9. Conclusion

This thesis set out to develop a short-term, qualitative instrument, to support cultural due diligence processes to diagnose organisational and community culture in the hospitality sector, specifically targeted at cooperation ventures between businesses and local communities, in order to help such businesses to achieve a better ‘cultural fit’ for the venture. In reality, the discussion about the research process has shown that it was not enough to find answers to the technical and methodological questions. A critique of the researcher’s ‘entanglement’ during the process has led to the integration of self-reflexivity into all layers of the Reflexive Organisational Culture Appraisal (‘ROCA’). This additional aspect of self-reflexivity has not only reformed the tentative methodology, by improving the theoretical and methodological parts of this thesis, but it has also brought new features into the discussion on tourism and poverty reduction. This chapter summarises the results of my thesis by framing the theoretical and methodological contributions to knowledge. This is followed by a discussion on the limitations of the thesis and opportunities for future research.