Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 60 (2024) 429–440

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhtm

Sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism: The interaction between tourism

enterprise and community
Xinying Zeng a , Yaoqi Li a , Chun Zhang b, Xueru Yang c,*
a
School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University, No.2 University Road, Zhuhai, 528478, China
b
Department of Management and Marketing, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH, 45469, USA
c
College of Economics and Management, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, GuangZhou, 510642, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Sustainable entrepreneurship is an effective way to address tourism externalities to achieve sustainable tourism
Sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism development. However, few studies have focused on how to improve sustainable entrepreneurial performance,
Opportunity construction which is a key issue for sustainable entrepreneurship research in tourism. While existing studies have emphasized
Partnership
the value of partnerships in achieving sustainability goals, little is known about how partnerships should be
Corporate community involvement
Community participation in tourism
formed and the process mechanisms that influence sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism. Using a mixed-
entrepreneurship method approach, this study finds that the collaboration between tourism enterprises and communities, which
helps form stable partnerships, can promote active co-construction of sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities
to reduce resource barriers and interest conflicts, and thus enhance tourism sustainable entrepreneurship per-
formance. This study introduces the opportunity construction perspective to facilitate the understanding of
sustainable tourism entrepreneurship and to provide guidance for the design of sustainable development policies.

1. Introduction entrepreneurship performance in tourism.

Despite the considerable benefits of sustainable entrepreneurship in
Traditional tourism entrepreneurship tends to adopt a capitalist tourism, challenges such as resource barriers are inevitable (Dawo et al.,
model (Cró & Martins, 2023), which easily robs the community re- 2023; Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). How to address these challenges be-
sources, and causes cultural disconnect and environmental pollution comes crucial for sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism
(Guo et al., 2023; Solvoll et al., 2015). This undermines both the ex- (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). Sustainable entrepreneurship studies have
pected returns of the industry and hinders the sustainable development pointed out that building partnerships may help at a strategic level
of tourism (Aquino et al., 2018). The Sustainable Development Goals (Ratten, 2019). Many studies have focused on the important role of
(SDGs) have given a new direction to tourism (Aquino et al., 2018). tourism enterprises and communities in sustainable tourism develop-
Sustainable entrepreneurship aiming at generating economic benefits, ment (Dias et al., 2023). For example, tourism enterprises apply business
achieving social equity and reducing environmental damage is expected strategies to attract tourists to achieve tourism economic growth (Dahles
(Dawo et al., 2023) and is thriving in various sectors within the tourism et al., 2020) and support community development (Wu et al., 2023),
industry (Andrade-Valbuena et al., 2022). Although there is no specific while communities embark on cultural reproduction to provide tourism
indicator to measure the trend of sustainable entrepreneurship (Gu & development with resources (Ratten, 2020). However, both are often
Wang, 2022), its potential to contribute to sustainable development has considered independently, and few studies have placed them in the same
been recognized. Many studies suggested that sustainable entrepre- framework, with the interaction between tourism businesses and com-
neurship promotes sustainable community development (e.g., Aquino munities being neglected. Thus, existing studies fail to answer what role
et al., 2018; Aquino et al., 2022; Dahle et al., 2020). However, existing tourism businesses and communities can play in promoting sustainable
studies mostly still emphasize the significant benefits of sustainable entrepreneurship performance, which limits sustainable entrepreneur-
entrepreneurship in tourism (Andrade-Valbuena et al., 2022), and few ship in tourism.
studies have been conducted on how to enhance sustainable Opportunity construction theory suggests that entrepreneurial

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (X. Zeng), [email protected] (Y. Li), [email protected] (C. Zhang), [email protected]
(X. Yang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2024.09.001
Received 29 November 2023; Received in revised form 28 August 2024; Accepted 1 September 2024
Available online 12 September 2024
1447-6770/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of CAUTHE - COUNCIL FOR AUSTRALASIAN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY EDUCATION. All
rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
X. Zeng et al. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 60 (2024) 429–440

opportunities are co-constructed by multiple agents (Suddaby et al., entrepreneurial alertness, but they struggled to account for the recog-
2015) and that opportunities are realized through collaboration with nition of sustainability of entrepreneurial activity, i.e., obtaining social
others embedded in structured social interactions (Goss & Sadler-Smith, acceptance, which is important in the tourism field. Several studies have
2018). This theory alludes to the importance of partnerships in creating argued that building partnerships can play a role in achieving sustain-
opportunities and capitalizing on them (Wood & McKinley, 2010), as ability (Kallmuenzer & Peters, 2018; Welter et al., 2016), and the key
resource bricolage and interest consensus are emphasized (Wood & element implicit in such relationships is interaction. For example, the
McKinley, 2010). These are precisely the challenges that sustainable community engagement literature was embedded in this topic, empha-
entrepreneurship is more likely to face than other types of entrepre- sizing that communities benefit through their participation in tourism
neurship (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019) and the realities that sustainable entrepreneurial activities (Dahles et al., 2020). However, opportunity
tourism development has to address (Crnogaj et al., 2014). Therefore, itself is seldom mentioned, probably because traditional entrepreneur-
the opportunity construction theory can provide a theoretical founda- ship theory struggles to explain the interaction in the opportunity pro-
tion for this study because it is applicable to explain the interactions cess. The opportunity construction theory is suitable for exploring
between sustainable entrepreneurial agents in tourism and provide an subject interactions in sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism, which is
analytical framework for exploring how to enhance sustainable entre- why this theory was chosen as the theoretical foundation for this study.
preneurial performance in tourism. Specifically, the opportunity con-
struction theory can help us to identify approaches to establishing 2.2. Sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism
partnerships between tourism enterprises and communities, as well as to
analyze how such partnerships affect sustainable entrepreneurship SDGs have introduced new directions to the entrepreneurship field,
performance in tourism. with the emergence of entrepreneurship dedicated to achieving eco-
This study aims to explore how tourism enterprises and communities nomic, social, and ecological sustainability, such as sustainable entre-
can work together to enhance sustainable entrepreneurial performance preneurship (Solvoll et al., 2015). Academics have not developed a
in tourism by adopting a mixed-method approach. Firstly, a qualitative unified definition of sustainable entrepreneurship. For example,
study was conducted from the opportunity construction perspective to Pacheco et al. (2010) proposed that sustainable entrepreneurship is the
explore the partnership model between tourism enterprises and com- discovery, creation, evaluation, and utilization of opportunities to create
munities and its enhancement mechanism for sustainable entrepre- future goods and services in line with the goals of sustainable develop-
neurship performance. Then through quantitative research, we hope to ment. Hoogendoorn et al. (2019) argued that sustainable entrepre-
validate the findings and generalize the results. This study contributes to neurship is an entrepreneurial activity that is based on unmet social and
the literature on tourism sustainability by exploring the mechanism of environmental needs while pursuing the entrepreneurial subject’s
agent interaction in enhancing sustainable entrepreneurial performance self-interests and the collective interests of the community. Overall,
in tourism and providing guidance for policymakers to formulate pol- these definitions emphasize the importance of balance between goals.
icies to promote sustainable development. Sustainable entrepreneurship is an important way to promote the
virtuous development of communities and society as a whole (Ratten
2. Literature review et al., 2019) owing to the increased social mission in its business prac-
tices (Farinha et al., 2017). For this reason, sustainable entrepreneurship
2.1. Opportunity construction theory must have the ability to reconcile the divergence between economic,
social, and environmental issues (Tilley & Young, 2006) to address the
Whether opportunities are constructed or discovered is an ongoing resource barriers needed to balance the goals (Leal et al., 2016). As
concern in the entrepreneurial field (Alvarez & Barney, 2007; Wood & Hoogendoorn et al. (2019) found, sustainable entrepreneurship requires
McKinley, 2010). The traditional discovery perspective assumes that a breakthrough of greater financial, administrative, and informational
entrepreneurial agents identify opportunities before taking action, barriers than other entrepreneurship types. This means that the success
implying that opportunities are emergent and entrepreneurial activity of sustainable entrepreneurship is not only dependent on the creativity
loses uncertainty (Ramoglou & Tsang, 2016; Wright & Phan, 2020). As of the entrepreneur but also the support from the community (Shepherd
entrepreneurship research evolved and a single discovery perspective & Patzelt, 2011). The community is not only a beneficiary of sustainable
failed to explain the complexity of entrepreneurial activity, the creation entrepreneurship performance but also the facilitator of its successful
perspective was proposed (Alvarez & Barney, 2007). The emerging implementation (Esteves et al., 2021).
creation perspective, derived from social constructivism, focuses on the Tourism, as one of the first industries to put sustainable development
nature of opportunity, which is embedded in the social structure through on the agenda, is a fertile ground for sustainable entrepreneurship
interactions with others, which may be collaborative or resistant (Andrade-Valbuena et al., 2022). The traditional development model of
(Alvarez et al., 2013). The reality is that opportunities are not waiting to tourism entrepreneurship favors capitalism, where entrepreneurs are
be discovered by alert entrepreneurs, but rather expect inter-subjective driven by profit to develop resources, disempower communities to share
mutual fulfillment to enable opportunity creation. Certainly, this is not in the dividends of tourism development, and weaken the multiplier
to deny inter-subjective heterogeneity, i.e. why some people are able to effect of tourism development (Aquino et al., 2018). Sustainable entre-
identify or capitalize on opportunities (Alvarez & Barney, 2007). Some preneurship, as an emerging entrepreneurial practice aimed at
people in opportunity creation will be better at conceptualizing or balancing economic, social, and ecological goals, is an opportunity and
framing opportunities than others (Goss & Sadler-Smith, 2018), and inevitable choice for sustainable tourism development (Swanson &
some people have more resources that can make opportunity realization DeVereaux, 2017). Sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism aims to
accessible (Jamali et al., 2018). Overall, opportunity construction the- apply business methods to solve social and environmental problems in
ory suggests that the entrepreneurship opportunity is actually an inter- communities (Muñoz & Cohen, 2018), such as poverty, poor education,
subjective interactive process that requires not only conceptualization inadequate infrastructure, high unemployment, and other social needs
and actions but also the social recognition of its sustainability (Alvarez that cannot be met by traditional entrepreneurial models
et al., 2013; Jamali et al., 2018). (Andrade-Valbuena et al., 2022). For example, Aquino et al. (2018,
Tourism is a fertile ground for entrepreneurial activity, but theo- 2022) conceptualized sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism as a
retical research has not received enough attention relative to its prac- community-centered tourism development strategy by placing it within
tical prevalence (Ratten, 2020). Nikraftar and Hosseini (2016) explored a community framework. However, existing studies have not answered
the factors influencing entrepreneurial opportunity identification in how to achieve sustainable entrepreneurial performance in tourism.
tourism in terms of self-efficacy, prior knowledge, social networks, and Sustainable entrepreneurship and communities in tourism are

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inextricably linked (Dias et al., 2023). One reason is that communities

have a vested interest in sustainable entrepreneurial performance.
Research has shown that sustainable entrepreneurship can benefit
communities by supporting education, reducing poverty, providing
sustainable livelihoods, and developing sustainable tourism
(Andrade-Valbuena et al., 2022). These social performances are not only
reflected in the advancement of community economy, but also result in
social outcomes such as infrastructure improvement, cultural develop-
ment, and community togetherness (Aquino et al., 2022). In addition,
tourism sustainable entrepreneurship can mitigate the environmental
impacts of traditional tourism development because these businesses
minimize damage to the original ecology when producing nature-based
tourism products or services, such as reducing deforestation and wildlife
consumption practices (Aquino et al., 2018). The link between sustain-
able entrepreneurship and the community is also supported by the fact
that communities are the main participants in sustainable entrepre- Fig. 1. Overall research design.
neurship (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). More importantly, balancing goals
involves the distribution of benefits. Entrepreneurial agents must make community involvement in tourism is increasingly seen as an element of
an agreement with the community on this, otherwise, the conflicts that strategic management and an important tool that can help companies
are triggered can limit their development potential or even lead to embed themselves in the community in order to achieve sustainable
entrepreneurial failure (Fischer et al., 2020). For instance, Laeis and development goals and gain competitive advantages (Madanaguli et al.,
Lemke (2016) highlighted how interest conflicts in sustainable entre- 2022). Studies have been conducted to categorize corporate community
preneurship programs limit their potential and the importance of in- involvement into philanthropic, transactional, and integrative stages
teractions between stakeholders. Nevertheless, it is not yet known how based on the degree of embeddedness in the community. Deeper
stakeholders interact with each other and what impact they have on embeddedness in the community represents the efforts made by the
sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism. enterprise as well as the growing status of the community (Delannon
et al., 2016).
Tourism sustainability also largely depends on local community
2.3. Sustainable tourism entrepreneurship from the opportunity participation, which is one of the pathways to building partnerships
construction theory (Dahles et al., 2020; Movono & Becken, 2018). Most approaches to
community participation in tourism that have been studied are aimed at
Not all stakeholders are interested in sustainable entrepreneurship in making profits and often do not include participation in the planning
tourism, so entrepreneurial agents have to work together to achieve and management of tourism entrepreneurship (Bramwell & Sharman,
their goals (Savage et al., 2010). Partnerships are essential for balancing 2002). Such approaches only involve marginalized populations in
conflicts between the economy, society, and environment (Ratten et al., tourism production, and therefore can only increase the marginal level
2019) and win-win situations can be achieved through it (Esteves et al., of community participation rather than truly achieving community
2021). Opportunity construction theory can explain the important embeddedness in tourism development (Dahles et al., 2020). A growing
impact of partnerships (Suddaby et al., 2015). Opportunities are realized number of studies have identified the drawbacks of the traditional
through collaboration with others, which is a mutual achievement and a community participation approaches and encouraged an increased level
win-win situation among entrepreneurial agents (Goss & Sadler-Smith, of community embeddedness in tourism development (Gannon et al.,
2018). From the opportunity construction perspective, forming part- 2021). Dahles et al. (2020) proposed three community participation
nerships between enterprises and communities is the foundation of the models with different levels of embeddedness, which are cash cows (e.g.,
creation of sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities and the realization providing resources), community empowerment (e.g., actively inter-
of sustainable entrepreneurial performance. Therefore, to ensure the acting with tourists), and inclusive business models (e.g., becoming a
sustainability of tourism entrepreneurship, both enterprises and com- corporate associate or partner). This categorization implies that the
munities should be responsive to sustainable entrepreneurship practices higher the level of community participation in tourism, the higher the
and actively promote partnership building (Ragab & Attallah, 2020). likelihood of establishing partnerships for sustainable entrepreneurship
However, little research has been conducted to understand how enter- in tourism.
prises and communities in tourism sustainable entrepreneurship build
partnerships to promote sustainable entrepreneurship.
Partnership within sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism is not an 2.4. Overall research design
effort of a single actor towards another actor’s development, but rather a
process in which both actors are involved in each other’s goal Improving sustainable entrepreneurial performance in tourism is a
achievement (Dahles et al., 2020). As such, efforts from both the en- complex issue, and this topic has not been adequately studied. The
terprise and the community sides are important to achieve the part- research objectives include 1) exploring the realization path of sus-
nership. The process in which the enterprise side takes the initiative to tainable entrepreneurship in tourism from the interaction between
work with government organizations, community self-organizations, tourism enterprises and communities, and 2) validating the proposed
and residents to solve social problems in the community is called model. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to achieve these
corporate community involvement (Liu et al., 2013). Unlike tourism objectives, which can compensate for the limitations of a single
CSR, tourism corporate community involvement is a strategic choice to approach (Creswell et al., 2003). An exploratory sequential design was
pursue sustainable development to balance corporate economic perfor- followed, whereby a qualitative study was first conducted to propose a
mance with community interests (Bowen et al., 2010). Corporate conceptual model, which was then tested via a quantitative study. This

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research design is appropriate because its findings are direct and clear, Table 1
and also generate unique conceptualizations to explain phenomena in Interviewee information.
the field (Creswell & Clark, 2017). Number Identity Gender Interview Interview
As shown in Fig. 1, a qualitative study was conducted in Phase 1 to number time
propose an enterprise-community integrated model to predict sustain- No.1 Party branch secretary and Male 6 348min
able entrepreneurial performance. We chose a tourism sustainable general manager
entrepreneurship project as a case object to analyze the interaction No.2 Operations director Female 2 60min
pattern between tourism enterprises and communities and its influence No.3 Administrative director Male 1 45min
No.4 Employee A Female 1 18min
mechanism on sustainable entrepreneurial performance. Phase 1 pro- No.5 Employee B (Return to Female 1 15min
vides the conceptual model for Phase 2. Phase 2 aimed to enhance the hometown)
external validity of the study by validating the theoretical model. A No.6 Employee C (Former owner Male 1 30min
quantitative study was conducted in Phase 2 to strengthen the external of a farmhouse）
No.7 Local businessman Male 2 60min
validity of findings by testing the conceptual model proposed in Phase 1.
(Returning college students)
A survey was conducted on tourism enterprises and the data was used No.8 Village secretary and village Male 2 230min
for quantitative study. head
No.9 Village cadres Male 1 20min
3. Study methods No.10 Farm Bureau staff Female 2 80min
No.11 Cultural and Tourism Female 1 30min
Bureau staff
3.1. Study 1: qualitative exploration No.12 Co-operative staff Female 1 25min

3.1.1. Sample and data collection

Jiulong Small Town was selected as a case study, which is a suc-
cessful sustainable tourism project developed by Guoye Tourism En- performance is not something that can be achieved in the short term, the
terprise and the local community. Jiulong Small Town is located in follow-up study was able to identify changes in the subject’s strategies
Hetou Village, Jiulong Town, Yingde City, China, which is situated in and their effects. The field research was carried out for 5 years. The
the mountainous area of northern Guangdong Province, with inconve- researchers conducted field observations in normal years, and they kept
nient transportation, barren land, and long-term droughts and floods, in touch via WeChat and actively followed the project’s operations
resulting in group poverty in the community. Jiulong Town around the during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to enhance the transparency
abundant tourism resources of mountain forests, more well-known in and overall credibility of the study, researchers maintained an objective
Guangdong Province in the 1980s, and yet in the lack of development observer status during the data collection process to minimize the in-
funds and experience, its tourism resources have not been fully utilized. fluence of self-attitudes on the content and process of the interviews
It was not until 2014 that the village secretary of Hetou Village, as the （Yeager et al., 2021）
representative of the community, invited the entrepreneur to investigate Semi-structured interviews were used for primary data collection,
the tourism resources, which became the beginning of the construction and the selection of interviewees aimed to represent different role
of Jiulong Small Town. Since then, the community has set up a com- players in the sustainable tourism project (as shown in Table 1). The
mittee to continuously consult and negotiate with Guoye Tourism En- general manager of the enterprise and the village secretary of the
terprise on the development plan and benefit distribution of the Jiulong community are the people who have experienced the whole process of
Small Town Project. Jiulong Small Town is an integrated accommoda- developing Jiulong Small Town, in which the village secretary acts as
tion, catering, amusement, and agricultural products selling project. the representative of the community who invited the enterprise to
Currently, the Jiulong Small Town plays a pivotal role in promoting develop a sustainable tourism project. In order to comprehend the case
local economic development, labor employment, and community in depth, we also conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives
stability. and ordinary employees of the enterprise, local businessmen, govern-
Jiulong Small Town was chosen because of its typicality and theo- ment representatives, and so on. Theoretical sampling principles guided
retical constructive value (Eisenhardt, 1989). On the one hand, the us in recruiting interviewees, while enterprise representatives and
development plans of Jiulong Small Town have balanced economic, community representatives provided us with recruitment channels. We
social, and ecological performance, which is a typical tourism sustain- also recruited some local entrepreneurs as interviewees during field
able entrepreneurship project. Jiulong Small Town has helped solve the visits. We interviewed the interviewees on the background and process
social problems stemming from poor local economic and social condi- of program development, the initial intention and participation
tions and low education levels of community residents, which helps to approach, and the broader impact of the project. In addition, official
explain the generation path of sustainable entrepreneurial performance media materials such as ‘Nanfang Daily’, enterprise official websites,
in tourism. This is in line with the request of the theoretical sampling and secondary materials from third-party platforms were used as data
principle for the case object, which can better reflect the research sources that could better satisfy triangulation (Yin, 2009). The in-
problem. On the other hand, the development and operation process of terviews were audio-recorded and re-arranged into documented mate-
Jiulong Small Town fully embodies inter-agent interaction, which rials, with a total of 16 h of recorded materials as well as 140,000
demonstrates good theoretical construction value. Tourism enterprises transcribed words.
and communities have not only consulted and negotiated on the op-
portunity feasibility and benefit distribution but also enhanced entre- 3.1.2. Data analysis and coding
preneurial sustainability through resource matching. It reflects An inductive and deductive approach was combined. The opportu-
cooperative patterns in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship in which nity construction theory served as a theoretical foundation to help us
subjects co-construct opportunities. iteratively validate the validity of the constructs, and the dialogic pro-
Given that the balance between sustainable entrepreneurial cess energized the theory. We performed a three-stage coding. In the first

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Fig. 2. Example of coding process.

stage, all materials were carefully reviewed and then 174 original and I would also tell him some of the villagers’ ideas about the
statements or passages were extracted, which represent essential ele- method of land use … Matters such as land use, compensation
ments of the original text that are highly relevant to the research packages, rural work, and so on, we would discuss with the Council
question (Miles & Huberman, 1994). These codes were then reassessed, and communicate the results to the enterprise side.
refined, and combined in the second stage to obtain more manageable
Continuous involvement of tourism enterprises in solving commu-
amounts of categories. The categories are then further categorized and
nity problems and active participation of communities in tourism
assessed to form themes in the third stage, and potential connections
entrepreneurship has led to a higher degree of embeddedness between
between themes are identified (Gioia et al., 2013). An iterative process
enterprises and communities (Dahles et al., 2020). It can be said that
was employed and coding was done dynamically by consulting between
tourism enterprises and communities have formed a more stable and
the data and the literature (Kähr et al., 2016). In addition, coding was
trusting partnership, which is very important for tourism development
done independently by the three team members, and codes that were in
(Ratten et al., 2019). For example, the village head, who is a community
disagreement were discussed and revised until a consensus was reached.
representative, mentioned that they invested more than 2 million dollars
Fig. 2 presents an example of the coding process.
of poverty alleviation money issued by the government into the tourism
enterprise:
3.1.3. Results
The qualitative data presented that tourism enterprises put efforts Many people have asked me why I am investing so much money into
into involving themselves in solving community problems. For instance, this program. This is actually a request from all the poor households
tourism enterprises donate money to improve community infrastruc- in the community because this program represents a partnership
ture, such as bridges, street lights, playgrounds, and public shrines; they between us and the enterprise that produces mutual benefits.
also set up rainbow funds to support university students and sick fam-
It is evident that such partnerships also provide resources for sus-
ilies (charitable donations). Tourism enterprises regularly invite medical
tainability in tourism entrepreneurship beyond just capital and labor
teams to visit the community (medical assistance). Residents are given
(Ratten, 2019). In addition, the mutual embedding of tourism enter-
priority employment in the tourism enterprise and are provided with
prises and communities brings about a range of social outcomes that
adequate training and promotion opportunities (employment opportu-
directly contribute to sustainable entrepreneurial performance (Dahles
nities). In addition, tourism enterprises regularly organize art activities
et al., 2020). The improvement of community atmosphere and tourism
and reward good deeds to improve the quality of community residents
facilities not only enhances social benefits but also lays the foundation
and enhance their ability to interact with tourists (community empow-
for tourism development to attract more tourists. For example, a tourism
erment). This reflects the leading role of enterprises, which is rarely
enterprise representative mentioned:
mentioned in the existing literature on corporate community involve-
ment (Delannon et al., 2016) (see Fig. 3). Now the bridge in the village has been built, and streetlights have
The findings also indicate that communities can also participate in been installed from the village to the town, which is something that
the tourism development process as entrepreneurial agents (Dahles no other village has. Our development over the past few years has
et al., 2020). The community owns tourism resources, such as land, ranked among the top in the entire Qingyuan City. I don’t know if
which can be transferred to tourism enterprises to obtain rent and div- you’ve heard, but we held an event in May that attracted a lot of
idends (resource participation). Community residents can not only be tourists.
employed in tourism enterprises (employment participation) but also
The importance of partnerships in sustainable entrepreneurship
run stores, restaurants, and lodging to expand the scope of tourism
echoes previous research findings (e.g., Ratten, 2019; Dahles et al.,
entrepreneurship (business participation). More importantly, the com-
2020; Esteves et al., 2021), and substantiates the following proposition:
munity can play a more active role in the process of tourism entrepre-
neurship, participating in the program setting and process management Proposition 1. Embeddedness between enterprise and community posi-
of tourism development (management participation) (Xu et al., 2019). tively affects sustainable entrepreneurial performance in tourism.
In the interview, a community representative mentioned:
Tourism enterprises and communities co-construct sustainable
We took the initiative to invite him to come over for development … entrepreneurial opportunities through a process that involves shaping
When they were developing here, I often went over to talk to him, entrepreneurial ideas, testing project feasibility, and negotiating

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between the actors to form a joint development program (Wright & partnerships are more conducive for tourism enterprises to engage in
Phan, 2020). Tourism enterprises will first assess the tourism resources sustainable entrepreneurship with communities because they influence
needed for tourism development, then estimate the support they can each other and trust each other. Accordingly, the following relationship
receive through the community, and finally evaluate their own devel- is proposed:
opment capacity and capital level (Wood & McKinley, 2010). The
Proposition 2. Embeddedness between enterprise and community posi-
community also found that Jiulong Town has poor natural conditions
tively affects the opportunity construction orientation.
but unique tourism resources, and the tourism enterprise has a good
reputation and capacity for development. The tourism enterprise and Co-construction of sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities be-
the community formed an initial idea and then reached an agreement to tween tourism enterprises and communities reduces conflicts in the
select a combination of resources, thus forming a consensus on the entrepreneurial process. As “outsiders” to the community, how tourism
feasibility of the opportunity (Goss & Sadler-Smith, 2018Goss & enterprises manage conflicts with the local community is one of the keys
Sadler-Smith, 2018). In the end, the tourism enterprise and the com- to successful entrepreneurship. Community representatives can act as a
munity will form a joint development plan based on the moderator in this process, helping tourism enterprises deal with inter-
pre-development pacification work, the land transfer method, the personal relationships with community members. As mentioned by a
development main body, and the benefit distribution. community representative:
Interactions between tourism enterprises and communities influence
During the development process, the owner also came over to chat
mutual perceptions and can stimulate the formation of entrepreneurial
with me frequently, and I would instruct him on how to do rural
ideas (Alvarez & Barney, 2007). The most typical example is that the
work … telling him that he had just come over and that he should not
interaction between entrepreneurs and the community reduces the
have conflicts with the villagers. Minor conflicts are inevitable, but
community’s skepticism towards tourism enterprises. As mentioned by a
villagers are profit-oriented, so handling the distribution of benefits
community representative:
well will reduce conflicts.
The first thing that struck me about him was his integrity … and then
Communities are a great resource channel for tourism enterprises to
the certainty of our ideas … and indeed the obvious respect for the
develop sustainable entrepreneurship (Esteves et al., 2021). Currently,
local area when he came.
98% of the staff of Jiulong Small Town, a tourism sustainable entre-
Partnerships reduce resistance to the objectification of sustainable preneurship program, are community residents. The community’s
entrepreneurial opportunities and shape a collaborative program that poverty alleviation funds are also invested in Jiulong Small Town. The
balances economic, social, and ecological performance. The active community is responsible for operating the parking lot and agricultural
participation of the community and the concessions made by the en- stores in Jiulong Small Town. More importantly, community participa-
terprises not only reduced community resentment towards the enter- tion in the construction of tourism entrepreneurship opportunities al-
prises as "outsiders", but also motivated community residents to help the lows community members to voice their opinions, thus integrating
enterprises solve their problems. For example, as mentioned by an en- community interests into the co-development program (Dahles et al.,
terprise representative: 2020). For example, the income from land transfer in Jiulong Small
Town is partly from rent and partly from fixed dividends, which aims to
We have done a lot of work, so the community is very willing to come
make the community’s income sustainable. Co-development between
and help with anything on the enterprise side. Even the neighboring
tourism enterprises and communities also honors the “ownership” of the
villages help us because we help them.
enterprises to help them focus on the long-term development of the
The evidence illustrates that partnerships influence the construction communities. Nature conservation is emphasized in the development
of sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities in tourism. When tourism and construction process. This was emphasized, for example, by a
enterprises interact with communities, both sides will have a clearer business representative:
understanding of each other’s situation and stronger trust in each other
We have a policy of respecting nature and protecting resources, so we
(Wood & McKinley, 2010). As a result, tourism enterprises and com-
don’t modify the environment very much … The hot air balloons and
munities will also be more willing to develop tourism opportunities and
powered parachutes that you’ve seen don’t damage the environment
operate tourism programs with each other. For example, as mentioned
… Before it was developed it was a farm, and because it would
by a community representative:
pollute the environment, we converted it into a multi-purpose
Many tourism enterprises have approached me, saying that they classroom.
want to come here to develop tourism projects, but I have never
These excerpts illustrate that tourism enterprises and communities
handed over the development rights … The reason why I have never
working together on sustainable tourism entrepreneurship can achieve
handed over the development rights is because I don’t think those
resource pooling and reduce conflicts, which are precisely the greater
bosses are trustworthy. This boss had done a good job with another
obstacles that sustainable entrepreneurship faces than other entrepre-
project before, and the neighborhood had developed, so I was able to
neurial forms (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). In addition, as the agents are
hand it over to him with confidence.
connected to form a development community, not only will tourism
It is important to note that tourism enterprises and communities are enterprises be motivated more to pay attention to the social and envi-
not fixed partners, and many tourism entrepreneurship practices have ronmental impacts of entrepreneurship, but also the community will
very low levels of community involvement in constructing opportu- have more voice to express their demands for benefits. Therefore, we
nities. Thus, opportunity construction is also not a status quo, but an hypothesize that.
entrepreneurial orientation that can be influenced by partnerships. This
Proposition 3. Opportunity construction orientation positively affects
is in line with Ramoglou and Tsang (2016). We hypothesize that stable
sustainable entrepreneurial performance.

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Fig. 3. Conceptual model.

3.2. Study 2: quantitative corroboration performance was measured using five items adapted from Liu et al. (2015).
Before administering the questionnaire, a pilot test was conducted in
3.2.1. Survey instrument Guangzhou, China, to ensure no misinterpretation about the questions were
Our survey consisted of two parts. The first part solicited socio- raised. Some items were slightly modified based on participants’ feedback.
demographic information on entrepreneurs and corporate profiles. The
second part measured enterprise community involvement, community 3.2.2. Sample and data collection
participation in tourism entrepreneurship, opportunity construction This study used a convenience sampling methodology, distributing
orientation, and sustainable entrepreneurial performance. To maintain questionnaires through channels provided by the Cultural and Tourism
measurement equivalence between the Chinese and English versions of Bureau, industry associations, and personal relationships. Data collection
these scales, a back-translation procedure was implemented. Responses was executed in 2020. Limited by epidemic prevention and control re-
were recorded using a five-point Likert scale, with 1 denoting ‘totally quirements, the formal survey was conducted online, which mitigates re-
disagree’ and 5 signifying ‘totally agree’. spondents’ concerns regarding infection associated with face-to-face
Measurement items for each construct were adapted from prior studies interactions and enables quicker access to survey data with wider coverage.
(Please see Table 3). A five-item scale developed by Yang et al. (2019) was The data were collected in 14 provinces, mainly in Hunan and
employed to measure enterprise community involvement. Four items Guangdong, including 56 counties or districts in 28 cities. The sample
measuring community participation in tourism entrepreneurship were covered both regions with good tourism development (e.g., Guangzhou,
adapted from Lee (2013), which was initially used to illustrate the com- Luoyang) and regions with poor tourism development (e.g., Loudi,
munity resident support for sustainable tourism. Enterprise community Heyuan). The sample evenly covered the business types of accommoda-
involvement and community participation in tourism entrepreneurship tion, catering, and entertainment (as shown in Table 2), which is basically
represent two aspects of embeddedness between enterprise and commu- consistent with the tourism business categorization criteria (National
nity. Two items measuring opportunity construction orientation were Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Overall, the sample is well represented.
adopted from González et al. (2019) to assess the extent to which entre- Business owners or managers were invited to participate in the sur-
preneurial opportunities are co-created by enterprises and communities. vey. Prior to completing the survey, respondents were informed that all
Sustainable entrepreneurial performance is a second-order construct data would be exclusively used for academic research, as well as that
composed of three first-order factors: social performance, environmental their personal and business information would be kept completely
performance, and economic performance (Elkington, 1997; Tarnanidis confidential. A total of 518 questionnaires were returned, and 502 valid
et al., 2019). Specifically, social performance measured by a five-item scale questionnaires were deemed complete and valid, representing an
was adopted from Soto-Acosta et al. (2016). Five items were used (Paille effective rate of 96.91%. Entrepreneur’s characteristics and company
et al., 2014) to measure environmental performance. Economic profiles are detailed in Table 2.

Table 2
Demographic profiles.
Variable Percentage Variable Percentage Variable Percentage

Gender Enterprise age Primary business

Male 72.3% Less than 5 49.2% Accommodation 27.6%
Female 27.7% 6–10 30.5% Catering 31.6%
Education 11–20 19.3% Entertainment 30.2%
Junior high school 4.2% Above 21 1.0% Others 10.6%
High school 21.1% Employee number Operating income (2019)
Junior college 35.9% Less than 10 74.5% Less than 200,000 52.0%
Undergraduate 36.5% 11–30 16.5% 200,001–800,000 26.3%
Master’s degree or above 2.4% 31–50 2.4% 800,001–5,000,000 16.5%
Age 51–100 4.4% Above 5,000,000 5.2%
Less than 30 13.5% Above 100 2.2%
31–40 35.3% Location
41–50 35.9% City 36.1%
51–60 13.7% Suburb 16.5%
Above 60 1.6% Village 47.4%

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Table 3 Table 4
Scale items for the constructs. Means, Standard deviations, and intercorrelations between variables.
Scale items Factor Skewness Kurtosis Mean S.D. 1 2 4 5
Loading
Enterprise community 3.605 0.767 0.693
Enterprise community involvement (Yang et al., 2019) involvement
(CA ¼ 0.914, AVE ¼ 0.693, CR ¼ 0.918) Community 3.612 0.765 0.602a 0.843
We are actively involved in local community 0.828 − 0.580 0.650 participation in
management tourism
We are actively involved in decision-making 0.851 − 0.477 0.351 entrepreneurship
that matters to the local community Opportunity 3.265 0.790 0.561a 0.488a 0.774
We share the benefits with the local 0.719 − 0.526 0.171 construction
a a
community Sustainable 3.784 0.622 0.649 0.623 0.523a 0.626
We are seen as part of the local community 0.915 − 0.556 0.820 entrepreneurial
We are successful when our community 0.836 − 0.607 0.942 performance
develops well
Community participation in tourism entrepreneurship (Lee, 2013) (CA ¼ 0.955, Note:
AVE ¼ 0.843, CR ¼ 0.955) **p<0.01, *p < 0.05. Number on the diagonal show square roots of AVE.
a
The community supports enterprise 0.895 0.012 − 0.196 p < 0.01.
sustainability
The community is concerned about the 0.918 − 0.089 − 0.059
tourism development Table 5
The community provides advice on tourism 0.946 − 0.134 0.134 Results of the structural model test.
development
The community is willing to share the 0.912 − 0.215 0.348 Path Estimate Std. SE CR Testing of
benefits with the enterprise Estimate hypothesis
Sustainable entrepreneurial performance (Second-order construct) (CA ¼ 0.947,
Enterprise community 0.499a 0.666 0.045 10.970
AVE ¼ 0.774, CR ¼ 0.912)
involvement →
Social performance (Soto-Acosta et al., 0.885
Opportunity
2016)
construction
(CA ¼ 0.911, AVE ¼ 0.682, CR ¼ 0.914)
orientation
We promote employee well-being 0.814 − 0.247 0.050
Community 0.264a 0.349 0.036 7.241
We promote community development 0.896 − 0.258 0.199
participation in
We establish long-term cooperation with 0.782 − 0.412 0.326
tourism
business partners
entrepreneurship →
Our products/services bring economic 0.909 − 0.220 0.161
Opportunity
benefits to the community
construction
The co-operating companies make a 0.712 − 0.227 − 0.131
orientation
reasonable profit
Embeddedness − 0.017 − 0.026 0.037 − 0.469 H1 was not
Environmental performance (Paille et al., 0.882
between enterprise supported
2014)
and community →
(CA ¼ 0.929, AVE ¼ 0.736, CR ¼ 0.933)
Sustainable
We reduce the environmental impact of our 0.796 − 0.385 0.323
entrepreneurial
products and services
performance
We reduce waste and emissions from 0.951 − 0.456 0.465
Embeddedness 0.119b 0.168 0.041 2.921 H2 was
production processes
between enterprise supported
We reduce the risk of environmental 0.944 − 0.488 0.653
and community →
accidents and spills
Opportunity
We reduce the purchases of non-renewable 0.824 − 0.365 − 0.287
construction
materials
orientation
We reduce our environmental impact by 0.757 − 0.378 − 0.022
Opportunity 0.792a 0.837 0.071 11.165 H3 was
establishing cooperation
construction supported
Economic performance (Liu et al., 2015) 0.873
orientation →
(CA ¼ 0.849, AVE ¼ 0.538, CR ¼ 0.847)
Sustainable
Our profitability is strong in typical years 0.587 − 0.285 0.210
entrepreneurial
We achieve our financial targets 0.501 − 0.127 − 0.048
performance
We have a high level of customer satisfaction 0.883 − 0.381 0.109
We create value for our customers 0.898 − 0.505 0.585 Note:
We have expanded our business 0.713 − 0.410 0.462 ***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p < 0.05.
Opportunity construction (González et al., 2017) a
p < 0.001.
(CA ¼ 0.766, AVE ¼ 0.626, CR ¼ 0.770) b
p < 0.01.
We collaborated with the local community to 0.755 − 0.405 0.463
design a solution to the issue
We collaborated with the local community to 0.826 − 0.222 0.674 of the measurement model (As shown in Table 3). Skewness and kurtosis
create a new solution to the issue values were used to test the normality of the data (Kim, 2013). The
Note: CA=Cronbach’s alpha, AVE = average variance extracted, CR = composite skewness values ranged from − 0.607 to 0.012 and kurtosis values
reliability. ranged from − 0.287 to 0.942, indicating a normal distribution of the
data. Table 3 shows that the measurement model has robust reliability
3.2.3. Data analysis and results and validity. The Cronbach’s α as well as the composite reliability for
We tested common method variance following Podsakoff et al. each variable exceed the threshold of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2010). The stan-
(2003) by utilizing Harman’s single-factor test. The results showed that dardized factor loading of each item (0.501–0.951) is highly significant.
common method bias was not a concern in the current study as the The AVE of each variable is greater than 0.5, and the square root of the
variance explained by the first factor did not exceed 40%. Moreover, AVE value of each latent variable is greater than its associations with
multicollinearity tests were performed and the results (all variance other variables (Please see Table 4), demonstrating that discriminant
inflation factors remained under 4.0) corroborated that collinearity did validity is attained. The overall measurement model fit is acceptable (χ2
not present a concern in this research. = 761.273, df = 255, χ2/df = 2.985, RMSEA = 0.063, CFI = 0.958, IFI =
Using Amos 25.0 software, we performed CFA to evaluate the quality 0.958, TLI = 0.946).

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Table 6
Results of indirect and direct effect.
Bias-corrected 95%CI Percentile 95%CI

Estimate SE Lower Upper p Lower Upper p

Indirect effect 0.141 0.068 0.021 0.280 0.010 0.021 0.280 0.010
Direct effect − 0.026 0.060 − 0.168 0.111 0.703 − 0.170 0.108 0.648

We employed structural equation modeling to examine all hypoth- co-construct opportunities and generate positive effects.
eses proposed. The results indicate that the fit of the structural model is We then conduct quantitative research to examine the conceptual
also acceptable (χ2 = 1052.388, df = 360, χ2/df = 2.923, RMSEA = model proposed by the qualitative study. This study found that part-
0.062, CFI = 0.948, IFI = 0.949, TLI = 0.937). As shown in Table 5, nerships do not have a direct impact on sustainable entrepreneurship in
propositions (hypotheses) 2–3 are supported, while proposition (hy- tourism, while previous studies have not proposed the important role of
pothesis) 1 is not supported. Specifically, enterprise community opportunity construction (Jamali et al., 2018). Partnerships formed by
involvement is positively related to opportunity construction orienta- the mutual embeddedness of tourism enterprises and communities
tion (β = 0.499, p < 0.001), as well as community participation in enhance sustainable entrepreneurship performance through their joint
tourism entrepreneurship is positively related to opportunity construc- participation in the opportunity construction process. This finding val-
tion orientation (β = 0.264, p < 0.001). The embeddedness between idates the argument that sustainable entrepreneurship does face more
enterprise and community has a significant positive effect on opportu- barriers and needs to balance more conflicts than remaining entrepre-
nity construction orientation (β = 0.168, p < 0.01). Therefore, propo- neurial forms (Hoogendoorn et al., 2019). It is inevitable that tourism
sition (hypothesis) 2 was supported. A significant positive correlation enterprises and communities work together to create sustainable
exists between opportunity construction orientation and sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities.
entrepreneurial performance (β = 0.837, p < 0.001), supporting prop-
osition (hypothesis) 3. However, the direct effect of the embeddedness
4.2. Theoretical implications
between enterprise and community on sustainable entrepreneurial
performance is insignificant, which indicates that proposition (hypoth-
First, this study proposes a pathway for improving sustainable
esis) 1 is not supported.
entrepreneurial performance in tourism based on the opportunity con-
Table 6 shows the results of indirect and direct effects. The results
struction theory, which compensates that sustainable entrepreneurship
reveal that the embeddedness between enterprise and community has a
research focuses on the outcome rather than the route. Many studies
significant indirect effect on sustainable entrepreneurial performance
have emphasized the great potential of sustainable entrepreneurship in
(Indirect effect = 0.141, 95% CI not including 0). This indirect effect is
tourism (e.g., Andrade-Valbuena et al., 2022; Aquino et al., 2022; Dahle
generated through the mediator opportunity construction orientation.
et al., 2020), as well as some studies have realized the difficulty of
Moreover, the direct effect is not significant (Direct effect = − 0.026,
achieving sustainable entrepreneurial performance (e.g., Hoogendoorn
95% CI including 0). Thus, opportunity construction orientation plays a
et al., 2019). Nonetheless, few studies have explored approaches to
full mediating role.
achieving sustainable entrepreneurial performance in tourism, which is
precisely the issue that must be addressed to support sustainable tourism
4. Discussion and conclusions
development (Dawo et al., 2023). This study introduces an opportunity
construction perspective and develops a conceptual model in which
4.1. Summary
tourism enterprises and communities are embedded in partnerships to
co-construct entrepreneurial opportunities to achieve sustainable
Sustainable entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly prominent in
entrepreneurial performance in tourism. The findings contribute to the
promoting sustainable tourism development, and therefore pathways to
sustainable entrepreneurship literature by complementing the lack of
achieve sustainable entrepreneurial performance in tourism need to be
performance realization pathways.
further explored. Although existing studies have emphasized the
Second, this study discovers the possibility of win-win cooperation in
important role of tourism enterprises and communities, little is known
tourism sustainable entrepreneurship by identifying the channels
about how they work together. Using a mixed-method approach, this
through which tourism enterprises and communities form partnerships,
study proposes a model in which tourism enterprises and communities
which not only enriches the tourism sustainability literature but also
are embedded in each other to form a partnership to co-construct sus-
contributes to the opportunity construction theory. Traditional entre-
tainable entrepreneurial opportunities and thus achieve sustainable
preneurship research has generally viewed tourism enterprises as dis-
entrepreneurial performance.
possessors of tourism resources from the community and the community
We start with an exploratory study to summarize the specific stra-
as a divider of economic benefits from tourism enterprises (Gu & Zheng,
tegies of tourism enterprises’ involvement in solving community prob-
2021). In addition, although partnerships have been considered key to
lems and communities’ participation in tourism entrepreneurship.
achieving sustainability (Ratten, 2019; Dahles et al., 2020), existing
Extending previous research that emphasized collaboration (e.g., Rat-
studies have not answered how to establish partnerships. We propose
ten, 2019; Dahles et al., 2020; Esteves et al., 2021), we found that
that a stable and mutually supportive partnership can be created
tourism enterprises and communities are able to form a stable partner-
through tourism enterprise involvement in solving community problems
ship through mutual embedding. The partnership reduces suspicions
and community participation in tourism entrepreneurship. This breaks
against each other, leading to a greater willingness to construct sus-
with traditional views and provides a new perspective on achieving
tainable entrepreneurial opportunities with each other. The
sustainable tourism development.
construction-oriented sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities can
Finally, this study places tourism enterprises and communities in a
enhance sustainable entrepreneurial performance in tourism by
framework to identify the joint role of tourism enterprises and com-
enabling resource patchwork, reducing interest conflicts, and increasing
munities in promoting sustainable entrepreneurship, which breaks the
the ownership of tourism enterprises and the power of the community to
fragmentation of the corporate community involvement literature and
make them focus on the social benefits and environmental impacts of
community participation in tourism literature. Previous studies have
development. The findings echo the subject interactions emphasized by
identified the important role of tourism enterprises and communities in
Wood and McKinley (2010) and complement how subjects interact to
accelerating the destination’s development (e.g., Lee, 2013; Yang et al.,

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X. Zeng et al. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 60 (2024) 429–440

2019). However, they are often discussed separately (Dahles et al., 2020; damage when transforming natural resources. Communities can also
Solvoll et al., 2015), and few studies have suggested that combining enhance opportunity viability, such as community self-organizations
them may have unintended effects. This study finds that mutual that can invest in sustainable tourism projects, or collect residents’
embedding of tourism enterprises and communities can reduce resource opinions to provide suggestions for projects.
barriers and interest conflicts in sustainable entrepreneurship, thereby
enhancing the feasibility of sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities 4.4. Limitations and future research
in tourism. This study supplements the combined role of tourism en-
terprises and communities in achieving sustainable entrepreneurial Our study certainly has limitations but opens opportunities for future
performance in tourism, facilitating the connection between the com- extensions. The process of constructing sustainable entrepreneurial op-
munity engagement literature and entrepreneurship research. portunities in tourism is a multi-participant process. Tourism destina-
tions involve multiple agents such as tourism enterprises, communities,
4.3. Practical implications governments, and consumers. Although our study found the interaction
pattern between tourism enterprises and communities, future research
The current research also provides several valuable implications for should consider a broader group of parties in this dynamic process. In
practitioners. Tourism enterprises and communities should make efforts addition, given that the quantitative survey was conducted at the
to form partnerships as a guarantee of tourism sustainable entrepre- beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, it may have affected the psycho-
neurship. On the one hand, tourism enterprises should actively manage logical expectations of entrepreneurs, which may have influenced their
community relations and strengthen their links with the community. For subjective scoring of performance. Future research could use objective
example, tourism enterprises can provide communities with priority indicators to further validate the current findings. Finally, all variables
employment opportunities and make charitable donations to help in the quantitative survey were scored by entrepreneurs, and despite the
community residents improve their living environment. More impor- adoption of an online survey and a methodology that guarantees the
tantly, tourism enterprises should help communities enhance their protection of respondents’ privacy, there is still the social expectation
ability to engage in entrepreneurship. For instance, they can provide bias to some extent. If possible, future research could select matched
training programs for the local labor force to improve their skills and scoring, where community representatives would score corporate com-
abilities. On the other hand, communities should take the initiative to munity involvement and opportunity construction orientation, while
promote tourism development and continuously strive for the power to enterprise representatives could score community participation in
participate in development. Communities that lack development ca- tourism entrepreneurship.
pacity can work with tourism enterprises that have a good reputation
and development experience. Communities should not only act as pro- CRediT authorship contribution statement
viders of resources but should also be deeply involved in the process of
sustainable entrepreneurship. Community residents can be employed in Xinying Zeng: Writing – original draft, Validation, Software,
tourism enterprises, run tourism-supporting stores, and operate restau- Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Yaoqi
rants and accommodations. Li: Writing – review & editing, Validation, Supervision, Conceptualiza-
Tourism enterprises and communities should work together to create tion. Chun Zhang: Writing – review & editing, Validation. Xueru Yang:
opportunities that are fundamental to achieving sustainable entrepre- Writing – review & editing, Validation, Supervision, Methodology,
neurial performance in tourism. Enterprises and communities can assign Funding acquisition, Conceptualization.
representatives to establish committees. The committee can serve as a
platform for information communication and enhance the mobility of Declaration of competing interest
entrepreneurial information. For example, sustainable entrepreneurship
project planning can be discussed and publicized through the commit- None.
tee. The committee can also serve as a platform for consultation and
negotiation. As an example, when faced with resource shortages or in- Acknowledgment
terest conflicts, the committee can act to consolidate resources and
regulate conflicts. In addition, tourism enterprises should proactively This work was supported by Major Program of National Fund of
consider the sustainability of community development to ensure the Philosophy and Social Science of China (No. 23&ZD112), Earmarked
social and ecological performance of sustainable entrepreneurship pro- Fund for China Agriculture Research System (No. CARS-32-14), Na-
grams. For instance, tourism enterprises should minimize ecological tional Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42371242).

Appendix

Example of coding process.

Data excerpt Initial codes Categories Themes

In 2016, after the village secretary found our boss (a1), the boss came a1. Community initiative to A1. Opportunity conceptualization Embeddedness between
to visit and decided to develop this project (a2). attract investment (a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, a8) enterprise and community
(A5, A6)
This is certainly something that needs to be examined. Any scenic a2. The enterprise thinks it has A2. Opportunity objectification Opportunity construction
spot, we must first investigate whether the resources are abundant. development value orientation (A1, A2, A3, A4)
If there are not enough resources, even if I am invited to develop, I
will not dare to go (a3)
One is tourism resources (a4), and another important factor is the a3. Abundance of resources is the A3. Negotiation, matching and Sustainable entrepreneurial
sincerity of the village party secretary, who represents the villagers’ first element of development negotiation performance (A7, A8, A9,
thoughts as a village leader (a5). The village secretary is very sure A10)
of the achievements we have made before, and thinks that we are
(continued on next page)

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(continued )
Data excerpt Initial codes Categories Themes

down-to-earth to do things, so we say to find Hou, no one will give

(a6)
After seeing the scenic spots, I said to him, “The scenic spots you a4. Tourism resources are one of A4. Joint development scheme
developed in the past are man-made, but this is a natural landscape the reasons for development
(a7)." He looked at my analysis of the scenic spot and knew that I
was at least a discerning person. An incompetent person would not
be able to distinguish the pictures he gave me (a8)
…… a5. Community initiative is A5. Enterprise community
another reason for development involvement
a6. Community inspection of A6. Community participation in
enterprise development tourism entrepreneurship
experience involvement (a1)
a7. The village secretary has A7. Economic performance
insight into the development of
scenic spots
a8. Analysis of entrepreneur’s A8. Social performance
affirmation of village secretary
… 174 codes A9. Environmental performance
A10. Balancing entrepreneurship
performance

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