Study title

The aim of collecting this data was to explore the meaning, changing nature and implications of women as vectors of social entrepreneurship in the hospitality and tourism industry with the goal of identifying new directions on the role of women in fostering local development through social entrepreneurship in the hospitality and tourism industry of emerging destinations such as Cameroon. Women play a very important role in tourism development through their entrepreneurial activities and businesses, the majority of which have an embedded social purpose. In emerging country destinations of Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, their role is significantly being reshaped by socio-cultural shifts, changes in employment, migration and mobility patterns, and information and communication technologies. Despite the importance of this topic, researchers have paid only intermittent, and largely ad hoc, attention to it resulting in a dearth of qualitative and/or quantitative data on this topic. In developing country destinations such as Cameroon, most micro and small tourism enterprises are owned and/or managed by women who also form the bulk of the labour force in the industry. However, there is very little research (data) investigating the role of female H&T entrepreneurs in promoting economic development through social entrepreneurship. Although the interview questions varied depending on the interviewees, generic themes focused on the importance of social capital and SE to them, understanding societal influences on the structure, operations and practices of their businesses, their motivations for engaging in SE and how this in turn promotes H&T, as well as local economic and community development in Cameroon. In total five focus group (FG) discussions (i.e. 4 women only FGs and 1 mixed FG ranging from 5 to 10 participants per group and lasting between 75 minutes to 100 minutes), and twenty-one semi-structured interviews (ranging from between 35 minutes to 85 minutes) were...