A research on the personal characteristics of gastronomy entrepreneurs and their view of innovation in Gaziantep, which is a member of the Network of UNESCO Creative Cities

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the "Creative Cities Network" program in 2004 to identify gastronomy, food and culture studies for people to provide information about cultural diversity and what people eat and drink. They also classified the cities under 7 themes as Design, Craft and People, Literature, Music, Cinema / Film and Media. The awareness on local cuisines should be preserved as a cultural heritage at national and international level by evaluating gastronomy under a theme within the scope of Creative Cities Network has gained increasing importance along with the economic and cultural developments. In this context, one of the objectives and articles of UNESCO mentions that "Encouraging and developing member cities on the same platform, thanks to partnerships of the public, private sector and civil society, to attempt to realize creative ideas" which makes opportunity to create presence of leading-minded individuals who can bring these components together on a common platform, do not hesitate to take risks and responsibilities when necessary, and reflect innovative ideas to life has gained importance. Gastronomy entrepreneurs play an active role in the branding and sustainable urban development of Gaziantep, which was included in 2015 to UNESCO's Gastronomic Cities.The main purpose of the research carried out in this context is to determine the personality traits and perspectives of gastronomy entrepreneurs, who have a leading role in the branding of Gaziantep in gastronomic tourism, and to reveal whether there is a relationship between personality traits and innovativeness, and whether the personality traits of gastronomy entrepreneurs have any effect on their perspectives on innovation or not.The questionnaire form developed in line with this purpose was applied to 254 gastronomic entrepreneurs in the local and touristic food and beverage enterprises serving in Gaziantep, based on the easy sampling method between August and October of 2019. As a result of the research, it was determined that the personality traits of gastronomy entrepreneurs consisted of three dimensions as "Stability", "Objectivity" and "Motivation", while it has been observed that the dimensions that make up the perspectives on innovation consist of three dimensions as "Innovative Thinking", "Difference" and "Interaction".It has been determined that there is a "low" relationship with the personality traits of gastronomic entrepreneurs. As a result of the correlation and regression analysis, it has been determined that gastronomic entrepreneurs have a positive and significant effect between their personality traits and their perspectives on innovation.