Reverse innovation and digital sustainability in rural destinations: evidence from Iran's Hawraman

Digital entrepreneurship in Iran's Hawraman, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, thrives despite infrastructural constraints through reverse adaptive innovation and collective resilience. The study identifies five interrelated dimensions—infrastructural liminality, identity-functional duality, collective-relational agency, re-adaptive cycle, and contextual spirituality—that structure entrepreneurial practices in rural heritage settings. These findings challenge the perception of limitations as barriers, instead highlighting them as catalysts for culturally embedded technological appropriation and sustainable digital transformation. The research employs a hermeneutic phenomenological approach informed by Heideggerian philosophy, using in-depth interviews with 21 entrepreneurs to explore lived experiences, offering transferable insights for heritage destinations worldwide.

Torabi, Z.-A., Davani, P., & Jalilian, P. (2026). Reverse innovation and digital sustainability in rural destinations: evidence from Iran’s Hawraman. Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsut.2026.1745982