A review of social entrepreneurship research in tourism: knowledge map, operational experiences, and roadmaps

Abstract

Despite the growing social entrepreneurship (SE) literature in other disciplines, the research on tourism social entrepreneurship (TSE) is still in its infancy, and the knowledge has not been explicitly mapped. Moreover, the existing literature consists primarily of descriptive case studies of successful TSE initiatives, and few of them have reached a comprehensive conclusion on operational experiences, nor have they further reflected on the mechanisms of how these operational experiences lead to more successful TSE. Given these voids, by systematically reviewing the extant literature, this paper contributes to the literature by depicting a knowledge map, extracting 17 operational experiences, and proposing two roadmaps demonstrating the mechanisms through which these operational experiences lead to more successful TSE. Additionally, we suggest potential theories to help researchers understand the relationships in the proposed roadmaps. Lastly, this review also critically discusses the limitations and gaps of the existing literature. Particularly, this review shows that TSE researchers usually maintain a somewhat uncritical and idealistic stance on the impact of TSE because they tend to uncritically acclaim TSE as a panacea for various social problems. Based on the limitations and gaps, we also provide recommendations for future research.

Keywords:

• tourism social entrepreneurship
• social enterprise
• social entrepreneur
• sustainable development
• community development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mingzhuo Wang

Mingzhuo Wang is currently a lecturer at the Department of Economics and Management of Weifang University of Science and Technology, China. He is also a PhD candidate at the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events of Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research interest areas contain sustainable tourism, rural tourism, tourism social entrepreneurship, and travel behaviour. He has published several articles in high impact journals such as Current Issues in Tourism, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh

Dr. S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh is an associate professor and director of Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research interest areas contain sustainable tourism, community participation, residents’ perceptions toward tourism development, and advanced quantitative analysis approaches. He has published widely in high impact journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, International Journal of Tourism Research, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management among others. Mostafa serves as a member of the editorial board of several reputed international journals.

Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran

Dr. Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran is a senior lecturer at the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events at Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research mainly focused on community-based tourism, indigenous tourism, sustainable tourism practices and cultural tourism studies. He is also the Honorary Treasurer of ASEAN Tourism Research Association(ATRA) and Associate Director of Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), Taylor’s University, Malaysia. He has published numerous scientific papers in reputable academic journals and books related to sustainability, tourism, and community development areas.