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Relational Work in Lifestyle Enterprising : Sustaining the Tension Between the Personal and the Commercial

Andersson Cederholm, Erika LU orcid (2018) In Kultura i Spoleczenstwo p.3-17
Abstract
This article focuses on the negotiated distinction between commercial and non-commercial spheres of life through the phenomenon of lifestyle entrepreneurship. Lifestyle entrepreneurship is a concept used for a form of self-employment, based on the business owner´s own hobby or lifestyle. The article is based on a study of lifestyle enterprising in the tourism and hospitality industries in southern Sweden. The study comprises ethnographic interviews, field observations, and go-alongs with owners of small businesses that can be described as commercial homes, such as bed & breakfast and farm stay. The article uses the context of lifestyle entrepreneurs to theorize and discuss the dynamics of blurring and/or marking the distinction between... (More)
This article focuses on the negotiated distinction between commercial and non-commercial spheres of life through the phenomenon of lifestyle entrepreneurship. Lifestyle entrepreneurship is a concept used for a form of self-employment, based on the business owner´s own hobby or lifestyle. The article is based on a study of lifestyle enterprising in the tourism and hospitality industries in southern Sweden. The study comprises ethnographic interviews, field observations, and go-alongs with owners of small businesses that can be described as commercial homes, such as bed & breakfast and farm stay. The article uses the context of lifestyle entrepreneurs to theorize and discuss the dynamics of blurring and/or marking the distinction between personal and commercial relations. The theoretical point of departure is the notion of relational work in combination with the notion of sociological ambivalence. By combining these two strands of literature it is argued that the business owners´ narrative practices sustain ambiguity and blurred boundaries, rather than draw lines, between commercial and non-commercial spheres. It is also argued that lifestyle-oriented work identity constructs a friendship-oriented form of service encounter, reinforced by a market where emotional closeness emerges as an experience product. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
relational work, ambiguity, lifestyle entrepreneurship, hospitality, commercial friendship
in
Kultura i Spoleczenstwo
issue
4
pages
15 pages
ISSN
0023-5172
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
42568a17-08c3-4e6a-9bdc-d22b1bd388f4
date added to LUP
2019-03-27 14:42:03
date last changed
2019-11-17 10:24:53
@article{42568a17-08c3-4e6a-9bdc-d22b1bd388f4,
  abstract     = {{This article focuses on the negotiated distinction between commercial and non-commercial spheres of life through the phenomenon of lifestyle entrepreneurship. Lifestyle entrepreneurship is a concept used for a form of self-employment, based on the business owner´s own hobby or lifestyle. The article is based on a study of lifestyle enterprising in the tourism and hospitality industries in southern Sweden. The study comprises ethnographic interviews, field observations, and go-alongs with owners of small businesses that can be described as commercial homes, such as bed & breakfast and farm stay. The article uses the context of lifestyle entrepreneurs to theorize and discuss the dynamics of blurring and/or marking the distinction between personal and commercial relations. The theoretical point of departure is the notion of relational work in combination with the notion of sociological ambivalence. By combining these two strands of literature it is argued that the business owners´ narrative practices sustain ambiguity and blurred boundaries, rather than draw lines, between commercial and non-commercial spheres. It is also argued that lifestyle-oriented work identity constructs a friendship-oriented form of service encounter, reinforced by a market where emotional closeness emerges as an experience product.}},
  author       = {{Andersson Cederholm, Erika}},
  issn         = {{0023-5172}},
  keywords     = {{relational work; ambiguity; lifestyle entrepreneurship; hospitality; commercial friendship}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{3--17}},
  series       = {{Kultura i Spoleczenstwo}},
  title        = {{Relational Work in Lifestyle Enterprising : Sustaining the Tension Between the Personal and the Commercial}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}