Lifestyle Entrepreneurs in Hospitality
Using a multiple case study to investigate
lifestyle entrepreneurs’ motives to engage
Ása Marta Sveinsdóttir
in sustainable destination development
20 017
Teknisk- naturvetenskaplig fakultet UTH-enheten Besöksadress: Ångströmlaboratoriet Lägerhyddsvägen 1 Hus 4, Plan 0 Postadress: Box 536 751 21 Uppsala Telefon: 018 – 471 30 03 Telefax: 018 – 471 30 00 Hemsida: http://www.teknat.uu.se/student
Abstract
Lifestyle Entrepreneurs in Hospitality: Using a multiple
case study to investigate lifestyle entrepreneurs’
motives to engage in sustainable destination
development
Ása Marta Sveinsdóttir
A relatively small body of literature in tourism concentrates on lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs that create a business to alter their own lifestyle, interests, and well-being. They are people that are fueled by the desire for adventure and establish a business, usually away from their home country, to generate lifestyle benefits and quality of life. Lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism is a growing trend and lifestyle entrepreneurs have been praised by previous scholars, for their non-growth motivation and charismatic characteristics. This research aims to reconsider these entrepreneurs’ motives and values with the purpose of moving beyond their ambitions for themselves, and investigating their motivations and values towards the destination they are located in, and through this explore the role they might play in the
development of the destination at large. Using a sample of small guesthouse and hotel owners located in different places around the world, the results show that even though the lifestyle entrepreneurs seem to be primarily motivated by generating well-being for self, the study identifies positive impacts of these entrepreneurs that should not be underestimated and could increase the competitiveness of their destination. The research suggests that promoting these entrepreneurs would contribute to sustainable destination development, considering the small-scale responsible tourism they seem to attract. However, results indicate that they might not be a reliable force for tourism development.
20 017
Examinator: Göran Lindström
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Importance of the study 2
1.2 Research objective and question 3
2 Background 4
2.1 Introducing lifestyle entrepreneurship 4
2.2 Lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality - Who are they? 5
2.3 Previous research on lifestyle entrepreneurs’ impact on destinations development 6
3 Theoretical Framework 9
3.1 Motivation 9
3.1.1 Tourism entrepreneurs’ motivations 10
3.1.2 Previous research on small-scale hospitality owners’ motivations 11
3.2 Place identity theory 13
3.2.1 Entrepreneurs place identity 13
3.2.2 Previous research on tourism entrepreneurs’ place identity 14
3.2.3 Tourism entrepreneurs in rural places 14
4 Methodology 16
4.1 Research process description 16
4.2 Research design 17
4.3 Research approach 17
4.4 Sampling 19
4.5 Research ethics 20
4.6 Data analysis 20
5 Empirical Data and Analysis 21
5.1 Case descriptions 21 5.1.1 Case 1 21 5.1.2 Case 2 22 5.1.3 Case 3 23 5.1.4 Case 4 24 5.1.5 Case 5 24 5.1.6 Case 6 25 5.1.7 Case 7 26 5.1.8 Reflections 27
5.2 The lifestyle entrepreneurs’ way-of-life 27
5.2.1 Well-being 27
5.2.1.1 Reflections 28
5.2.2 Work-life balance 29
5.2.2.1 Reflections 30
5.3.1 Local interaction 31
5.3.1.1 Reflections 33
5.3.2 Local recruitment 34
5.3.2.1 Reflections 35
5.3.3 Partnerships with local businesses 35
5.3.3.1 Reflections 37
5.4 Destination Development 37
5.4.1 Place branding 37
5.4.1.1 Reflections 39
5.4.2 Sustainable practices and responsible behaviour 39
5.4.2.1 Reflections 41 5.5 Future Plans 41 5.5.1 Business Vision 41 5.5.1.1 Reflections 42 5.5.2 Covid-19 42 5.5.2.1 Reflections 44 6 Discussion 45
6.1 Future research suggestions 46
7 Conclusion 47
1 Introduction
Globalization has increased migration flows and global mobility. More and more people living in modern society are choosing to move away from busy urban cities to an easy-going, simpler lifestyle with the aim to achieve a work-life balance (Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman &. Lance, 2010; Sun & Xu, 2017). Changing demographics, longer life expectancies, low-cost air travel and accessible property markets have encouraged a relatively new type of entrepreneur, often formed by migration flows of people from western countries seeking opportunities and lifestyle benefits in attractive environments. These people are looking for new opportunities and a change of life, by moving to a location of choice to establish business ventures to sustain their lifestyles (Williams & Hall, 2001; Henderson, 2002; Stone & Stubbs, 2007). These people are known as lifestyle entrepreneurs. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs that create a business with the purpose of altering their personal lifestyle. Quite often they quit their day jobs to follow an adventure to a nicer life, choosing a location closely linked to personal motives, and create a business suitable to their lifestyle values (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000). They establish a business primarily to generate lifestyle benefits and quality of life, while economic gain remains secondary. Their entrepreneurial motives are not only a way to earn income but rather strongly based on promoting their own well-being. Lifestyle entrepreneurship is a growing trend, especially entrepreneurs from western developed economies that want to improve their quality of life by seeking a lifestyle of freedom and opportunities (Henricks, 2002).
the tourism industry has attracted many lifestyle entrepreneurs to establish a small-scale accommodation business in rural areas (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000). Their small enterprises, usually located in quiet areas away from overcrowding, could potentially alter the tourist flow and attract visitors to otherwise forgotten destinations which could contribute to destination development at those sites (Henderson, 2002). However, these kind of entrepreneurs are usually ex-pats looking to increase their quality of life in a foreign country and primarily motivated by enhancing well-being for self (Henricks, 2002), and therefore might not be of value to the destination they are located in.
This research paper is structured in such a way that firstly the background will be presented, thereafter the theoretical framework, followed by the methodology. The empirical data is then presented and analysed found in the reflections per subtheme and then wrapped up in the discussion chapter. Therefore, I stress the importance of reading the respective of reflections and the discussion. Lastly, the results of this research is presented in the conclusion chapter.
1.1 Importance of the study
and the role they play in the development of a destination has, however, remained scarcely researched, even though the local community is one of the key stakeholders in the hospitality
industry. Therefore, this study focuses on hospitality lifestyle entrepreneurs and their perception of their impact on the destination they are located in using two theories, the motivational theory and place identity theory, to analyse the research findings. The combination of these two theories has never been used before to explore lifestyle entrepreneurs. The fact that their business strategy is primarily driven by improving quality of life for self and their own personal values does not necessarily mean that they do put any effort in creating value for others than themselves, or that it necessarily is the case that it would be beneficial for tourist destinations to promote these kinds of entrepreneurs.
1.2 Research objective and question
This research contributes to the academic understanding of lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality. With this research, I am exploring a dimension of these entrepreneurs that has so far been under-researched.Even though previous research has indicated that lifestyle-oriented businesses participate in sustainable practices there still remains a research gap in the real motives of lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality. Given this apparent gap in research surrounding lifestyle entrepreneurs, the purpose of this research is to fill the research gap of hospitality lifestyle entrepreneurs’ own perception of their role in destination development using theories that have not been used before in this context.
My research question is, therefore:
2 Background
2.1 Introducing lifestyle entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship, in all forms, demands talent and technique. Entrepreneurship has historically been associated with financial growth, economic theory, and industrialization, where entrepreneurs have been seen as heroes (Ogbor, 2000) and as agents of economic change (Schumpeter, 1934). The conceptual definition of entrepreneurship has broadened over time and today entrepreneurs non-economic motives including lifestyle, social and family-oriented goals have gained recognition (Dawson, Fountain & Cohen, 2011).
Distinct from growth-oriented entrepreneurs are lifestyle entrepreneurs: entrepreneurs motivated by attaining a certain quality of life while earning a living (Marchant & Mottier, 2011). They create a business with the aim of helping themselves capture a certain desired lifestyle and boost their own well-being, motivated by creating value for self. These entrepreneurs want to have full control over their work schedule, seek independence, and are fuelled by the desire to earn a respectable living. Their businesses are usually small-scale, located in rural areas with a limited number of employees. These entrepreneurs tend to lack the appropriate educational background and training. They start without any former business background (Lasley & Rowson, 2010), with a goal primarily motivated by lifestyle choice, such as to move to a certain place ‘to be my own boss’. They tend to be slow to set up their business following arrival and, in most cases, have no business goal to expand or grow (Stone & Stubbs, 2007). They commonly provide different kind of services than the high growth firms by giving off charm and a form of authenticity. The charming characteristics of their services attract people to rural areas (Henderson, 2002). Although both types of entrepreneurs share many of the same benefits for local communities, such as generating economic activity, job creation, earnings and innovation, the social contributions to family, community and quality of life is believed to be greater from entrepreneurs that operate small firms (Burns, 2001; Davidson & Henrekson, 2002; Pastakia, 1998; Thompson, Alvy, & Lees, 2000). Lifestyle entrepreneurs appear to mirror those entrepreneurs driven by profit-seeking sectors. Their business is believed to have opposite values than the corporate growth firms that are established by traditional pro-growth entrepreneurs that are driven by raising profit through as many sales as possible or by selling the business to someone else (Peters, Frehse & Buhalis, 2009).
2.2 Lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality - Who are they?
many people, without any background in tourism, to leave their jobs to follow an adventure in the hospitality sector (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000; Shaw & Williams, 1990, 1998, 2003).
Tourist destinations tend to have favourable geographical locations and comfortable social and natural setting, a superior environment for hospitality enterprises run by lifestyle entrepreneurs (Ioannides & Petersen, 2003; Ma & Xu, 2016; Ateljevic & Doorne, 2001). These locations are ideal for lifestyle entrepreneurs to increase their quality of life and simultaneously an ideal environment that attracts visitors. As a result, the majority of small-scale tourism firms are run by lifestyle entrepreneurs (Thomas, Shaw & Page, 2011; Bredvold & Skalen, 2016). People that run smaller hospitality enterprises in rural areas tend to live at the premises with the whole family helping out with the day-to-day operation, which can create a blurred division between 'work space' and 'domestic space' (Blichfeldt, Nielsen, Nissen & Just, 2011). Business and private life are highly intertwined for those lifestyle entrepreneurs, and business decisions are taken under the considerations of their quality of life (Getz & Carlsen, 2000; Peters & Buhalis, 2013). The business goals of small-scaled tourism hospitality enterprises differ from large hotels and resorts in the form of motivation, growth objectives, business strategies and resources (Blichfeldt et al., 2011).
These entrepreneurs are primarily responsible for the visitors’ experience, through their delivery of services (Buhalis, 2000; Mistilis, Buhalis, & Gretzel, 2014), offering a more charismatic experience when compared to large hotels and resorts (Henderson, 2002). So, the competitiveness of tourism destinations often depends on these entrepreneurs. It is, therefore, essential for the destinations to understand the prime motivations and objectives of hospitality entrepreneurs to achieve a competitive advantage (Peters et al., 2019).
2.3 Previous research on lifestyle entrepreneurs’ impact on destinations
development
3 Theoretical Framework
For the theoretical frame of this thesis, I have chosen to focus on motivation and place identity since both theories influence the lifestyle entrepreneurs’ effort to engage in destination development. Entrepreneurs are motivated by different factors and this chapter explains the concept of motivation and explores previous research done on small-scale hospitality owners’ motivations. Motivation as a theory was chosen for this thesis to help with understanding the lifestyle entrepreneurs motivations, if they are entirely motivated by increasing the well-being of self or perhaps also the well-being of others. The research conducted by Wang, Li and Xu (2019), and discussed in the previous chapter, used a form of motivational theory, but entirely focused on the intrinsic motivation of lifestyle entrepreneurs. A broader spectrum of the theory of motivation will be explored in this research which will give a more comprehensive understanding of the theory of motivation. Later in this chapter place identity theory is introduced, following previous research done on the theory and how entrepreneurs in rural places can help build an attractive place image. It is unlikely that lifestyle entrepreneurs feel motivated by bringing value to the destination they are located in if they do not feel a close connection to the place. Place identity theory was chosen because it implies that a sense of connection influences entrepreneurial attitude and behaviour towards its business, including behaviour toward the local community (Bow & Buys, 2003; Hallak, Brown & Lindsay, 2012). Previous research has primarily focused on socio-economic motivational factors of entrepreneurs. No earlier research was found that solely focused on lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality and explored their socio-cultural motivations along with their place identity, which stresses the importance of this research.
3.1 Motivation
seek out external rewards and to gain an outcome that is separable from the activity itself. Internally, entrepreneurs can be motivated by succeeding in a personal goal, like gaining greater health and well-being, while externally motivated to be their own boss, increase wealth and attractiveness (Carsrud et. al, 2017). Satisfaction in one's life and work plays a big role in being a motivating force for individuals. Dissatisfaction in one's life can be a motivating factor to change lifestyle and can drive individuals to attempt to become an entrepreneur. Motivation to change one’s life flourishes from stress and unhappiness (Elfving, 2008). An individual that gains motivation to become an entrepreneur because of external forces, like dissatisfaction in job or marriage, would be extrinsically motivated, meanwhile, an individual drawn to entrepreneurship because of personal interest, to pursue independence and personal development would be intrinsically motivated (Bragaa, Proenca & Ferreira, 2014). Individual's motivation determines an individual's behaviour (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh & Best, 2015). Motivation is the need that drives people to a certain action to satisfy certain needs (Li & Cai, 2012; Hallak, Assaker & Lee, 2015).
3.1.1 Tourism entrepreneurs’ motivations
questions of whether giving back to society is somehow a motivating factor for them (Skokic et. al., 2016).
Different motivational theories have been used to explore entrepreneurial motivations. Self-determination theory is one of them, it explains how individuals are motivated by internal factors and not by external controlling agents (Deci & Ryan, 1991, 2000; Osbaldiston & Sheldon, 2003). According to the theory, motivation is the core of biological, cognitive and social regulation. Personality development and behavioural self-regulation are inner-evolved resources that fuel internal motivations. Self-determination theory focuses on the choices individuals make without external influences. The theory explains how individuals have three basic needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness, that must be satisfied to foster well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000). If individuals feel that these needs are fulfilled they are more likely to be intrinsically motivated to complete their task. If these needs are not fully met external factors will motivate them to complete their task (Deci & Ryan, 2000), meaning that individuals are first motivated by internal factors before they become motivated by external factors. When applied to entrepreneurs, if their business fulfils their core needs, internal motivations will lead their way forward.
3.1.2 Previous research on small-scale hospitality owners’ motivations
To summarise, motivations and needs are essential to understand why people do what they do, and why they keep at it. Motivations influence the decision taking of new business creations (Shane, Locke & Collins, 2003). Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process and motivations can change over time (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000), as well as the destinations the entrepreneurs are located in (Butler, 1980). Previous research done on motivational factors of small-scale entrepreneurs in hospitality has only focused on owners in specific geographical areas, or China and Croatia, exploring guesthouses larger than is focused on in this research.
3.2 Place identity theory
Places are areas of social life and complex systems of social relations (Hudson, 2001). They give individuals meaning and identity (Anderson, 2000). Place identity theory refers to the meaning and significance of a place to its inhabitants, and how the meaning can contribute to the individuals’ perception of self. Places help create a sense of meaning and stability in a person's life (Bow & Buys, 2003; Brown & Perkins, 1992; Gustafson, 2001; McAndrew, 1998) and people seek places where they feel comfortable and secure (Hidalgo & Hernandez, 2001). According to the theory, a person’s place identity is a cognitive structure of self-identity and one’s attachment to a place. Place identity influences what we see, think and feel in our interaction with the physical world (Proshansky, Fabian & Kaminoff, 1983).
3.2.1 Entrepreneurs place identity
local community are likely to feel a sense of belonging, and seek to engage in activities that improve their local environment. Their support for their local community may improve their own business performance (Miller & Besser, 2000). It can be argued that the level of support shown by business owner’s towards their community is a reflection of their motivation and may be a response to a sense of attachment to a place (Hallak, Brown & Lindsay, 2012). The concept of entrepreneurial embeddedness can be described as the nature, depth and extent of an entrepreneur's ties to the local community. It helps the entrepreneur identify social resources and develop social networks within the community and, therefore, gives the entrepreneur access to support during the entrepreneurial process (Jack & Anderson, 2002). Social factors and attachment to a place have proven to be more influential than economic factors when it comes to business location decisions (Dahl & Sorenson, 2010). If entrepreneurs experience themselves as members of their local community and develop a feeling of belonging to a socio-physical setting they will build a place identity for themselves (Proshansky et al., 1983) which influences their behaviour within a place (Pretty, Chipuer & Bramston, 2003).
3.2.2 Previous research on tourism entrepreneurs’ place identity
Hallak, Brown & Lindsay (2012) conducted research regarding how place identity, self-efficacy and community support of tourism entrepreneurs in South Australia influenced their performance. They found a positive relationship between place identity and the entrepreneurs’ performance. Once the entrepreneurs had established their tourism enterprises, social and physical factors of the place influenced their overall place identity. The place identity influenced their belief in their own self-efficacy which, in return, influenced their will to make a positive impact on their local community. The results of their research demonstrate the importance place identity plays in tourism management. Entrepreneurs feeling of belonging and a sense of place identity enhances the entrepreneurs’ belief in own capability to achieve a successful business environment.
3.2.3 Tourism entrepreneurs in rural places
and brand image to attract visitors (Garrod, Wornell & Youell, 2006). An attractive place image for tourism destinations plays an important part in the places' economic regeneration and increases destinations' competitiveness (Metaxas, 2009). Rural development revolves around place branding and building an attractive rural image that reflects on cultural and physical attributes of a place (Vik & Villa, 2010). Destination branding is based on a core identity identified by the residents of a place (Jamrozy & Walsh, 2008). However, living in a community does not mean that all residents have to share common goals and place identity, it is a collaborate effort amongst stakeholders and finding one presentable image from several understandings of a place (Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2003; Morgan, Pritchard & Pigott, 2003),
4 Methodology
In this study, lifestyle entrepreneurs’ motivations and values are examined. The main is to reveal the entrepreneurs’ self-expressed motivations and values by examining their entry motives, performance and future goals. Therefore, a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews was chosen since it can provide in-depth knowledge of the subject and offer important underlying insights, which is normally absent in quantitative research.
4.1 Research process description
basic and short definition of lifestyle entrepreneurs. That gave the people that I contacted the opportunity to decide on if that was something they could identify themselves to and if participating was something of their interests. It, however, proved to be difficult to get people to agree on an interview because the majority of the individuals I contacted were too busy at that time. In mid-March, when I sent out my interview requests, was when the Covid-19 pandemic hit Europe. The people that I was interested in interviewing are all small-scale accommodation owners and were, therefore, dealing with many booking cancellations at that particular time as well as the uncertainty of the future of their business. This unforeseen circumstance made it difficult for me to collect data for my research. However, with patience, I luckily managed to conclude seven in-depth interviews and collect an adequate amount of data.
4.2 Research design
A multiple case study was chosen as a research design to get a more holistic understanding of lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality. The lifestyle entrepreneurs researched are located at different places all around the world so it would have been difficult to speculate from one single case considering the fact that every location is different and every individual as well. Multiple case studies are considered a good method for a study of different cases, where each case is compared with each other with a holistic approach of the topic researched (Bryman & Bell, 2015). Multiple case studies give the researcher the opportunity to analyse data across different situations and find similarities or contrasts between each case (Yin, 2003). The findings of multiple cases can provide the existing literature with important reliable evidence of differences and similarities (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Conducting multiple case studies also results in a wider exploration of the research topic and can, therefore, create a convincing argument (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007).
4.3 Research approach
me to ask the respondents in-depth and open-ended questions such as " Can you tell me the
story of how you created your business ?”, “What was your main motivation to open up a guesthouse/hotel?" or “Are you as a business owner involved in the local community? If so, in what way?”. Not to mention that a survey would require a larger group of respondents and lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality are not easy to find. Since the focus was on the lifestyle entrepreneurs’ own perception of how they contribute to their local community and bring value to their destination, choosing to do an in-depth interview gave me a more reliable data than a survey would have done. It also gave me the opportunity to ask follow up questions. However, the qualitative method has certain limitations. Since I only collected data from lifestyle entrepreneurs, and not, for example, from the community around them, misrepresentation of what they actually do was unavoidable. There is no way of knowing if what they said during the interview was actually true. It perhaps would have been better to perform field research but that is, however, extremely time consuming and expensive and was, therefore, not an option for this research.
I tried to keep the interviews in a natural conversational style, to help elicit and note the respondent’s values and views of their operation. Using this method gave an opportunity to steer all interviews in a certain way with prepared questions, and simultaneously it offered the respondents a chance to pursue issues they felt important, as argued by Bryman and Bell (2015). Each interview took from 30-90 minutes and was conducted using an interview guide that was altered a bit throughout the research. This guide helped me direct the conversation toward the main topic and to direct all interviews in the same way (Bryman & Bell, 2015). Specified interview questions were formulated by a review of existing lifestyle entrepreneurship literature, such as “ Do you feel like your business has affected your life and
well-being in any way? If so, in what way? ”. Other questions were formulated by a review of existing literature of theories chosen for this research, such as “ Do you feel at home at this particular place or do you think you will eventually return back to your home country? ” and
“What was your main motivation to move away from your home country?”.
understanding of my respondents and their business. The interview guide was altered a bit according to my desk research. This gave my respondents the feeling that I had done research on them beforehand to make them feel special and acknowledged and to build up trust between us. I wrote down notes after each interview had taken place of my own thoughts and behaviour of each interviewee that was used later when analysing the data.
Throughout the research, from February to May, seven interviews were conducted, with nine interviewees, two were conducted face-to-face and, due to geographic distance, two through a telephone call and three through Skype video call. Each interview was scheduled beforehand which gave all respondents the opportunity to be prepared for being interviewed. However, the two interviews conducted through telephone calls were much shorter, or about 30 minutes, compared to the interviews conducted through video call or face-to-face, which lasted from 60-90 minutes, which indicates that conducting an interview through a telephone call is less appropriate for this kind of research.
4.4 Sampling
4.5 Research ethics
Research ethics was considered in the process of all data collection. All respondents from the interviews participated on a voluntary basis and all will remain anonymous throughout the paper. I decided to invent names for each respondent to make it easier for the reader to identify and personalize each respondent instead of giving them a number. Each respondent was contacted through e-mail and confirmed in writing that they would like to participate in my research. Interviewees were all asked beforehand if they gave consent for the interview being tape-recorded and were all given the opportunity to choose a time and place for the interview that suited them best. This was done to make the participants feel the most comfortable during the interview (Bryman & Bell, 2015). During each interview, I tried to stay as neutral as possible to not affect the respondents answers in any way. My ideas of whether my respondents are purely participating in the hospitality industry for personal gain and the fact that I am questioning their real motives towards their destinations may not be appreciated by my research participants. I am fully aware that my results may not be to their liking, so I have tried my best to keep all my research participants unidentifiable. However, I see the need for this research to be done, and I believe my insights and results of this research can be beneficial to my research participants and contribute to creating awareness.
4.6 Data analysis
5 Empirical Data and Analysis
In this chapter, my data will be analysed. The chapter is divided into subchapters. The first subchapter gives a description of the cases as they have come through in my interviews followed by each theme identified from my data. Each theme is divided into sub-themes and ends with a reflection of the findings with the help of the theoretical framework of this thesis.
5.1 Case descriptions
Within each case a general overview of the respondents is given, their motives to move to a certain place to establish their business as well as a short description of the area they are located in to give the reader a good idea of the context. Respondents live and work in rural areas and there is a lack of literature on some of their locations which forced me to look for alternative options. Few of the destination information is collected from travel guides which might not be a reliable source since it is written for travellers with the purpose of providing marketing for the area. I tried to be as neutral as possible with the purpose to set the scene for the reader.
5.1.1 Case 1
beach with help from local people. She later added a small restaurant for her guests and operated the business for 10 years before she became tired of dealing with guests and decided to rent out her bed and breakfast to another ex-pat who is now in charge of all operations of that guesthouse. Two years ago Anna decided to build another guesthouse run by self-service only. Today she lives in one of the rooms at her newly built self-service guesthouse.
The small town is located in a rural area of the province of Inhambane, a popular Mozambican holiday destination. The province, with its tropical climate, is a major cashew, coconut and citrus fruit grower. The town her guesthouse is located in is mainly driven by tourism. It benefits from a number of excellent scuba diving locations. A popular spot for water sports enthusiasts and people attracted to sea life. As a result, diving has boosted the tourism industry with a number of new businesses starting up (Briggs, 2017).
5.1.2 Case 2
Respondents 2 and 3, will be named Michael and Linda, an American couple in their 30s, moved away from New York in 2007 to open up an agriturismo offering five small apartments in the countryside of Italy. Besides running a small farm and a guesthouse they also have a cooking school and offer coaching sessions for other ex-pats on how to successfully open up a bed and breakfast in Italy. They fell in love with Italy after travelling around the country on their honeymoon. They both felt a connection to the place and an urge to move there right away and start their own business. Michael was working as an executive chef in Manhattan and Linda was working in a high-end golf and country club resort. They wanted a change in their life, to work in a less stressful environment, and felt that they did not have anything to lose at such a young age. Today they live at the guesthouse, a 300-year-old stone farmhouse, and are almost entirely self-sustainable with their own farm. They learned organic farming after arriving in Italy. On top of being hosts, Michael cooks for their visitors and Linda is a photographer and a food blogger and takes care of marketing.
predominantly footwear and leather products. Italy’s still-to-be-discovered region is a spectacular gastronomic destination, rich in Italian cuisine and wines (Grady, 2015).
5.1.3 Case 3
Respondent 4, will be named Karen in this research, runs a five-room bed and breakfast with her husband in a small village in Southeastern France. They are both in their 30s, born and raised in Sweden. They had just started a family when they decided to move to France to open up their own business in 2015. They had been travelling together when they stumbled upon a rural village by which they immediately felt enchanted by. During their stay in the village, the idea of opening up a bed and breakfast was born. They wanted to experience something new in life and get away from the cold climate in Sweden. They decided that Southeastern France would be a good location for a new start, a location that would provide their children with a nice and secure life. Neither of them had any former experience in tourism, hospitality or business. He was working as a chef and Karen as a professional singer. They found an old villa for sale, sitting on a hill above the village surrounded by olive trees. It was exactly what they were looking for, a perfect place to raise a family and an ideal location for visitors looking for peace and quiet. At first, Karen’s husband moved to France to start renovating the villa while she stayed in Sweden with their children. Karen did not want to take any risk and needed to know that the bed and breakfast would be successful before leaving her job and life in Sweden. Two years later, after a successful first season for their business, Karen decided to move to France with their two children permanently.
5.1.4 Case 4
Respondents 5 and 6, named Sarah and Oliver, are a couple in their 50s living in the countryside in Turkey. Sarah is Turkish and Oliver is Australian but they lived together in England for 15 years before they decided to move to Turkey to build their dream boutique hotel. Oliver worked as a computer science lecturer and Sarah as a housing officer in England. They were both fed up with their work and housing market. He was tired of working under his boss and needed to escape a poor work environment. They wanted to do something completely different, a project on their own and wanted to do something before getting too old and not being physically capable of hard work. They were inspired by an English TV show and wanted to build a straw-bale house, a house built from only natural materials. They had both dreamt of being architects from a young age so building their own house fascinated them. Opening up a hospitality business was never a dream of theirs. They were tired of their lives in England and needed to create a job for themselves in Turkey. A hotel seemed to be a convenient option for them, something that they could enjoy doing and gave them income and the opportunity to build something of their own.
Sarah and Oliver moved to Turkey in 2014 and bought a land in a remote area in western Turkey. They built the hotel from scratch and all their furniture using only natural materials bought from local suppliers. They were filmed for a year while they built their hotel for a TV show introducing hotel industry newcomers. They officially opened up a four-bedroom hotel in 2017 and live in one of the bedrooms.
They are located in a very remote area in western Turkey, in the region of Aegean. The nearest village to their hotel is small where local people are living the traditional Turkish rural lifestyle. The local economy depends on agriculture, and the main industry is the production of tahini, halva and olive oil. The tourism industry is small with only a very few restaurants and bars in the area (Finkel, 2012).
5.1.5 Case 5
the countryside of the island. They are both in their 30s. She is a business economist and was working in a busy and stressful environment in Gothenburg and he is a chef and used to work at a high-end restaurant in the city. Together they decided to move to Gotland to change lifestyles. Their main motivation to move to Gotland was that they wanted their children to grow up close to nature and they got an exceptional opportunity to buy a hotel from a friend, which they did in 2016. At first, they ran the hotel on Gotland in the summer months and lived and worked in Gothenburg during the winter. In 2018, when their older child began kindergarten they decided to move to Gotland permanently. Hannah was born and raised on Gotland so moving back to the island was easy for her. Her husband was born on the mainland but as a chef, he had always had the dream of managing his own restaurant using the farm-to-table concept. Another motivating factor was that they wanted to own a property that they could leave as an inheritance for their children in the future. Today they run a seven-room hotel and a restaurant on their property, the hotel operating all year round and the restaurant only during the summer months. They are relatively newly opened and are still getting settled. Today the whole family lives in one of the hotel room but they are building a small cabin on their land which they will live in in the future. As of today, the hotel is not enough to sustain the whole family so Hannah works half time for another company in Visby. Their hotel is located in the west of the island Gotland. Gotland is a major tourist destination and experiences a major influx of tourists over a short period of time, mainly from July-August. The island is the biggest island in Sweden, home to around sixty thousand people, with tourism and agriculture as its two main industries (Sörensson, 2010).
5.1.6 Case 6
later they opened up a five-room bed and breakfast after renovating an old country house in the countryside of Northern Spain. They decided to open up a bed and breakfast because they wanted to have their own business where they could easily combine life and work. They had always loved hosting people when they lived in Brighton and had gotten inspired by an English reality TV show. Today they live at the bed and breakfast together with their dog and have recently added three newly built self-catering studio apartments to their guesthouse. Their bed and breakfast is located in the green and mountainous province of Asturias. Today the province is one of the most protected areas in Spain, full of vegetation and natural parks. The main economy in the region are coal mining and metallurgical industry. The region's undeveloped infrastructure has hindered business expansion but the tourism industry is slowly rising (Rodriquez, 2011).
5.1.7 Case 7
Respondent 9, named Emma, a woman in her 60s lives with her husband on a farmstead in Hawaii. There they operate a small organic farm and an eco-retreat, offering one cottage and one suite for their guests, at their home. They are both American and used to live together in Alaska where they had a private vacation rental that they recently sold. Emma is an experienced entrepreneur and has established many different organic businesses from a young age, such as an organic school garden program, organic farming, sourdough bakery, created an organic chocolate syrup brand and written and published two books. She calls herself a Soil to Soul Eco – Bohemian Entrepreneur and became environmentally conscious from travelling around the world and seeing how poorly people have treated the natural environment.
coach and a spiritual healer. She and her husband offer different kind of retreats at their farmstead, such as culinary classes and wellness and rejuvenation retreats.
They live in North-Kohala, the northwest part of Hawai'i, a rural area surrounded by lava fields and agricultural lands. Not far from their accommodation is South-Kohala, a popular tourist destination full of world-class resorts, fine dining and golf courses. Tourism is a major part of the Hawaiian economy with international tourists visiting the islands throughout the year (Benson et al., 2011).
5.1.8 Reflections
The lifestyle entrepreneurs in this research share many similarities. They have all chosen to move to a rural location, an ideal relaxed environment to increase their quality of life. It is clear that dissatisfaction and stress in their life was their main motivation to become lifestyle entrepreneurs. Their motivation to move and become a lifestyle entrepreneur seems to be a mixture of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. They are intrinsically motivated by enhancing their own well-being, independence and personal development but extrinsically motivated because of dissatisfaction in life. The majority of them seem to adapt their motivation to move according to external stimuli, or as the Social cognitive theory suggests, influenced by their environment, for example, by observing the poor environmental impact of tourism, poor working conditions, economic crisis or housing markets. They are business motivated to sustain themselves by establishing their business but first and foremost lifestyle-oriented motivated to increase their quality of life by moving to a certain area to pursue a desired lifestyle. Many of them lack the appropriate educational background and training and they do not seem to have a specific interest in the hospitality industry as many of them chose that career simply out of convenience. Being hosts seem to be a way to earn income, to be able to sustain a certain lifestyle.
5.2 The lifestyle entrepreneurs’ way-of-life
5.2.1 Well-being
expressed the positive aspects of being “their own boss”. It had, however, surprised many of them how much work their new career turned out to be but even though the hospitality business can be stressful, they explained it as a different kind of stress. Or as Karen expressed:
It is always stressful to open up a new business but it is a good kind of stress. It feels nice to control your own business and be your own boss. Here it’s calm and you are living in your own little bubble. We love our new lifestyle and it has brought us together as a family.
Oliver and Sarah had a similar feeling. Oliver said:
The idea was to have a more chill and lazy lifestyle but it has been exhausting. We can’t wait until we have finished everything and can relax a bit. But it has been a different kind of stress because in my old job I had to sit through long meetings and do stupid kind of work. Now I can be my own boss and be flexible. We are doing something we both enjoy. I don’t stress for Monday mornings anymore, I don’t even know what day it is. Now my back hurts from lifting cement not from sitting at my desk. You also feel much more in contact with natural rhythm living surrounded by nature. It’s great!
Thomas’s new lifestyle was not comparable to his old life. Similarly, Thomas stated:
We never realised how much work it was going to be. You work long hours and it is intense and a lot of work, especially in the beginning. But our life is fantastic and we consider ourselves very lucky. It is not even comparable to our life in the UK. Here we can go for long walks but in Brighton, there are so many people and you always have this feeling and pressure of going out. There is constant pressure to consume in the city, to go to bars, restaurants, cinema. It’s the way of life in the UK, to consume, but here it’s completely different.
5.2.1.1 Reflections
that they did not know what to expect when making these lifestyle and career choices. They have therefore likely not fulfilled their three basic needs to foster well-being, as the theory suggests. As Shaw (2014) explained, these lifestyle entrepreneurs are driven by lifestyle-oriented motivations, motivated to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. It is unlikely that they feel motivated by increasing well-being of others, such as the community around them, since they seem to be still intrinsically motivated by gaining greater well-being for self, exhausted by the unexpected amount of work, or as Oliver explained: “ We can’t wait until we
have finished everything and can relax a bit”. Therefore, it seems like their own well-being has a greater value for them than developing their place-based identity, since place identity is largely related to community formation. Karen explains her new lifestyle as living in her own bubble, as she is, somehow, not connected to her destination as a whole, which indicates that she is lacking relatedness, one of the three basic needs of Self-determination theory, to a place which is not a sign of place identity.
5.2.2 Work-life balance
All of the respondents live at their accommodations so they interact with their visitors a lot. The visitors stay with them for 4-5 nights on average but many of the respondents expressed that they regularly get visitors that stay for up to 3-4 weeks, and occasionally even longer. The interaction with the visitors can be personal and they often eat and drink with their guests. Which has created friendships and increased the rate of return visits for many of the respondents. Thomas and his husband were worried that moving to the countryside would impact their social life. Thomas said:
This is our social life now. In Brighton, our calendar was filled with social gatherings and we were a bit worried to feel lonely here in the countryside of Spain. But our social life has become the interaction with our guests. We cook for them, give recommendations, take walks with them and often drink coffee and eat with them. These are people that have done their research on the philosophy we follow before coming and share the same values. Many of them become our friends and come back or we go and visit them.
We are kind of juggling at the moment. We are still busy with renovating and sometimes when guests go out we sneak to do some building but then you have to be quick and take a shower before they come back because you can’t welcome them all sweaty.
Oliver continued explaining that due to their rural location and lack of restaurants in the area guests choose to eat at their hotel more than he expected. He said that he and his wife need to find a sustainable rhythm to their work and life and are discussing to close for two months a year. He added: If we keep it like this we will go crazy.
Linda and Michael who had former experience in the service industry and have been hosts for 13 years have learned to adapt and are now, for the first time, able to take time off:
You don’t leave your office and go home. It is always there. You always have to be ready 24/7 and you are never unaware that there are people in your house. Now we close for a few months a year. It’s important to take some days off for your mental health.
Anna, who has now rented out her old bed and breakfast and opened up a self-catering accommodation was tired of guests interaction. She explained how her guesthouse lost the personal homey atmosphere after she expanded her first bed and breakfast. She lost her interest after it changed into a service-oriented business. Anna explained:
The first years I enjoyed talking to my guests. Now I’m tired and it’s no longer a pleasure. We used to have a big table at the veranda where we all ate together but then I lost all contact with my guests after I opened up the restaurant at the guesthouse. Then it stopped being a bed and breakfast where people “come to your home” and turned into a guesthouse where people come to eat and sleep. The vibration changed completely and I lost interest.
5.2.2.1 Reflections
lifestyle entrepreneurs offer increases the competitiveness of destinations. The fact that they live where they work creates a blurred division between work and life. Many of the respondents expressed being tired of the constant interaction with visitors. Linda and Michael have, for example, decided to close their bed and breakfast for a few months a year and Oliver and Sarah, motivated by the desire to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, are thinking to do the same. Which will decrease the number of visitors to their areas for a certain period of time a year and could, therefore, negatively impact local business opportunities. Anna, who decided to expand her business driven by business-oriented motivation, lost all interest in being a host. She, therefore, scaled back down to be able to enjoy her lifestyle, a business decision entirely taken under the considerations of her own quality of life.
5.3 Local Community
5.3.1 Local interaction
The majority of the respondents communicated how they appreciated the local culture and the easy way-of-life in their communities. Karen mentioned how grateful she is to be a part of French culture and Linda explained how moving to Italy has taught her to be a good neighbour, something that she was not familiar with from living in New York. She said:
Moving to Italy has changed our life in a way that we now know how to be a good neighbour. Living in the countryside of Italy has taught us things that you don’t learn from living in the city. All things that the Italians have taught us, the Italian way-of-life, farming and the “culture of the table”. We have now become almost self-sustainable and that is coming from two people that grew up in New York, that did not know how to plant a seed and now are running their our own garden. Moving here has changed every aspect of our life.
Anna moved to Mozambique with nothing and left everything behind in Italy. She felt gratitude towards her community because they helped her during her first years to get settled and to build her guesthouse. However, after becoming a respectful business owner in her village it became hard for her to form friendships with the locals. Anna explained:
then I lose respect. Because of that, I have started to miss my old life and have felt lonely.
However, even though Anna is seen as “the boss” of her local community she sees her employees as her family. She added:
When my workers have any problems they always come to me, whether it is problems with money or with family. This is my big family and I try to help if I can.
Anna continued explaining how she is the only Italian ex-pat in the area and that it has also been difficult for her to get to know other business owners. She sits with them during town meetings but explained that she has not tried to get to know them because she feels they are too young and are there with their partners. Other respondents expressed a similar story of finding it difficult to get to know the locals. Thomas and his husband expressed how the feeling of community is different in the UK and how difficult it has been for them to get integrated into the local community in Spain. He explained:
If this place were in the UK, there would be more of a community you could get involved in. Here there are only these small and tight Spanish families that keep for themselves. Our interaction with them has been polite, and it’s not like they dislike us, but it’s very hard to get to know them. There is not much going on here and no feeling of a community.
Oliver and Sarah, who are very rurally located and situated not far from a small village, said they feel like they have created awareness within the local community. Before they established their boutique hotel there were no tourists in the area. They feel like the locals are starting to see potential in tourism and hope there will be tourism businesses opening soon in the area. Oliver said:
It has been very interesting to look at the locals being super sceptical of what we are doing to actually seeing tourists show interest in their home village. The locals don’t see the beauty of this place and how it can be interesting for foreigners. I think in a weird way we have helped to build up local self-esteem.
When respondents were asked about whether they participate with the region or the local community some expressed how they would like to but do not find the time to focus on anything else than their own business. However, few of them do participate to some extent in the community. Emma, who lives in Hawaii with her husband, is collaborating in many different community projects. She is, for example, on the board of directors of the local permaculture school and the local farmers union. She has also helped with the establishment of a sustainable hotel in her area. Linda and Sarah expressed how they are leading projects they claim contributes to the community. Linda and her husband Michael offer a culinary class for their visitors and focus on teaching local recipes. Michael teaches the majority of the classes but they have collaborated with few locals to help out from time to time. An old local lady joins one of their classes and teaches their guests her way of making pasta. At the end of the class, the guests cook lunch for the locals as a thank you. Linda expressed:
This is a very fun way to keep a connection with the community and get visitors to come back. We are always thinking of new kind of workshops that can attract visitors.
Oliver and Sarah created a project for Sarah’s mother and sister to manage, a summer course for the children in the area who have very poor education. Sarah’s mother, who had just retired, moved close to their hotel and manages the courses with the help of Sarah and Sarah’s sister who was a former teacher and in need of work.
5.3.1.1 Reflections
respondents which matches previous scholars, such as Mottier (2007) but contradicts with the findings of Wang, Li and Xu (2019) that identified a good performance of corporate social responsibility from lifestyle-oriented small enterprises. Place identity theory explains how people that feel a sense of belonging seek to improve their local environment so their lack of feeling connected to their community might explain their lack of effort in community contribution. The level of support for the local community is a reflection of the respondents’ lifestyle-oriented motivation and place identity. Those who engage in community projects are extrinsically motivated and seek out external rewards, such as getting return visitors or creating projects for family members.
5.3.2 Local recruitment
The majority of the respondents are managing the day-to-day operation of their business along with their partner. Their accommodation is small-scale so they seem to be able to handle it alone without help. Some of the respondents have hired a local to help with cleaning, others hire people during the high-season. However, considering their location it has been difficult for many of the respondents to find help. Thomas explained:
Our biggest challenge is finding staff to help us in the summer. There are not enough people here that want to work for us only a few months of the year with minimum wage. If our business was in the UK we would easily find a lot of young people that would want to clean for 2-3 months.
Oliver and Sarah expressed the same and said:
We are constantly trying to find locals to help out but there are not many people to choose from in this area.
Hannah and her husband hire around 20 people, both from Gotland and the mainland of Sweden, to help them in the summer months but work alone rest of the year. Karen and her husband do not hire any workers but do welcome volunteers. Since around 85% of their guests are Swedish they welcome Swedish volunteers to stay with them in France over the summer months to work for them in exchange for free accommodation.
I have given around 35 people jobs since I moved here. Now, at my new guesthouse, I have 9 employees. Behind every employee, there are at least 3-4 children that are eating because of the jobs that I’ve created. There are not many jobs in this area and what I’ve been able to give to the community makes me 100% happy.
Thomas and his husband have created small community projects that have both benefited them and their community. He explained:
We have created a few small projects. We have paid people to pave the way of old farmers paths, walking paths that haven’t been used in years. We have also paid locals to help us rebuild old traditional stone buildings in the area. We did this for ourselves but we have started to see local people using these paths.
Thomas continued saying that the locals appreciate what they have done for the area and have thanked them for cleaning the old paths that were traditionally only used by farmers to collect their cows. Now Thomas and his husband are thinking about new projects to implement.
5.3.2.1 Reflections
The majority of lifestyle entrepreneurs in this research do not generate job opportunities in their area. Those who do, seem to be intrinsically motivated to do so since it gives them gratification and a personal reward. The opportunities Anna has created for local people in her village is what gives her joy and has boosted her feeling of belonging to the community. Thomas and his husband began by being intrinsically motivated to create the community projects since it was mainly done to create a more attractive environment for themselves to enjoy but that however shifted to them being extrinsically motivated to continue creating community projects after having received locals appreciation for the projects they had done. They have with their projects enhanced the place image, which seems to benefit all stakeholders. This has played its part in building their place identity. Entrepreneurs feeling of belonging and a sense of place identity enhances the entrepreneurs’ belief in own capability.
5.3.3 Partnerships with local businesses
collaborations with other businesses, such as Oliver and Sarah who explained they offer olive oil at their hotel that is made from an olive factory nearby. Sarah explained:
We give the olive factory the olives from our garden and they make olive oil in exchange for free. We serve it to our visitors and most of them really like it and go to the olive factory to buy a bottle to take home.
The respondents that serve food to their visitors try to buy only locally produced food or grow themselves. Hannah has created good relationships with local businesses on Gotland. She explained:
We decided from the beginning not to buy groceries from the supermarket or distributors. We grow our own salad and then we buy all vegetables from a local farmer, milk products from a dairy farmer not far from here, and lamb from the farmer next door. We make freshly squeezed apple juice from apples from here. In every room, we display Gotlandic art that guests can buy. The glass milk bottles we get from the dairy farmer we give to a friend of mine in Visby who turns them into glass art. I know a lot of people here on Gotland since I grew up here and we want to support one another. Sometimes we invite them all for dinner and it has become a community here in the countryside.
Hannah and her husband have also opened their hotel for a pop-up from another company. Hannah communicated how she would like to host more of them because she enjoys having people around. Linda and Michael have organized events for their visitors called “Feel like a local Friday”. They guide their guests through the local town nearby and visit different local businesses. The guests visit many popular local spots under the guidance of Michael in collaboration with businesses in the area. Michael explained:
5.3.3.1 Reflections
The majority of respondents do not collaborate with local businesses. The reason can be that there are not many businesses in the area since they are mostly located in rural places. It would, however, enhance their place identity and local relationships if they would. Those who do collaborate seem to be doing a lot. Hannah, for example, is collaborating with many businesses. She claims it is because she is originally from Gotland which means she has established a good social network and a strong sense of place identity already before establishing her business. It might, therefore, be easier for her to form partnerships with local businesses. Michael and Linda are motivated by introducing their guests to the local way-of-life. Hiring a local guide would only strengthen the authentic experience but that might not be possible because of language complications. The fact that they feel confident enough to lead the “Feel like a local Friday” events suggest that they have already formed a strong place identity.
5.4 Destination Development
5.4.1 Place branding
When the respondents were asked during the interviews what values or benefits they think their business brings to the area almost all of them answered that most importantly, they bring tourists to the area and have created a tourist destination of a place that before had little to no tourists. Karen said:
We do a lot of PR in Sweden which has worked really well. We are keeping the village alive by bringing guests and I think small B&B like us are becoming more trendy and popular than big hotels. It gets more personal so it’s good that smaller places are popping up. It’s another way of travelling, a new way of travelling, and that is how we contribute to the local society.
Thomas and his husband have been in collaboration with many journalists outside of Spain over the years to promote their region. Thomas explained further:
businesses and then go home and tell their friends who then come etc. This area is beautiful because it hasn’t changed in many years. You still have farmers living off their land and we have done quite a lot in promoting rural tourism.
Oliver and Sarah, who also claimed they had surprised locals by showing them that their home was attractive to others, had a similar story to tell:
We have put the area on the map. There was no one coming here before. When we first started building people thought we were crazy building a hotel so remotely. It was partly because of economic reasons, it’s cheaper to be here, but now we just have to focus on guests that are looking for an authentic and remote experience, and it has worked well so far.
Linda and Michael share the same point of view and claim to be at the forefront of tourism in their region. Linda has already received an award from their region for her contribution to social media marketing and the region has included them among 11 others as ambassadors of La Marche. They explained how they needed to promote the area first in order to get visitors. Linda said:
In all honesty, knowing that we were choosing a small rural area, it was always in our business plan to promote the region first before promoting our business. We needed our visitors to feel like there was stuff to do around here in order for people to want to come.
Linda and Michael do also participate in local business meetings were stakeholders share ideas. Linda explained how many of the business owners are really behind. She added:
We try to go to those meetings and help and share our ideas. Many businesses are very behind, we have even had to teach business owners to put themselves on Google Maps.
Most of the region’s information is in Italian which forces foreigners to get help from them. They have also done workshops to help other Americans that are planning to move to Italy to start a business. They say they want to promote their new life to others:
