Unlocking the niche potential of senior tourism through micro-firm owner-manager adaptive capability development

Abstract

This paper explores the role of adaptive capability development among micro-tourism owner-managers (OMs) in pursuit of the niche potential of the evolving senior tourism market. We discuss strategic adaptive capability development in a tourism micro-firm environment, prior to outlining the research context and adopted interview method used to elicit OM views. Findings indicate that limited human resources impede the level of adaptive capability engagement in micro-tourism firms, whereby operational level capabilities act as an antecedent to adaptive capabilities. Such adaptive capabilities, including market sensing capabilities and senior tourism alignment activities, are developed by OMs as a means of differentiating their respective firms from sectoral rivals in pursuit of niche market potential. Extracted from the findings, we present a Senior Tourism Adaptive Capability Framework prior to disclosing the study’s practical and theoretical implications.