crisis caused by the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a wide impact on the tourism sector, from small-scale to multinational companies. Based on an explanatory case study of a tourist guides venture, the paper seeks evidence on how conditions such as social capital, the use of information technologies and the application of new organizational solutions can support entrepreneurship at times of crisis. The paper provides insight into the functioning of Guides without Borders—a venture bringing together over 50 tourist guides. The research is based on the case study methodology supported by semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Findings indicate that despite harsh times, social ties, trust and technology can leverage an organization. The research also confirms that the application of an innovative approach to the organizational structure and processes (in accordance with the concept of teal organizations) is beneficial at times of crisis. Thus, the organizational approach adapted by the studied organization can serve as an example for future tourist guides and other professionals’ undertakings in uncertain times. Full article

The literature emphasizes that tourism social entrepreneurs play an important role in the adoption of sustainable strategies to achieve social, environmental, and community development. Yet, there is limited research that aims to understand the relationship between local communities and tourism social entrepreneurship empirically. Building around social exchange theory and Weber’s theory of substantive and formal rationality, this study addresses the following research question: how do local communities perceive the role of tourism social entrepreneurship (TSE) in the development of ecotourism destinations? A total of 362 community employees of two ecotourism organizations in India participated in the survey. Analytically, this study validated the measurement model and tested hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings reveal that the economic benefits and environmental sustainability are the main influencing factors that are appreciated by the communities. However, we found variance in the community perceptions with regard to several factors being studied in the two TSEs we studied. This study recommends that in order to contribute to the development of ecotourism and local communities there is an urge to build strong ties among different stakeholders at the local level. Full article