Impact of family moral support on female entrepreneurs involved in craft tourism

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper examined how family moral support influenced the performance of women entrepreneurs involved in craft tourism in Southern Africa. Relativist ontology and subjectivist epistemology were adopted to understand the rural women entrepreneurs' experiences and perspectives. The stakeholder theory was applied to disaggregate the family system and identify how each member impacts women entrepreneurs' performance. The family's structure and composition helped to explain women entrepreneurs' resilience. Thematic content analysis was used to present rural women entrepreneurs' narratives. Evidence from the study indicated that spouses and children's moral support boosted women entrepreneurs' confidence and ability to collaborate with other entrepreneurs. The research analysed the social context (family) and explained the role played by the family in sustaining rural women-owned craft tourism ventures. Apart from localising the tourism perspectives from rural women entrepreneurs' perspective, the ensuing discussion puts into perspective the emotional support mechanisms that enable women entrepreneurs to balance family-venture commitments. This paper contributes to the literature by examining how individual family members' moral support impacts women entrepreneurs' performance. It also makes a theoretical contribution by analysing craft tourism entrepreneurship from a sociological dimension and disaggregating the family system to identify and explain each family member's contribution to the informal economy.