Abstract
This paper aims to explore the factors that stimulate entrepreneurship among small hotels in a former socialist economy which experienced a turbulent economic and social transition period. The study investigates how specific aspects such as a low level of competition and position of the entrepreneurs in society, acted as facilitating or inhibiting factors for entrepreneurship. The findings from in-depth interviews with 37 hotel entrepreneurs demonstrate that institutional deficiencies influence market orientation of the entrepreneurs and that the specific social context sets the conditions by which lifestyle-related motives will exist or not. They also underscore that investigation of entrepreneurs needs to take account of a broad range of socio-cultural factors and not solely entrepreneurial agency. Inclusion of a transitional economic and social setting into the broader theoretical framework of hospitality entrepreneurial research demonstrates the value of a contextualized approach.