At the intersection of tourism social entrepreneurship and empathy: Development and validation of an empathy scale

Abstract

The main purpose of the present study is to develop and validate a theoretically sound and empirically rigorous measure of cultural empathy, entitled Tourism Social Entrepreneurial Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (abbreviated as TSE-SEE). To this end, both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis were employed based on four complementary and independent studies and samples (total n = 1182) from different sectors of the tourism industry. The final refined TSE-EES encompasses 25 items and four dimensions. The results demonstrated the validity and reliability of the TSE-SSE in China, Iran, and Poland. The TSE-SEE can be considered, among others, a diagnostic instrument for evaluating the impact of social entrepreneurship education programs and its application may prove effective means of developing emotional skills in the field of tourism social entrepreneurship.