Racism as an inhibitor to the organisational legitimacy of Indigenous tourism businesses in Australia

Indigenous policy in many countries including Australia is focused on enhancing the socio-economic situation of Indigenous peoples through the encouragement of sustainable business models, including tourism business. Arguably, however, there are too few examples of sustainable Indigenous tourism businesses. Several authors have acknowledged that racism and discrimination are inhibitors to the sustainable development of Indigenous tourism businesses. Others have suggested that racism and discrimination directly impact on the extent to which these businesses are seen and respected as ‘legitimate’; that is, Indigenous business operators need to establish themselves as legitimate businesspersons in order to operate effectively in the global marketplace. Organisational legitimacy provides a useful lens for considering racism and discrimination and the extent to which it influences the perceived legitimacy of Indigenous tourism businesses. Legitimacy theory focuses on whether the norms exhibited by an organisation are congruent with the most general norms of society. This conceptual paper explores issues of racism and discrimination in Australia and the associated implications for Indigenous tourism businesses. This discussion is situated within the broader theory of organisational legitimacy; a concept that is commonly applied in various fields of business management, yet is largely unexplored within the tourism literature.