Obstacles to Sustainable Entrepreneurship amongst Tourism Students: A Gender Comparison

Abstract

Students’ start-ups are making a significant contribution towards sustainable entrepreneurship development. Thus, this article examines the obstacles to sustainable entrepreneurship amongst university students of tourism and focuses on gender difference. The empirical analysis was based on data from 290 tourism students’ surveys accomplished in Spain, in the period from 2012 to 2018. Descriptive statistics were used for the data analysis and a t-test for gender comparison analysis. The research revealed that the students’ entrepreneurial intentions did not affect their evaluation of the barriers preventing them from creating their own businesses. The main barriers to new business creation were mainly related to economic factors (both societal and university related), the level of innovation in society, and the students’ self-confidence (mostly with regard to interest and motivation). Female students were more conscious of the possible obstacles to new business creation than male students. A significant difference between male and female students regarding personal obstacles was explained by the fact that the females considered their lack of entrepreneurial education as more significant than did the males. In addition, the female students tended to need more economic and practical support than male students. Finally, practical suggestions to encourage sustainable entrepreneurship amongst tourism students are discussed.

College Students’ Entrepreneurial Mindset: Educational Experiences Override Gender and Major

“…Our finding supports former studies stating that entrepreneurship education is an important factor for building an entrepreneurial mindset [125]. Entrepreneurially-oriented educational programs might enable students to obtain the attitudes needed to gain practical experience and have a positive impact on students' entrepreneurial intentions [32,124]. However, to confirm the causal relationship between educational experiences and the entrepreneurial mindset, further studies with an experimental design are required to gain causal evidence.…”

“…Regarding the difference based on gender, educators should be aware that female students showed a lower level of innovativeness and proactiveness than the male students. To cultivate the development of sustainable entrepreneurship among female students, universities may invigorate female support programs in entrepreneurial education [124].…”

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), and Performance in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Gender Gap and Inter-Country Context

“…Sustainability research is a widely discussed topic, with the focus on what should be sustained (environmental issues), which areas should be developed (the economy and society), and how it can be maintained (sustainable strategies) [1][2][3][4]. Thus, the concept of sustainability is about conserving, development (economic and non-economic), and maintaining the environment, economy, society, and individuals.…”

Determinants of the Propensity for Innovation among Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Industry

“…Although entrepreneurship and innovation are central to the success and development of the tourism industry, there is scant literature on innovative entrepreneurship within the sector [22] and insufficient research on tourism innovation [23,24]. The literature on entrepreneurship in the tourism sector [25][26][27] has analysed such topics as tourism entrepreneurship [28][29][30], sustainable tourism entrepreneurship [31][32][33][34][35], innovation in restaurants [36,37] and the relationship between tourism entrepreneurship and innovation [38], but the factors that motivate the more or less innovative behaviour of the entrepreneur in tourism have not yet been studied, hence innovative behaviour remains subject to debate.…”