Although it was evident that respondent businesses exhibited
a number of common features, there was also heterogeneity
because of the divergent circumstances and motivations associated
with their establishment. The following analysis focuses
on differences between proprietors who are keen to
grow their business (growers) and those who are not (lifestylers).
These two categories have been well documented in the
relevant SME and SMTE literatures. To determine the applicable
categories, respondents were asked to identify their
main reason for establishing the enterprise. The distinction between
the two groups was straightforward – it was based on
how they responded to the question about whether they
planned to grow their business over the subsequent 12-month
period. The responses that are presented in Table 2 epitomize
the differing agendas of the two groupings. The first five goals
that are listed in the table are business oriented (e.g. increasing
the number of customers and raising profitability), whereas
goals six to ten have a lifestyle orientation (e.g. fulfilling a
long-term dream of combining hobbies and skills). The final
goal is not readily classifiable into either category.
The differences between the ambitions and primary goals
of the two respondent groupings are evident from the
significant result that was obtained from conducting the
Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (D = 0.5455, sig = 0.047). Growers
are in business for business reasons, whereas lifestylers have a
more holistic focus on lifestyle and a lesser emphasis on
business. These conclusions do not infer that lifestylers do
not care about their business and its operations. As will be
discussed later, although lifestylers are less driven by profit
than their grower counterparts, many demonstrate a passionate
commitment to tourism. As indicated in Table 2, the researchers
investigated whether members of different industry associations
exhibit distinct behaviours and attitudes. It was found that
there are minimal differences between those who are involved
in or hold memberships of tourism specific groupings and
those who have a stronger orientation towards community
service. Greater differences were evident between respondents
who have a stronger orientation to commercially oriented
groups (e.g. chambers of commerce) and those who do not
participate in such organizations.
As highlighted in bold, only two of the items that are
reported in the table are significant. In the case of the three
items represented in italics, the differences are insignificant,
albeit substantial because the number of observations is
relatively small. The data do, however, reveal that growers
are more engaged within their business communities and
have a more expansive and ambitious approach to business
groupings. The lifestylers engage in more active participation
with tourism-related organizations. The conduct of a
MANOVA test found that in aggregate and as presented in
Table 3, there were no significant differences between the
types of information used. However, the conduct of an