The Significance of Networking and Company Size in the Level of Creativeness of Tourism Companies: Antalya Case

Abstract

The importance of creativeness and networking in the attainment of global competitiveness has been emphasized in local development literature. The level of creativeness of a company is influenced by its level of networking at both global and local levels, as well as its “institutional thickness”. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of local, global and associational networking, as well as company size, in the contribution of tourism companies to the level of their creativeness. Following a different approach from previous research, this paper addresses the tourism dimension of networking and creativeness not only to tourism but also to local development literature by providing empirical evidence and employing a quantitative method of analysis based on a firm-level survey. The findings of the paper reveal that there is a relationship not only between the associational and global levels of networking and creativeness, but also between the size of a tourism company and its level of creativeness. Based on these findings, this paper emphasizes the need of a tourism company to develop networks at global levels in particular, but also at local and associational levels, to develop creative practices and to facilitate the sustainable development of tourism regions.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express her gratitude to Prof. Dr Ayda Eraydin for her comments on a previous version of this paper. Thanks go also to Dr Burak Beyhan for his helpful suggestions in data analysis, his support in the gathering of data and to Dr Pieter Terhorst for his valuable comments and discussions on the theoretical part of this paper.

Notes