From Home to Enterprise: The Evolutionary Commercialization of Rural Small Accommodation Business and Its Impact on Entrepreneurial Success

ABSTRACT Rural tourism is dominated by endogenous small accommodation businesses (SABs) with dual characteristics of family and enterprise. Achieving competitiveness in rural tourism necessitates not only the establishment but also the sustained success of such businesses. This paper emphasizes the evolutionary commercialization of rural SABs in the context of a developing country, conceptualizing it as the gradual separation of familial functions from business operations. A three‐dimensional framework capturing changes in key aspects of SABs (spatial use, labor composition, and goal orientation) is proposed to evaluate this commercialization process. An integrated model elucidating the dynamics of rural SAB's commercialization and its impact on entrepreneurial success is proposed and empirically investigated. The results show that (1) higher degree of commercialization yields favorable results for both business performance and well‐being of the entrepreneurial family, and (2) rural SABs' embedded business networks can facilitate the process of commercialization. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.