Theorizing Social Entrepreneurship Within Tourism Studies

Abstract

This chapter commences with a discussion of the term entrepreneurship as conceptualized by key economists, Schumpeter, von Mises, and Kirzner. Various fundamental theoretical linkages between the terms entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship are presented. Discussions related to the types of institutional sectors that encompass social entrepreneurship are discussed, namely, for profit, non profit, and public sector. The applicability of social entrepreneurship to the field of tourism is extensively discussed, particularly relating to sustainable tourism and other forms of tourism that attempt to respond the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations. The chapter presents an example of a tourism-related Native American owned social enterprise, DinéHozhó L3C, which was devised by the Navajo Tribe of Arizona, USA. The chapter ends with a presentation of four important research avenues that can contribute to further theorizations of social entrepreneurship and tourism. It is argued that further research into social enterprises related to various tourism sectors will be useful in amassing evidence for best practices within the field as augmenting theoretical bodies of knowledge. It is important for such scholastic endeavors to go beyond idealizing examples of social entrepreneurship in order to critically examine the sustainability (social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental) of such initiatives.