Mapping the outcomes of social entrepreneurship and tourism on host communities: a three-dimensional approach

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship has been popularised as a market-based activity with an embedded social purpose aimed at positively transforming communities and society. As a strategy for developing sustainable tourism, social entrepreneurship is promoted as a catalyst for positive community change. This study develops and applies a conceptual model that can help understand the changes directly and indirectly induced by tourism social entrepreneurship (TSE) on host communities. The proposed model integrates three dimensions, namely pace of change, scale of change, and degree of social enterprise control, to logically examine community change brought about by TSE. To operationalise the model, a dual case study research was employed in communities involved in social enterprise-led tourism development in the Philippines. Multiple qualitative data collection methods (semi-structured interviews, community asset mapping workshops, and field observations) and constructivist grounded theory analysis techniques were performed to delineate TSE-induced outcomes. The findings showed four emergent changes, namely lifestyle change, personal development, structural change, and existential change, subsequently interpreted using the three-dimensional model. This study contributes an approach to better explain the outcomes of TSE on host communities, and evidence on the viability of social entrepreneurship as a community-centric tourism development strategy.