Community Social Capital and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The literature on social capital and entrepreneurship often explores individual benefits of social capital, such as the role of personal networks in promoting self-employment. In this article, we instead examine social capital’s public good aspects, arguing that the benefits of social trust and organization memberships accrue not just to the individual but to the community at large. We test these arguments using individual data from the 2000 Census that have been merged with two community surveys, the Social Capital Benchmark Survey and the General Social Survey. We find that individuals in communities with high levels of social trust are more likely to be self-employed compared to individuals in communities with lower levels of social trust. Additionally, membership in organizations connected to the larger community is associated with higher levels of self-employment, but membership in isolated organizations that lack connections to the larger community is associated with lower levels of self-employment. Further analysis suggests that the entrepreneurship-enhancing effects of community social capital are stronger for whites, native-born residents, and long-term community members than for minorities, immigrants, and recent entrants.

Social progress orientation and innovative entrepreneurship: an international analysis

“…Here, we could say that, for each country in our sample, if the VOL increased by 1%, the innovative TEA increased by 0.600%, while TEA NEC decreased by 0.496%, ceteris paribus. Consistent with the reviewed literature, VOL was identified as a key factor for the innovative entrepreneurship process (Audia et al 2006;Bauernschuster et al 2010;Kwon et al 2013). As a consequence, innovation, resource mobilization and market access in regions and countries were facilitated through an enhanced associative inclination, especially in sectors of activity characterized by an innovative component (Alvarez and Busenitz 2001;Anderson et al 2007;Feldman 2014;Sorenson 2003).…”

“…The extant literature has examined the impact of factors related to SPO on innovative entrepreneurial activity from different approaches, but has lacked an explicit and integrative approach. In this regard, some authors have used social capital (Anderson et al 2007;Kwon et al 2013;Leyden and Link 2015), others postmaterialist and social values (Turró et al 2014;Uhlaner and Thurik 2007), subjective well-being (Naudé et al 2013), life satisfaction , power distance (Shane 1993) and masculinity vs. femininity (Baum et al 1993).…”

“…According to Casson and Della Giusta (2007), the analysis of the entrepreneurship process (opportunity seeking, creation of new products, acquisition of resources and access to new or existing markets) can help in understanding the mechanism behind the promoting effect of social capital on innovative entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs with access to social capital (clubs, associations, informal networks and other meetings) can also gain access to information about entrepreneurial culture and opportunities and thus take measures to exploit them in different regions (Audia et al 2006;Bauernschuster et al 2010;Beugelsdijk 2007;Kwon et al 2013). Others suggest that the trust gained through social capital is key for the acquisition of the financial, material and intangible resources that entrepreneurs otherwise do not possess (Liao and Welsch 2005;Teckchandani 2014).…”

Las Juntas de Acción Comunal del municipio de Itagüí en el desarrollo local

“…Como lo plantea el profesor Ricardo Dávila Ladrón de Guevara: "las cooperativas locales poseen la capacidad de organizar y de acercar a los diferentes actores que se encuentran en la localidad municipal, sobre todo a la población joven ávida de desarrollar riquezas y potencialidades del municipio" (Dávila, 2004, p. 127) porque es su hábitat, es el lugar que ellos conocen y en el que siempre han vivido (Dávila, 2004, p. 128;Kwon, Heflin y Ruef, 2013).…”

Social Capital and Economic Well-Being in Germany's Regions: An Exploratory Spatial Analysis

“…An enormous body of research literature can be found at the individual level which, for instance, analyses how social capital improves employment situations (Franzen, Hangartner 2006, Granovetter 1995, Mouw 2003, Obukhova, Lan 2013, Thompson 2005 or related economic outcomes (Boxman et al 1991, Gerber, Mayorova 2010, Kwon et al 2013, Lancee 2010. Furthermore, Lee (2009) stated for the meso-level that "social capital is potentially an important source of competitive advantage for all organisations" (Cooke et al 2005, see Tsai, Ghoshal 1998 of these studies (Rupasingha et al 2000, Westlund, Calidoni-Lundberg 2007 analysed subnational regions in one country and the organisational density as a measure of social capital in a way that is congruent with this paper's approach (see section 3).…”