ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces readers to the genesis of our work and how this informs our positionality in relation to the research undertaken. The first part of this chapter shows how our epistemological and ontological position as researchers informs our approach to this research project, and subsequently how the chosen methods are appropriately aligned to this stance. It presents the methods used to generate and collect research material, giving details of the 42 participants and of the 71 interviews conducted, together with our approach to reflexivity in the light of the first author’s own position in the hospitality investment milieu. The second part of this chapter provides an overview to the current status of equity investment in hospitality, and the contribution that such investment makes to businesses and the industry in general. We establish that there is little literature concerning the phenomenon of equity investing in hospitality and this leads to gaps in our understanding of how it is accomplished. Acknowledging these gaps, we provide an overview of the ‘technical’ process of equity investment as it occurs in hospitality as a context for the examination of the connections of this activity which is the purpose of this book.
