Women's Entrepreneurship in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry: A systematic literature review and future research directions

Abstract

Research often portrays women as weaker entrepreneurs in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry. Our systematic literature review sheds light on women's entrepreneurial success in H&T by examining four determining factors to success (or failure) for women's entrepreneurship: (1) motivations that lead women to become entrepreneurs, (2) barriers they face, (3) non-government strategies, and (4) governmental policies. Our findings suggest that financial and legal support, training, political, social, and cultural backing are among the consistent success factors examined in previous studies. However, scholarship is silent on how the four key themes can be aligned to support women to succeed in H&T entrepreneurship. As a key contribution, this systematic literature review provides a template for future research that starts from the identifiable success factors. In addition, this work provides practitioners such as policymakers and industry leaders with a better understanding of how to reduce barriers to women's entrepreneurship.