European rural entrepreneur and tourism‐based diversification: Does national culture matter?

Integrated rural tourism assumes a pivotal role in the regeneration of rural areas. The farmer's transition towards rural tourism is influenced by diverse macroeconomic and microeconomic factors. This paper contributes to the debate on tourism‐based farm diversification by cross‐fertilizing 3 theoretical domains—integrated rural tourism, cultural contexts, and rural entrepreneurship—in order to investigate how national cultural dimensions can influence European rural entrepreneur diversification into the tourism sector. To address our research question, we analyse the tourism‐based diversification of farmers in 17 European countries that have instituted the European Rural Development Policy of 2007–2013.