The Place Identity - Performance relationship among tourism entrepreneurs: A structural equation modelling analysis

Drawing on the literature on tourism, entrepreneurship, environmental psychology, and corporate philanthropy, this research examines how place identity, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and support for community influence the entrepreneurial performance of small and medium tourism enterprise (SMTE) owners. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling are used to analyse the responses from 301 tourism entrepreneurs operating in regional South Australia. The data supports a model suggesting that the place identity of tourism entrepreneurs has a significant, positive effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and support for the community. Findings also suggest that the place identity of tourism entrepreneurs has a positive, indirect effect on entrepreneurial performance: a tourism entrepreneur's sense of identity with the place in which his/her business operates contributes toward entrepreneurial success. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.