Antecedents of Business Performance in Small Tourism Firms : A Conceptual Framework and Research Propositions

Despite growing attention, entrepreneurship research remains understudied in the field of tourism management. A review of the literature shows that there is a lack of coverage devoted to the tourism entrepreneur and their innovative behaviors as antecedents of business performance in small tourism firms. This is surprising considering that literature advocates innovation and/or creativity as key components of entrepreneurship. Thus, this paper develops a conceptual model which focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation as antecedents of business performance and offers research propositions. It is argued that a tourism entrepreneur's entrepreneurial self-efficacy and innovative behaviors plays a role in enhancing the business performance of their firm