| The study sought to determine if the level of tourism entrepreneurial activity in communities could be attributed to their observed P- and Q-factors. A community's P-factor refers to its potential supply of tourism entrepreneurs as measured by its populace's attitude towards tourism development, entrepreneurship, their willingness to engage in the enterprise creation process, and their perceived entrepreneurial ability and market opportunity. A community's Q-factor is the quality of its support system in facilitating the birth of tourism enterprises, namely, socio-cultural, physical, economic, regulatory, and logistical structures. According to the model, the interaction of the P- and Q-factors produces four types of communities. A sector one community is one with favorable P- and Q-factors. Thus, a high level of tourism entrepreneurial activity could be expected. Sector two and four communities are those with only one favorable factor. Hence, only a moderate level of tourism entrepreneurial activity could be expected. Sector three communities are those with unfavorable P- and Q-factors. As such, these communities will be characterized by a low level of tourism entrepreneurial activity.; To test the validity of the P-Q factor model, the P- and Q-factors of two small Texas communities were measured via two self-administered questionnaires. Subjects for the P-questionnaire were comprised of residents and tourism workers, while subjects for the Q-questionnaire consisted solely of tourism enterprise owners. The residents were selected using area sampling technique, while the tourism workers and enterprise owners were selected using stratified proportionate random sampling. Analysis of the collected responses indicated that both communities were sector two communities. Examination of each community's tourism enterprise birth trend and profile between 1990 and 1994 indicated a high degree of concordance between the theorized and observed scenarios of a sector two community.; But, since only two communities were used, and only one sector of the model was tested, no generalizations could be made about the validity of the model in explaining community tourism entrepreneurship development over space and time. Hence, more studies are needed, in particular, studies that use communities of different sizes, from different geographic regions, and that belong to other sectors of the model. |
