Family Support, Managerial Self-Efficacy, and Performance of Micro-Firms in Tourism Destinations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT The high performance of micro-firms in tourism destinations is strongly associated with the quality of tourist experience and regional tourism development. Thus, improving micro-firms’ performance is an important research issue for promoting the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Existing business and management literature in hospitality and tourism focuses on managers’ personal characteristics, strategic management perspectives, and business environment to understand the performance determinants of micro-firms. Taking a sociological perspective and considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study highlights the role of family support on micro-firms’ performance. It investigates not only the direct influence of family support on performance but also the mediation effect of managerial self-efficacy in the relationship. Based on survey data from 205 micro-firms in Jeongseon-gun County in South Korea, this study performed a partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the hypotheses. This study showed that both instrumental and emotional family support has a positive effect on perceived performance. Furthermore, to elucidate the crucial path by which family support leads to performance, this study also shows that managerial self-efficacy mediates the relationships between different family supports and business performance.