Copreneurship: reflections on method from a study of women's experiences of copreneurship in rural tourism

This paper uses conversation about a study of copreneurship within rural tourism to lead a wider discussion of the competing paradigms which exist in fieldwork in tourism and entrepreneurship. Many tourism businesses are built around lifestyle and integration of life stakeholders such as family and partners, yet to date there has been no published discussion of copreneurship within tourism businesses specifically. The study used to bring about this discussion investigated copreneurship in rural tourism businesses. It explored the experiences of owners of rural tourism accommodation businesses in New Zealand within the framework of copreneurship. It examined roles within copreneurial rural tourism businesses and studied women’s experiences of entrepreneurship within the copreneurial environment. To do this, the study used a mixed method approach (a survey and in-depth interviews) to elicit information about copreneurs operating rural tourism businesses, and about how women experience copreneurship within rural tourism. Copreneurs are couples who share ownership, commitment and responsibility for a business together (Barnett and Barnett, 1989), or as Marshack (1994) put it, copreneurship represents the dynamic interaction of the systems of love and work.