| Summary: | Purpose: This study aims to investigate the Malaysian Mah Meri Indigenous tourism entrepreneur’s personality, experience, sense of community traits and current challenges in community-based tourism (CBT)-related businesses. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data from 10 Indigenous tourism entrepreneurs. Data were analysed using the NVivo 11 software. Findings: The qualitative content analysis found three broad themes. Firstly, the authors found that the Mah Meri community possesses unique self-efficacy personality characteristics, significantly predicting their unsustainable entrepreneurial behaviours. Secondly, they are willing to share their values, beliefs and interests in their business offerings, which reflect their sense of community. Even with considerable entrepreneurial experience through learning from local wisdom and upskilling efforts by the government, the authors found that the community limitation mainly concerns the lack of early education, uninventive entrepreneurship practices and financial assistance. Practical implications: This study provides an improved understanding of the Indigenous business environment for policymakers and Indigenous entrepreneurs. We found entrepreneurial personality, experience, sense of community determine and structure their CBT entrepreneurial activities. Originality/value: This study provides a new perspective on Indigenous tourism entrepreneurs’ personalities, experiences, sense of community traits and challenges. The study also suggests encouraging sustainable Indigenous entrepreneurship practices for economic development, self-determination and community sustainability. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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