ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with our overarching claim – that private equity investment is a social, relational activity imbued with affect and emotions – and the four objectives underpinning it; and it highlights the three fields of research that we call upon in discussing our claim: hospitality studies, behavioural finance, and socio-cultural theories of emotion and affect. The first objective refers to identifying and analysing how affective and emotional connections emerge and are formed in the hospitality investment activity; the second objective connects to unravelling the nature and character of affective connections showcasing the complexities of the act of hospitality investment equity decision-making. The third objective is concerned with examining and understanding the dynamics of affective and emotional connections in forming investment collectives, whilst in the fourth objective, we explore how the connections between bodies and the emergence of collectives are entangled in the surfacing and interpretation of gut feelings. This chapter continues with a sub-section clarifying the terminology used in this book of bodies, actors, and others, referring to people involved or implicated in the hospitality investment activity. The introduction then concludes with an outline of the book chapters and the contribution of each one to the purpose of our work.
