Social value change, embeddedness and social entrepreneurship

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the shift in social and cultural values in the wake of ongoing change; specifically, the degree of embeddedness of these values among farm-based entrepreneurs. The authors examine how this value-change-embeddedness continuum can further the development of theories in the field of social entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use an exploratory and a descriptive approach when interviewing eight farmers and members of their respective households. The sample encompasses almost all the providers of farm-based tourism in this particular area of rural Norway. The empirical materials form the basis for selecting our theoretical approach, one of which is a structural life-mode analysis.

Findings

The findings show that the social value of self-reliance, when taken to extremes, can hinder the growth of deeper commercial cooperation between farmers. This constitutes a challenge to efficiency and effectiveness on a larger scale, given a need for both independence and interdependence together with flexible entrepreneurial network cooperation in social entrepreneurship. The findings also indicate that social entrepreneurship does not necessarily have to include a cognitive shift in values and roles for the exclusion of a productive entrepreneurial identity.

Originality/value

By focusing on value changes in social entrepreneurship, this paper addresses a significant gap in the entrepreneurship literature relating to the process of value creation. By using the structural life-mode analysis, this study identifies the underlying value changes that are fundamental to entrepreneurial processes, allowing that process to unfold and take hold to the betterment of affected farm-based communities.

Citation

Velvin, J., Bjørnstad, K. and Krogh, E. (2016), "Social value change, embeddedness and social entrepreneurship", Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 262-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEC-08-2014-0015