Resistance to agritourism diversification: An analysis of winery owners' identities

This paper develops an identity-based rationale to investigate why winery owners resist and/or limit their engagement in agritourism diversification. Using qualitative evidence from a sample of Italian winery owners, the paper draws on social identity theory to explain how owners' identities affect tourism diversification. The findings reveal that they actively construct a producer identity and that this identity is simultaneously regulated by various institutional forces (e.g. local winemaking community), which in turn shape their reluctance to pursue tourism diversification. The paper contributes to a better understanding of why agricultural producers resist tourism diversification. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.