Abstract
Ethical entrepreneurship and by extension wider best practice are noble goals for the future of tourism. However, questions arise which concepts, such as values motivations, actions and challenges underpin these goals. This thesis seeks to answers these questions and in so doing develop an applied ethics analysis for best practice entrepreneurs in tourism. The research is situated in sustainable tourism, which is ethically very complex and has thus far been dominated by the economic, social and environmental triple bottom line thinking. This research takes a different approach by applying a value-behavioural lens to best practice entrepreneurship. In so doing, the focus shifts from impacts and consequences towards those values and actions that determine best practice entrepreneurship. The originality of the research is grounded in a two-pronged research strategy, combining archival research and methods from Personal Construct Theory through the process of iteration. Both strategies are currently underused in tourism research. This constitutes an important methodological contribution. Furthermore, a unique set of archival data in the form of Tourism for Tomorrow Awards applications and judges’ reports enhances the originality of the findings. Archival data was complemented by semi-structured interviews with so-called ethical tourism entrepreneurs. A mix of source and method triangulation has added significant rigour to this research. The key findings are that best practice in tourism is ethically very complex, which suggests a form of ethical pragmatism. Second, a dissonance exists between motivations for best practice, which are value-pluralistic, and ethical judgement making, which is more principle-based. Third, a further dissonance was identified between admittance/awareness and action for issues of misrepresentation, whereas no dissonance was found for relationship or distribution dilemmas. This thesis has combined three strands of research: business ethics, entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism. This original approach lays ground for change towards a more ethically-bound entrepreneurial practice in tourism.