IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/ejothr/v15y2025i2p293-310n1009.html

Role of female entrepreneurship in initiating ecotourism in Kurşunlu Village

Author

Listed:
  • ERDOĞAN Zeynep YAMAÇ

    (Asst. Prof. Dr., Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, Faculty of Applied Şciences, Department of Tourism Guidance, Bilecik)

  • YUMUK Yurdanur

    (Assoc. Prof. Dr., Karabük University, Safranbolu Faculty of Tourism, Department of Tourism Guidance, Bilecik)

Abstract

This study aims to examine women’s entrepreneurial activities within the scope of ecotourism, and the challenges they encounter throughout the entrepreneurial process. For this purpose, qualitative methods were employed within the framework of an embedded single-case study design, and content analysis was applied. Data were collected in June 2024 through a face-to-face interview with Bedriye Berber Engin, the first female entrepreneur in Türkiye to open her village to tourism. Accordingly, the research focused on Kurşunlu Village in Bilecik, Türkiye. The data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti, with all coding processes, code-document matrices, and Sankey diagrams generated through the software. Kurşunlu Village, which hosts both domestic and international tourists throughout the year, provides a noteworthy case for studying women’s entrepreneurship and ecotourism. Findings reveal that women face financial challenges and local prejudices, yet entrepreneurship enables economic their empowerment and positive changes in their social status. This study contributes to the literature on rural women’s entrepreneurship by demonstrating how ecotourism can transform gender roles.

Suggested Citation

  • ERDOĞAN Zeynep YAMAÇ & YUMUK Yurdanur, 2025. "Role of female entrepreneurship in initiating ecotourism in Kurşunlu Village," European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, Sciendo, vol. 15(2), pages 293-310.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:ejothr:v:15:y:2025:i:2:p:293-310:n:1009
    DOI: 10.2478/ejthr-2025-0021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/ejthr-2025-0021
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/ejthr-2025-0021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew J. Germak & Jeffrey A. Robinson, 2014. "Exploring the Motivation of Nascent Social Entrepreneurs," Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 5-21, January.
    2. Bettina Lynda Bastian & Beverly Dawn Metcalfe & Mohammad Reza Zali, 2019. "Gender Inequality: Entrepreneurship Development in the MENA Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-26, November.
    3. Murude Ertac & Cem Tanova, 2020. "Flourishing Women through Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Figueroa-Domecq, Cristina & de Jong, Anna & Williams, Allan M., 2020. "Gender, tourism & entrepreneurship: A critical review," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Kimbu, Albert Nsom & Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh, 2016. "Women as vectors of social entrepreneurship," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 63-79.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kimbu, Albert Nsom & de Jong, Anna & Adam, Issahaku & Ribeiro, Manuel A. & Afenyo-Agbe, Ewoenam & Adeola, Ogechi & Figueroa-Domecq, Cristina, 2021. "Recontextualising gender in entrepreneurial leadership," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Manhart, Niklas, 2022. "The Mission Comes First: Exploring the Mechanisms of Organizational Sponsorship for the Acceleration of Social Start-Ups," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 7(2), pages 289-337.
    3. Mia Maric & Mladen Subotic & Branislav Dudic & Boban Melovic & Natasa Brankovic & Stevan Milisavljevic, 2021. "Evaluating Relations between Originality, Efficiency, Conformism and Entrepreneurial Potential of Students in a Fast Changing Business Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Aidin Salamzadeh & Zahra Arasti & Ghanbar Mohamadi Elyasi, 2017. "Creation of ICT-Based Social Start-Ups in Iran: A Multiple Case Study," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 25(01), pages 97-122, March.
    5. Seyfi, Siamak & Kimbu, Albert Nsom & Vo-Thanh, Tan & Zaman, Mustafeed, 2025. "Tourism, consent, and resistance: A Gramscian lens," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Chandra, Yanto & Tjiptono, Fandy & Setyawan, Andhy, 2021. "The promise of entrepreneurial passion to advance social entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    7. Aquino, Richard S., 2022. "Community change through tourism social entrepreneurship," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Cristina BARNA & Adina REBELEANU & Alexandra ZBUCHEA & Simona STÄ‚NESCU, 2024. "Profiling the Romanian woman social entrepreneur: an analysis of the women’s perspective in the social enterprises’ sector," CIRIEC Working Papers 2405, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    9. Muhammad Azam Roomi & José Manuel Saiz-Alvarez & Alicia Coduras, 2021. "Measuring Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Eco-Innovation: A Methodological Proposal for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, April.
    10. Gaydaa Al-Zohbi & Maura A. E. Pilotti, 2023. "Contradictions about Sustainability: A Case Study of College Students from Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Ermanno C. Tortia & Florence Degavre & Simone Poledrini, 2020. "Why are social enterprises good candidates for social innovation? Looking for personal and institutional drivers of innovation," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(3), pages 459-477, September.
    12. Xing Li & Niels Bosma, 2025. "Institutional Theory in Social Entrepreneurship: A Review and Consideration of Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 200(3), pages 529-556, September.
    13. Verena Gramm & Cristina Dalla Torre & Andrea Membretti, 2020. "Farms in Progress-Providing Childcare Services as a Means of Empowering Women Farmers in South Tyrol, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    14. Siqueira, Ana Cristina O. & Guenster, Nadja & Vanacker, Tom & Crucke, Saskia, 2018. "A longitudinal comparison of capital structure between young for-profit social and commercial enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 225-240.
    15. Aaron A. Vargas-Zeledon & Su-Yol Lee, 2025. "How Positive Social Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Entrepreneurship Foster Inclusive Entrepreneurial Outcomes: A Cross-Country Comparative Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(1), pages 21582440251, March.
    16. Rajoana, Jakia & Saxena, Gunjan, 2022. "Role of Sundarbans bagh bidhwa entrepreneurs in tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    17. Erica L. Steckler & Sandra Waddock, 2018. "Self-Sustaining Practices of Successful Social Change Agents: A Retreats Framework for Supporting Transformational Change," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 171-198, February.
    18. Devasheesh Mathur, 2019. "Situating Social Entrepreneurship In Public Service Innovation Literature," Working papers 2019-31-07, Voice of Research.
    19. Nidhin K P, 2024. "Why social entrepreneurs start social enterprises: capturing contextualised life stories of social entrepreneurs in Kerala, India," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 1429-1450, June.
    20. , Aisdl, 2020. "Social entrepreneurship innovation: A study from Mexico," OSF Preprints q79f3, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:ejothr:v:15:y:2025:i:2:p:293-310:n:1009. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.