Proceedings | Finance area | Year 2019 | |
Women Empowerment, Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurial Intention in the Hospitality Industryby Chanin Yoopetch | |
the 3rd International Conference on Tourism and Business in
Bangkok, Thailand 27-29 August 2019 |
AbstractEntrepreneurs have important roles in driving the hospitality industry to grow and expand in response
to the fast-growing in tourist expectations and demands. In order to develop the competitiveness of
the hospitality industry, the increase in the quality and quantity of entrepreneurs can create positive
impacts on the long-term growth of the industry. Furthermore, diversity in human resources can
directly improve business development. The lack of women and minorities in entrepreneurship in
many societies is also known as the ‘Entrepreneur Gap’.
The study extended the theory of planned behaviors by including new factors, such as financial
literacy, to study their relationships in the context of hospitality businesses. Past research studies
highlighted the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship and the focus of the current study
is on the factors supporting entrepreneurial intentions of female employees who possessed the
important skills and years of experiences in their work environments, including restaurant and
wellness businesses. The main research objective is to identify key drivers to support the
entrepreneurship and therefore, the guidelines for the long-term development of women
entrepreneurial skills can be further developed.
The samples were female employees who had at least one year working experience and held the key
skills in their businesses, including restaurant and wellness business. The study was conducted in
Thailand, representing the context of the emerging economies. The data were collected from several
major tourist destinations, such as Bangkok and Phuket.
Several factors included in the study, including empowerment, financial literacy, attitude and
subjective norm. With structural equation modeling, several factors, such as attitude towards and
empowerment, indicated significant impacts on entrepreneurial intention. The discussions and
practical implications were included. Directions for future research were also provided
Keywords: women empowerment, entrepreneurial intention, hospitality industry, financial literacy |