The interface between hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship, integration and well-being: A study of refugee entrepreneurs

Highlights

• Interviews with refugees venturing into the hospitality industry were conducted.

• The role of entrepreneurship in enhancing integration and wellbeing is discussed.

• Entrepreneurial activities have positive spill over effects on subjective wellbeing.

Abstract

Previous hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship research has emphasized the economic and financial outcomes of entrepreneurship whilst paying less attention to social outcomes. Specifically, minimal academic attention, both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and hospitality and tourism scholarship, has been paid to entrepreneurship as a means to facilitate the integration of refugees and enhance their well-being. To address this gap, this study aims to showcase how entrepreneurial activities in the hospitality and tourism industry contribute to the integration and subjective well-being of entrepreneurs. Drawing on data collected through 38 semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Turkey and the UK, the findings reveal that several factors influence the contribution of entrepreneurial activities to the integration of entrepreneurs and their families within the host society. Entrepreneurial activities also appear to have positive spillover effects on subjective well-being. This paper offers new insights into the social outcomes of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship by conceptualizing and empirically supporting the relationship between hospitality entrepreneurship, integration and well-being.

Introduction

Entrepreneurship promotes innovation, creates employment opportunities and contributes to the economic and social welfare of countries (Wong et al., 2005). The hospitality industry offers many entrepreneurship opportunities to individuals who aspire to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors and can consequently play an important role in both the social and economic development of countries, destinations and societies (Fu et al., 2019). In particular, it helps with the re-generation and transformation of communities through the creation of a ‘social and economic exchange’ platform among different stakeholders including consumers, employees, suppliers, community and hospitality businesses (Altinay, 2010).

Previous hospitality entrepreneurship literature (See Fu et al., 2019) has investigated the antecedents of entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry. Among these antecedents, personal aspects including personality traits, education, industry experience as well as motivations have been identified as influential in hospitality business start-ups (Altinay et al., 2012). The literature also has covered how destination-related factors including government policies, incentives, cultural climate and technological advancements stimulate and trigger entrepreneurial activities (Fu et al., 2019). In addition, previous hospitality entrepreneurship literature went one step further and investigated the outcomes of hospitality entrepreneurial activities including the growth, market share, profitability and innovation (Altinay and Altinay, 2006). Entrepreneurship also contributes to the economic and social development of a destination as well as its economic, social and environmental sustainability (Bosworth and Farrell, 2011, Hallak and Assaker, 2013).

These studies make a significant contribution to the existing body of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship literature by identifying and analyzing the antecedents and outcomes of entrepreneurship, however, they place emphasis on the economic antecedents and outcomes of entrepreneurship and neglect the social antecedents and outcomes of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship. This is surprising because the existing literature has increasingly acknowledged the contribution of entrepreneurship to the subjective well-being of the entrepreneurs and their immediate family members (Wiklund et al., 2019). It is within this context that this study examines the interface between refugee entrepreneurship, integration and well-being. In so doing, we draw from the perspectives of Syrian refugee entrepreneurs within the host societies of Turkey and the UK. We evaluate the influence of refugee entrepreneurship on the integration of refugees venturing into the hospitality and tourism industry. More importantly, we discuss the perceived positive effects of entrepreneurship on the well-being of refugees, their families and co-ethnic communities. This study is driven by the premise that minimal academic attention, both in mainstream entrepreneurship research as well as hospitality and tourism scholarship has been paid to refugee entrepreneurship (Refai et al., 2018, Wauters and Lambrecht, 2008). Specifically, there is little understanding of the reasons why refugees engage in entrepreneurial activities and how these entrepreneurial activities help with their integration and improve their and their families’ well-being (Shneikat and Alrawadieh, 2019, Şimşek, 2020). Indeed, there are increasing calls for further research into the associated effects of entrepreneurship on the well-being of entrepreneurs and their families (Bhuiyan and Ivlevs, 2019, Wiklund et al., 2019).

The role of tourism in enhancing individuals’ well-being is widely acknowledged (e.g., McCabe et al., 2010; McCabe and Johnson, 2013; Pesonen and Komppula, 2010). Although limited, a growing stream of research also delves into the well-being of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs (Peters and Schuckert, 2014, Peters et al., 2019). In their study, Peters et al. (2019) found that a better quality of life was associated with enhanced business growth. More recently, Bichler et al. (2020) highlighted the role of hospitality entrepreneurs’ quality of life in shaping entrepreneurship and emphasized that entrepreneurs’ well-being is of significant value for entrepreneurial ecosystems. These findings are not surprising given the crucial role of well-being in shaping entrepreneurs’ decision making, motivation, and action (Stephan, 2018). Overall, entrepreneurship is often associated with several stressors that may influence the very psychological well-being of entrepreneurs (Lerman et al., 2020). In the case of refugee entrepreneurs, the hospitality and tourism industry may be an ideal context to explore the influence of entrepreneurship on integration and well-being. Not only is this industry largely appealing to immigrant entrepreneurs in general (Rivera, 2019) and refugee entrepreneurs in particular (Alrawadieh et al., 2019) but also it has some other distinctive characteristics (e.g., a strong familial component, labor intensiveness) that make entrepreneurship in this industry lucrative (Memili et al., 2020). Despite a coherent body of research highlighting the economic benefits of tourism as a facilitator of the entrepreneurship action (e.g., Zhou et al., 2017), so far, little nuanced attention has been given to the role of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship in generating positive social outcomes for entrepreneurs, their families and the wider society (e.g., Peters et al., 2019). For instance, existing theoretical assessments are generally biased toward lifestyle entrepreneurship driven by quality of life choices (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000), but ignore the social outcomes of necessity-driven entrepreneurship. Moreover, the hospitality industry is frequently criticized for its promotion of unhealthy eating, drinking and for its part in contributing to public disorder, but its role in addressing social concerns is yet to be investigated (Altinay et al., 2019). Through examining the interface between hospitality entrepreneurship and well-being, this study offers insights into how small hospitality and tourism organizations can facilitate the well-being of refugee entrepreneurs and their families. This study also demonstrates that the refugee crisis, as a social issue, can not only be tackled by political intervention, but also with the help of commercial activities oriented towards the well-being of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs.