Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in small independently operated businesses with researchers expressing an interest in the manner in which the independent owner-operator is motivated to enter the market and their subsequent approach to business. Research into these small firms has shown that the owner/operators may create their businesses for a variety of reasons. However an emerging perspective is that not all individuals will actively pursue traditional objectives such as growth and profit maximisation, rather they are increasingly choosing their occupation to suit their ‘style of life’. Lifestyle motivations have thus been recognised in the literature as important stimuli to small business formation. Various research has been undertaken into the lifestyle construct and the impact on the motivations and behaviours of the individual towards the creation and development of smallscale enterprises. This study aims to build on recent work in this area to provide an enhanced understanding of lifestyle theory. This study adopts an interpretivist approach to understand the fundamental meanings attached to lifestyle entrepreneurship in the context of the small business. Bed and Breakfast (B&B) accommodation operations are used as a frame through which to understand the motivations of the individual towards venture creation. This study develops the ideal typifications of Business Orientated Lifestylers, Lifestyle Focused Business Performers and Self Expressive Homemakers to help explain the complex and dynamic range of lifestyle motivations and objectives present, and proposes the model of a continuum to portray these lifestyle business owners as being between low intensity and high intensity lifestyle goals and objectives. It is suggested that the typologies and subsequent lifestyle continuum presented in this study can be used by researchers, policy makers and practitioners to better understand the lifestyle entrepreneur and the environment within which they operate, and further, to support these lifestyle entrepreneurs in the operation of their business.

The tourism industry has been faced with immense growth worldwide. Due to the industry being resource-heavy, this development has been problematic in terms of sustainable development. This has resulted in overtourism becoming the reality of multiple destinations, which have then faced ecological and social degradation. Therefore, it is important to explore alternative pathways toward sustainable development that do not prioritise growth. The pathway that will be explored in this thesis is degrowth. In the past, degrowth has been under-researched within tourism studies, especially in terms of practical solutions. This research aims to fill that research gap by exploring the compatibility of Icelandic tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs running small to medium -sized businesses in rural Iceland. But Iceland has been one of the destinations that have been faced with overtourism. This research is conducted by using an exploratory research design where data was collected through eight in-depth interviews with tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs across Iceland. The findings of this thesis suggest that while Icelandic tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs are compatible with the degrowth concept, it is important for the sake of sustainable tourism development to re-shift the focus away from growth and more towards well-being.

A relatively small body of literature in tourism concentrates on lifestyle entrepreneurs in hospitality. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs that create a business to alter their own lifestyle, interests, and well-being. They are people that are fueled by the desire for adventure and establish a business, usually away from their home country, to generate lifestyle benefits and quality of life. Lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism is a growing trend and lifestyle entrepreneurs have been praised by previous scholars, for their nongrowth motivation and charismatic characteristics. This research aims to reconsider these entrepreneurs’ motives and values with the purpose of moving beyond their ambitions for themselves, and investigating their motivations and values towards the destination they are located in, and through this explore the role they might play in the development of the destination at large. Using a sample of small guesthouse and hotel owners located in different places around the world, the results show that even though the lifestyle entrepreneurs seem to be primarily motivated by generating well-being for self, the study identifies positive impacts of these entrepreneurs that should not be underestimated and could increase the competitiveness of their destination. The research suggests that promoting these entrepreneurs would contribute to sustainable destination development, considering the small-scale responsible tourism they seem to attract. However, results indicate that they might not be a reliable force for tourism development.