Sociocultural impacts on the innovativeness of tourism entrepreneurs in Hong Kong

This thesis examined the impact of institutional and socio-cultural norms on the entrepreneurial behaviours and innovativeness of the tourism entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. In order to address to the research gaps of macro and micro contexts of entrepreneurship in the travel industry, a qualitative cases study was designed to discover how individual and environmental contexts, namely family background, education, learned experiences, beliefs, social norms and institutional constraints, influence the innovation of the travel industry in Hong Kong. In particular, it probed the problems through the interplay of a theoretical framework for a micro-sociological analysis of eight tourism entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, including the entrepreneurship theory of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Shapero’s entrepreneurial event, and the personality traits theory. By means of the qualitative approach, through multiple case studies and different sources of data, such as practitioner-participant observations, empirical data were analysed with a mixed approach with cross-sectional, contextual, and longitudinal data analysis for examination of the phenomenon in a transitional period. The collected data were studied with the congruent theories for a multifaceted narrative analysis. There is discussion about the antecedents for innovativeness of entrepreneurs and the negative social notions which were hindering innovation. This thesis provided a set of theoretical propositions and inspiration for future studies in the sociocultural impact on the innovativeness of entrepreneurs, reflecting the overlooked perspectives as anti-innovation social norms, innovation initiatives, and relevant research gaps of the multidisciplinary entrepreneurial research, especially in the personal pursuit of value creation in entrepreneurship. The thesis suggested a more complex level of analysis of entrepreneurial innovativeness, with a diverse context. In addition, this research offered implication for practices, including propositions for the nourishment of an innovation ecosystem and the avoidance of anti-innovation social norms in a community.