Effective Resources to Mobilize Women Entrepreneurship: A Success Case Study of Family Tourism Businesses in Tioman Island, Malaysia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic is actual and interesting. The paper is well structured and gives a comprehensive picture of the research problem. Just a few comments for the authors to consider:
- On the page 4 is several  sources of literature need to be cited for the following sentence: Various literature postulated that tourism developed new vocations, changed traditions and customs, and plays a major role  in women’s prejudice removal.

- In Conclusion authors need to add limitation of the research (sample size is one of them), theoretical and applicative contribution as well as suggestions for future research.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

1. this study does contribute to the research arena from a unique location and thus an insight perspective and wisdom are shared through this study.  

2. it is important for the author to build up arguments based on strong and solid evidence.  For example, the statement "Various literature postulated that 143 tourism developed new vocations, changed traditions and customs, and plays a major role in women’s prejudice removal." (line 143~144) does need support from the literature in order to make a solid ground. 

3. The purpose of conducting an in-depth interview is to gain "agreements" from interviewees, not from a single interviewee who makes his or her own statement.  The authors may need to sort out the which aspects are highly agreed upon among interviewees, as opposed to which aspects gained less "agreements". 

4.  To further contribute to the literature and research, the results of this study may compare and contrast prior studies to pave a path for future study.  

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript entitled “Effective resources to mobilize women entrepreneurship: A success case study of family tourism businesses in Tioman Island, Malaysia” sounds good and it is well-written. It is also well structured in any part and is almost ready for a publication. In fact, there are still certain sections that need to be strongly reinforced and refined.

In order to improve their paper, I suggest Authors to work through the following points:

·        Abstract. Please, provide in a few words the original contribution of your work considering the present literature (try to be explicit, since the beginning, about the added value of your study)

·        1. Introduction. Following my previous suggestion, please specify in which ways “Moreover, this study provides pertinent in-sights into the women’s entrepreneurial performances in Tioman Island to increase and sustain socio-economic development”.

·        2. Literature review: make strongest this fundamental part, for instance by adding a subsection like 2.3 Women entrepreneurship in tourism. Maybe you may be inspired by analysing  these recent studies:

Figueroa-Domecq, C., de Jong, A., & Williams, A. M. (2020). Gender, tourism & entrepreneurship: A critical review.Annals of tourism research,84, 102980.

Ribeiro, M. A., Adam, I., Kimbu, A. N., Afenyo-Agbe, E., Adeola, O., Figueroa-Domecq, C., & de Jong, A. (2021). Women entrepreneurship orientation, networks and firm performance in the tourism industry in resource-scarce contexts. Tourism Management, 86, 104343. 

Valeri, M., & Katsoni, V. (2021). Female entrepreneurship in tourism. In Gender and Tourism. Emerald Publishing Limited. 

Peeters, L. W., & Ateljevic, I. (2017). Women empowerment entrepreneurship nexus in tourism: Processes of social innovation. In Tourism and entrepreneurship (pp. 94-109). Routledge.

Isa, S. M., Ismail, H. N., & Fuza, Z. I. M. (2021). WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND TOURISM: PATTERNS AND TRENDS. GLOBAL & EMERGING TRENDS IN TOURISM.

Of course feel free to enhance your literature review beyond my single suggestions, but do not avoid my main suggestion. Consider that you have provided a list of only 36 references. I agree with you that quality is (or should be) more important than quantity, but there are academics that judge a paper in base of the number of references only. I kindly recommend you to strengthen both the literature review section and the discussion section by discussing your fieldwork results with previous knowledge. You might find new insights that can add more value to your work.

·        3. Methodology. I have no observations about it because I consider this section very clear and exhaustive.

·        4. Findings and discussion: I am sure that for any sub-section you can find useful links between the revised literature review and the fieldwork findings. I particularly appreciate  4.3. Family values and cultures influence women. Values like trust, support, sense of belonging and more that these, reciprocity, will give you a direct link to social corporate responsibility issues that can really improve your work(Have a look at the paper of Cannas, R., Argiolas, G., & Cabiddu, F. (2019). Fostering corporate sustainability in tourism management through social values within collective value co-creation processes. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(1), 139-155.)

·        5. Conclusion and implications. Here there is a missing point: limitations of your study. Please add this part accordingly

Finally my latest suggestion and encouragement. You are close to the final goal: you just have to improve your paper

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf