Female tourism entrepreneurs in Bali, Indonesia

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Abstract

Bali is one of the most popular islands in Indonesia for tourism due to its beaches, nightlife and religious sites. Female tourism entrepreneurs are a growing segment of the hospitality industry in Bali due to their involvement in food stalls and small restaurants. This paper will focus on the strategic decisions of female Balinese tourism entrepreneurs by utilizing a purposeful sampling method in which in-depth interviews were carried out over a six-month period. Meaning units (MUs) were abstracted, which were compared and discussed with the interviewees until a basic agreement of terms could be made. Using in depth interviews and other supplemental evidence, this trend was examined in order to explore how women were influenced by environmental factors, in additional to their culture and heritage. The findings from this paper will help other tourism entrepreneurs how to develop their businesses using limited resources and financial capital but also provide suggestions about how female entrepreneurs can succeed in the globally competitive tourism industry.

Introduction

In the last few decades, there has been extensive interest and debate over women entrepreneurial characteristics as a predictor of entrepreneurial success (Langowitz and Minniti, 2007, Riding and Swift, 1990, Sexton, 1990). This has been due to the increased role women play in business and society especially in developing countries (Gherardi, 2015, Ramadani et al., 2015). Previous studies have mainly focused on work-family issues, pay differential across genders, women's entry in the labor force, and disparities in the work place (Ramadani, Dana, Gerguri-Rashiti, & Tasaminova, 2013). Policymakers and business experts often point to entrepreneurship involving women as a means of raising incomes and encouraging local self-determinism. The benefits to participating in business influence public policies and academic theories that are designed to promote female entrepreneurship (Sarri & Trihopoulou, 2005). There is debate around how to encourage more women entrepreneurs due to the different opinions about how gender influences businesses business decisions. Some researchers such as Rao (2013) suggests that entrepreneurship education can help entrepreneurs but particularly females who may have less access to resources. Despite the fact that prior research has found that the rate at which women are forming new ventures has increased significantly (CWBR, 2004), issues involving women in entrepreneurship have not received adequate attention in academic research (Langowitz and Minniti, 2007, Tan, 2008). In addition, relatively less attention has been paid to female tourism entrepreneurs especially for developing countries like Indonesia. This is due to most research focusing on regional entrepreneurship in Asia-Pacific rather than country-level entrepreneurship (Otsuka & Natsuda, 2015).

In earlier decades, however, Bras and Dahles (1998) found that in Bali women lacked empowerment, despite their entrepreneurial successes. Although the reasons behind the lack of empowerment are not clearly identified, it was noted that the Balinese women felt that their activities in tourism reinforced their gender roles, resulting in their lack of empowerment (Al Mazroei & Lynch, 2014). Despite the fact that the majority of tourism workers are women, studies focusing on Indonesian women entrepreneurs, particularly in Bali, are in short supply. This gap in the research about Indonesian women entrepreneurs is important to address particularly in Bali, which has a large percentage of females participating in the labor market.

Section snippets

Women entrepreneurship in tourism

Female entrepreneurs are defined as females involved in making independent business decisions related to managing a business (Zapalska & Brozik, 2014). In general, despite the level of female entrepreneurship increasing, there still is little research on women entrepreneurs particularly in developing countries (Verheul et al., 2006, Welsh et al., 2014). Notably, Brush and Cooper (2012) state that research on women entrepreneurs constitute less than 10% of all studies in the field of

Method

The benefits of a qualitative approach to entrepreneurship research are becoming increasingly recognized by both academics and practitioners because it can delve more deeply into understanding the complex psychosocial issues that are part of women’s entrepreneurship (Ramadani et al., 2015). This study utilized a qualitative methodology by including a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with female owners of small restaurants located in the Denpasar and Badung districts of Bali. A

Research procedures

The interview data were collected through in-depth interviews, which took place on restaurant premises. This method was chosen because a less structured approach facilitates the incorporation of more detailed probing into specific issues raised by the interviewees (Eldabi, Irani, Paul, & Love, 2002). Interviews began with general inquiries regarding the professional background of the participant, the ambience of the establishment, and a description of target customers. With these preliminaries

An overview of the informants

Data were collected from the interviews that dealt with the restaurant industry (particularly in the Denpasar and Badung districts) and with a focus upon women business owners. Providing profiles of the women who participated in this project is useful and provided in Table 1, which shows that informants were very diverse in terms of their educational qualifications and ages. Some respondents had different family compositions but all were married. The range of experience varied from 8 years to

Gender

According to Balinese Hinduism and adat (traditional practices), women and men are considered to be equal (Wiratmaja, 1991). Nevertheless, a de facto hierarchy of the sexes exists that place women on the lower rungs of the scale (see Hermawati & Kindon, 1993).

The culture encourages women to adhere to the Five Duties of Women (Panca Dharma Wanita) which includes (1) being a loyal companion to the husband, (2) managing the household, (3) educating and providing guidance to children, (4) earning

Religion and ethnicity

Throughout the world, religions dictate dietary restrictions. This is true in Bali as well as elsewhere. In particular, Muslims who adhere to their religion avoid pork and honor strict dietary requirements (the Halal system). The Halal system also requires that the name of Allah must by invoked by a Muslim before an animal is slaughtered. Restrictions upon diet such as these, of course, can have serious implications for the hospitality and restaurant industry. Muslim patrons of restaurants tend

Behavioral decision making

As discussed above, a useful strategy to document the findings of qualitative research was employed to select and discuss particular responses that are thought to be particularly revealing. In specific, key responses are discussed in terms of the relevant information they reveal. In particular, self-esteem, responses to economic circumstances, a proactive style and networking/innovative habits were discussed. The findings are reported below.

Enhancing self-esteem

The findings of this research indicate that the informants benefited in multiple ways form business ownership. Typically, however, they were initially driven to their decision by necessity and opportunity. Respondent (4), for example, states that “… After I started the business, I felt my husband appreciated me more in everything I do. I also feel that I am respected in the community.” Closely related to the respect that was gained is the fact that the informants indicated that they gained a

A proactive orientation

Some of these respondents realize that women entrepreneurs have to be strategically proactive in order to effectively cater to their customer base. Some of the informants introduced different cuisines in Bali. They recall that building customer demand took a long time. Respondent (8), recalls, “… When I wanted to open this restaurant, I was wondering what kind of food is suitable for Muslims. It was very difficult to find restaurants, which offer Halal food. I tried to introduce ‘Ayam Taliwang’

Innovation and marketing communication

Some of the informants mentioned that promotions, networking, and innovation are important tactics that can use useful in competitive markets, In addition, they felt that pursuing these options incurs minimal risk. Respondent (7), for example, states that “The menus have been devised on a trial and error basis, according to the sales and customer preferences.” In addition, the informants understood the importance of the “marketing concept” which affirms that “customers are kings” and their

Tourism and women in Bali

The tourism industry is highly labor-intensive and a valuable source of unskilled employment in rural areas. As a result, tourism is especially attractive to women in both the formal and informal sectors (ILO, 2011). Women work in a variety of tourism roles, as both employees and as business owners/managers. In Bali, most female tourism workers tend to earn above the minimum wage. Reflecting upon benefits to the local economy, Respondent (6) affirms that, “… Tourism significantly effects the

New target markets

Female tourism entrepreneurs in Bali are focusing on new target markets to increase their profits and develop new kinds of products. This is important as typically most businesses have been informal food stalls and restaurants primarily serving local people, and Asians. But this might be changing as some adventurous Westerners, for example, actively seek out what they call “street food” in the belief that doing so provides a degree of authenticity to their travels. In particular, so-called

Tourism concern in Bali

The global tourism market is competitive and constantly changing based on consumer demand. This has meant that more female Balinese tourism entrepreneurs are concerned about the viability of their businesses particularly with the increase in multinationals entering the hospitality industry. Respondent (6), for example, says, “Bali is very attractive mainly because of its distinctive culture and unique rituals. Balinese culture is very different with the other areas in Indonesia. I'm happy that

Discussion and conclusion

During the last decade, the role of gender in economic activity (Minniti & Nardone, 2008) has been the subject of extensive research, debate, and policy concerns as part of a wider interest entrepreneurship and business ownership among women (Harrison & Colin, 2007). The approach taken in this study was one of “listening” to a group of women who are small business owners in the informal hospitality and tourism industry. This study assessed the entrepreneurial characteristics of nine Balinese

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