‘Do good, mean good’ – A value-behavioural perspective for ethical entrepreneurship in tourism

The ethical complexity of sustainable tourism poses problems to understanding the values and types of behaviours that underpin entrepreneurial best practice in sustainable tourism. Previous research has focused on tourism and ethics or on tourism and entrepreneurship. However, few attempts have been made to interweave these three strands of research. By adopting a psychological lens to entrepreneurship, those values and patterns of behaviours for sustainable tourism associated with ethical entrepreneurship are revealed. This provides an original, theoretical knowledge platform at the intersection of tourism, business ethics and entrepreneurship research, with significant potential for practical application into management and entrepreneurship. The rigour of the study lies in its methodological depth. The empirical research is grounded in archival research paired with a strong, qualitative methodology, including the triangulation of sources and the development of an iterative audit trail. This is an important methodological contribution of the paper. Rare, secondary data was obtained in the form of unpublished applications and audit reports for winning entries of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. These awards are recognised as one of the leading tourism accolades for sustainability. The findings present tangible examples and guidance for values and types of behaviour for sustainable tourism. It has become clear though, that these reflect a multi-ethical dimension. As such, traditional ethics theories do not seem conducive to the study of best practice in sustainable tourism. The paper calls for a re-orientation from traditional ethics theory and the paradigmatic view of environmental, social and economic sustainability towards a value and behaviour perspective for sustainable tourism.