- Title
- Who wants to be an eco-entrepreneur? Identifying entrepreneurial types and practices in ecotourism businesses
- Creator
- Swan, Christopher; Morgan, Damian
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/158753
- Identifier
- vital:11862
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1177/1465750316648580
- Identifier
- ISSN:1465-7503
- Abstract
- Entrepreneurs have been characterized according to recognizable types according to attendant concerns and motivations. Within the small business sector of ecotourism, entrepreneurs must balance competing goals pertaining to business objectives, lifestyle aspirations and, most importantly, sustainable environmental practices. This study reports how ecotourism eco-entrepreneurs perceive and manage these goals, consistent with concerns and motivations, based on semi-structured interviews of small business operators. The findings show that eco-entrepreneurs’ social and sustainable characteristics are critical to overcome financially challenging and complex operating environments whilst also delivering a desired lifestyle. As a business strategy, eco-entrepreneurs were found to deliberately maintain small, low-impact ecotourism operations consistent with identified eco- values. Looking forward, eco-entrepreneurs forecast imminent threats to the ecotourism sector through uncontrolled development and mass-tourism business access to sensitive natural areas. If unresolved, this process will replace eco-entrepreneurs in small ecotourism operators with traditional profit-oriented entrepreneurs delivering undifferentiated and high-impact nature-based tourism experiences.
- Publisher
- Sage
- Relation
- The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Vol. 17, no. 2 (2016), p. 120-132
- Rights
- Copyright © The Author(s) 2016
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- 1503 Business and Management; Business objectives; Ecotourism; Entrepreneurship; Motivation
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