The purpose of this paper is to present results from an exploratory study that aims to investigate why gender role alterations in leadership positions is slow. The tourism managers’ perceptions of gender equality, within the workplace, were obtained resorting to focus groups. We chose thematic analysis to identify themes and patterns. This thematic analysis enables a methodological systematization of data. Data were coded using webQDA, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software that speeds up the team process of analysis. The systematization of information helped overcome the difficulties to synthesize the various interpretations; thus it was possible to generate more ideas and reduce researcher bias. The main outcome of the study was the development of an analytic framework where diverse components fit together by combining and cataloguing six main themes and their sub-themes. This framework is not only an analysis tool but also provides support to develop robust quantitative instruments and facilitate future meta-inference drawn from all data sources of a research project. We defend that mixed methods research is useful for finding credible answers to research questions on complex social phenomena. Discussion about qualitative vs quantitative dichotomy is sometimes irrelevant, because what matters is maximizing the process of research. Exploring the practicalities of using a qualitative methodology as a team of researchers, we contribute to theory development on human resources capitalization.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the ways in which gender influences entrepreneurial motivations and barriers in the Brazilian tourism sector. As an economic process, tourism entrepreneurship is widely spread in Brazil, with tourism development programs promoting it as a strategy to empower women, however limited research exists on how gender roles influence entrepreneurial ideals. This nationwide study aims to provide a contemporary insight into how tourism entrepreneurs in Brazil are situated within current entrepreneurship theorizing by questioning the complexity caused as gender roles influence entrepreneurial conceptualizations of what constitute motivations and barriers.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses online questionnaires aimed, for the first time, at a large variety of tourism sub-sectors in Brazil. Having nation-wide scope, the questionnaires produce knowledge on what motivates and what constrains Brazilian tourism entrepreneurs through a gender lens. Quantitative analysis using SPSS statistical software tests the statistical significance of results and is complemented by the integration of feminist economic theories into the analytical framework.Findings: The current study’s findings highlight the invisibility of gender’s workings, as the majority of participants did not conceive gender as playing a role in their entrepreneurial experience. Entrepreneurial motivations and barriers show a departure from past literature, such as the fact that similar numbers of male and female tourism entrepreneurs perceive networking as a significant entrepreneurial barrier. This and other interesting findings prompt for alternative conceptualizations of discourses surrounding women’s involvement in tourism entrepreneurship.Originality/value: This study consists of an original contribution to knowledge on tourism entrepreneurship in Brazil as this is the first time an empirical study has been made on a nation-wide scale regarding the role of gender in Brazilian tourism entrepreneurs’ motivations and constraints.

Tourism is a highly gendered industry, with strong horizontal and vertical segregation of occupations and this inevitably contributes to an elevated gender wage gap in comparison to other industries. This article investigates some of the underlying causes of the gender wage gap and the ways in which gendered stereotypes and gender norms continue to influence tourism labor relations. Challenging the idea that women "choose" to accept lower wages than men as a neoliberalist rationale that has little bearing on reality, this article adopts a feminist economics lens and investigates how the gender wage gap is created and perpetuated in Portugal's tourism industry through a thematic analysis of tourism managers' narratives from focus groups conducted in 2013 and 2014. Viewing individual choice as a myth, the politico-economic conditions that inform people's actions according to gender roles they are expected to perform are explored. The most frequent gender equality measure adopted by tourism companies in Portugal is ensuring that remuneration is set according to objective criteria, which demonstrates the perceived importance of eradicating the gender pay gap. Despite this, thematic analysis of focus group narratives reveals a persisting inequality within tourism labor. These reveal that horizontal segregation, gendered geographical mobility, and the prevalence of men in hierarchical positions contribute to the maintenance of the gender wage gap in tourism, illustrating a contradiction between the perceived eradication of the gender wage gap and its continuing existence. This article therefore represents an exploration into the ways in which the gender wage gap within tourism is created and maintained.