When entrepreneurs become custodians: Categories’ place-based identity and collective coping response in extreme contexts

Abstract

We conducted a qualitative study of the category of independent tourism entrepreneurs in the politically contested territory of Northern Cyprus to understand how a collective of entrepreneurs whose shared identity is deeply rooted in place perceives and copes with threats arising in an extreme context. Northern Cyprus is an extreme context as it suffers from enduring political and socio-cultural challenges. Our findings reveal that the entrepreneurs’ collective identity is rooted in a deep-seated attachment to local family, culture, and region. This place-based collective identity drives not only their entrepreneurial engagement, but also their explicit concern for cultural suppression and dilution as a core identity threat and commons problem within the extreme context. Our findings show how the place-based entrepreneurs, in coping with this threat, become custodians of local culture as they engage in a set of collective custodial activities aimed at preserving the local cultural heritage. Our study holds important contributions for research on categories and place, custodianship, and entrepreneurship in extreme contexts.