Entrepreneurial tourism activities are strongly embedded in their regional context. The causes behind the imitative behaviors of start-up tourism small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) are complicated and need further exploration. This study aims to identify causal configurations of tourism SMEs’ imitative entrepreneurship to address the core question: "Why do start-up tourism SMEs imitate?" by employing a mixed-methods approach. Qualitative data were gathered via in-depth interviews of 25 tourism entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that the imitative entrepreneurship of start-up tourism SMEs can be influenced by individual, organizational, and environmental factors, including entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial strategy, environmental competitiveness, environmental dynamics, and industrial development. We obtained quantitative data through a questionnaire survey (n = 77) targeting tourism SMEs for configuration analysis. The results of the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) reveal that the configuration paths of imitative entrepreneurship in tourism SMEs can be classified as market-driven, cost-driven, or inertia-driven. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for the development of tourism start-up SMEs.

中文翻译：

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初创旅游中小企业为何纷纷模仿？混合方法研究设计


创业旅游活动深深植根于其区域背景。初创旅游中小企业模仿行为背后的原因很复杂，需要进一步探讨。本研究旨在识别旅游中小企业模仿创业的因果配置，以解决“初创旅游中小企业为何模仿？”这一核心问题。通过采用混合方法。定性数据是通过对 25 名旅游企业家的深度访谈收集的。研究结果表明，初创旅游中小企业的模仿创业行为可能受到个人、组织和环境因素的影响，包括创业动机、创业学习、创业策略、环境竞争力、环境动态和产业发展。我们通过针对旅游中小企业的问卷调查（n = 77）获得定量数据进行配置分析。模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）结果表明，旅游中小企业模仿创业的配置路径可分为市场驱动型、成本驱动型和惯性驱动型。我们的研究结果对旅游业初创型中小企业的发展具有理论和实践意义。