Gender Differences in the Determinants of Business Performance among Entrepreneurs of the Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs often face challenges in accessing finance due to cultural norms and gender bias. This can impact their ability to invest in their business and expand operations, which can lead to lower business performance. This study analyses the factors that influence the business performance of men and women in different sub-sectors of small-scale enterprises in the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. This is an explorative study, which employed several data collection techniques, including key informant interviews, non-participant observation, a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. They were carried out among small-scale tourist enterprises in the Hikkaduwa Urban Council (HUC) area of Galle district, Sri Lanka. The samples were chosen at random, and the data was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Three major sectors, namely accommodation, food and beverage, and tourism-affiliated retail services were selected for this study. Secondary information was mostly collected from the literature on gender studies and relevant documents of small-scale enterprises. The data suggests those women entrepreneurs in the tourism industry in Sri Lanka are performing well and, in some cases, outperforming men. The fact that women in all three sub-sectors showed a higher increase in sales than men is a positive sign of the growing role of women in the tourism industry. Furthermore, the fact that women entrepreneurs in the accommodation sub-sector showed the highest sales expansion is particularly encouraging. This indicates that women in this sub-sector may have fewer gender differences in business performance than women in the other two sub-sectors.