Hotel entrepreneurship in a turbulent environment

Skokic, Vlatka; Lynch, Paul; Morrison, Alison

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 socio-cultural 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.

Citation

Skokic, V., Lynch, P., & Morrison, A. (2016). Hotel entrepreneurship in a turbulent environment. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.11.008

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 23, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Dec 17, 2015
• Publication Date: 2016-02
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 18, 2017
• Journal: International Journal of Hospitality Management
• Print ISSN: 0278-4319
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-4693
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Pages: 1-11
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.11.008
• Keywords: Hotel entrepreneurs; Lifestyle orientation; Transition economies; Croatia
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/9423
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.11.008