Embeddedness of Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas: A Comparative Rough Set Data Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to identify the critical factor(s) that determine the embeddedness level (EL) of rural entrepreneurs. In order to achieve this aim, existing applied studies on the embeddedness of entrepreneurs undertaken in different rural areas were systematically collected to create a database in order to provide the material for a systematic comparative analysis. This was done in order to highlight common and contrasting findings from a set of selected studies for different ELs. As many results of these studies were largely qualitative in nature and only partially comparable, a specific tool for analysing categorical data based on artificial intelligence methods, viz. rough set data analysis (RSDA), was employed. This experimental study is the first RSDA approach that compares the results of several rural case studies and infers general induction rules for the different ELs. The results of our analysis show that using and benefiting from local resources are the key factors that explain how entrepreneurs become embedded in rural areas.

What Kind of Entrepreneurship Drives Regional Development in European Non-core Regions? A Literature Review on Empirical Entrepreneurship Research

“…The authors found that immigrant entrepreneurs tended to actively search for ways of integrating their business activities into the local environment, for example, through joining clubs or employing the local workforce. And Guelsuemser et al (2009) finally found that a high level of local social integration of business activities-be it by immigrants or not-is a positive determinant for sustainable entrepreneurship in non-core regions.…”

“…Such immigrant entrepreneurs foster regional development through market activities, which create employment and stimulate consumer spending in non-core regions. This includes enhancing localized social capital (Guelsuemser et al, 2009).…”

Entrepreneurship Drivers in the Non-farming Sector: Rural-Urban Contrast

“…The urban entrepreneurship is well developed and given attention by policy makers rather than the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem which requires policy intervention towards the improvement of the rural entrepreneurial environment. Gülümser et al (2009) pointed out that, although traditionally associated with agriculture, the concept of entrepreneurship in the rural areas has been a topic of continuing debate, particularly with respect to the relative importance of its sectoral (i.e. agricultural) and territorial dimensions.…”

“…A few, generally those that are relatively less poor, are opportunity entrepreneurs pursuing a profitable business, innovating and looking to grow (Lina Sonn, 2010). Rural entrepreneurs depict intermittent situation when compared along a number of dimensions: geographic (country, remoteness); demographic (gender, age, and education); production sector (agriculture, tourism, and other sectors); motivation (lifestyle, locality, job opportunities for self and family, and subsidy); and their contribution to the rural capital (natural, man-made, social, and human) (Gülümser et al, 2009).…”

Rural–Urban Linkages and Sustainable Regional Development: The Role of Entrepreneurs in Linking Peripheries and Centers

“…There also has even been a rigid division between "rural" and "urban" when it comes to studies of entrepreneurship and associated spatial dynamics [1,[3][4][5] without much consideration of linkages of, for example, entrepreneurs located in rural areas who actively engage with markets in urban areas. Along these lines, many studies have focused on what it means to be an entrepreneur located in a rural area [6][7][8][9][10]. Less attention has been paid to the role of entrepreneurs as economic agents who might be able to connect rural and urban areas and create linkages between them.…”