Tourism plays an ever more important role in Scotland’s rural economy. Although theudtourism industry in rural areas is typically presented by small firms, knowledge of theirudrole in sustainable rural development is limited. In particular, there has been littleuddiscussion about small tourism businesses’ (STB) contribution to social sustainabilityud(SS). However, the literature suggests that STBs can contribute to SS through theirudrelationship with the local community. While there is evidence to indicate that owner-udmanagers’ (OM) views and beliefs relate to their business’ relationship with the localudcommunity, this aspect has received little attention by STB scholars to date.udThis thesis explores how STB OMs’ views of their business’ local community and itsudrelationship with it can contribute to developing a better understanding of STBs’ roleudin SS. The research is informed by an interpretive-constructionist paradigm, and seeksudto examine OMs’ views from a different angle. Semi-structured interviews wereudconducted with 26 OMs of small accommodation businesses across 19 villages andudtowns in three rural areas in Scotland. These were specifically selected for theiruddifferences regarding the geographic, economic and policy environment. Participants’udresponses were analysed inductively and deductively to explore differences in theirudviews, and to examine how their understandings reflect the current conceptualisationudof lifestyle and profit oriented STB OMs.udThe results showed that the bifurcated conceptualisation of OMs was unsuitable forudaddressing the research aim. An inductive threefold typology of OMs emerged basedudon their views of their business’ local community and its relationship with it. Notably,udthe typology revealed additional and critical differences in OMs’ understandings toudthose that emerged from the deductive analysis of lifestyle and profit oriented OMs’udviews. The differences revealed by the new typology have implications for STBs’udpotential to contribute to SS locally and in the wider area.
展开▼
