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The purpose of this paper is to provide examples and best practices of an academic library’s strategy of collaborating with community agencies in assisting community entrepreneurs.

This conceptual paper reflects on the evolution of a new service role for an academic library in providing outreach to community entrepreneurs and is limited to the best practices and lessons learned of one academic library.

This conceptual paper reflects on an academic library’s outreach strategy for assisting community entrepreneurs; collaboration with community agencies is featured as a best practice with examples and lessons learned.

A recent national study of academic business librarians’ outreach to entrepreneurs has established collaboration with community agencies as an effective service strategy. This conceptual paper reflects on the use of this strategy in a specific academic library’s outreach efforts to community entrepreneurs.

As many businesses faced economic disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic and sought financial relief, existing bank relationships became critical to getting a loan. This study examines factors associated with the development of personal relationships of rural small businesses with community bank representatives.

We applied a mixed-method approach. We employed descriptive statistics, principal factor analysis and logistic regression for data analysis. We distributed an online survey to rural small businesses in five states in the United States. Key informant interviews with community bank representatives supplemented the survey results.

A business owner’s trust in a banker was positively associated with the establishment of a business–bank relationship. However, an analysis of individual trust’s components revealed that the nature of trust is complex, and a failure of one or more components may lead to decreased trustworthiness in a banker. Small businesses that preferred personal communication with a bank were more inclined to relationship banking.

Due to the relatively small sample size and cross-sectional data, our results may not be conclusive but should be viewed as preliminary and as suggestions for future research. Bankers should be aware of the importance of trust for small business owners and of the actions that lead to increased trustworthiness.

The study extends the existing knowledge on the business–bank relationship by focusing mainly on social (instead of economic) factors associated with the establishment of the business–bank relationship in times of crisis and high uncertainty.

This study aims to address decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs living and working in rural areas. The authors draw on the institutional logics perspective and stewardship perspective to demonstrate how religion influences rationality and entrepreneurial decision-making processes in a rural context.

This study adopts a qualitative interpretive approach supported by ethnographic fieldwork. Qualitative and interpretative analyses are used to access deeper insights into the decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs in a rural environment. Data include short-term immersive events, observations and interviews as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifted in the region.

This study reveals that normative (religious) commitments – a sense of moral duty and action influenced by religion – and a high-religiosity context – where religion permeates diverse aspects of life – lead to behaviors that are perceived as rational and normative. In this context, the normative relationship between a market and a community logic, alongside a logic of religion, are all linked through a stewardship perspective. A broad focus on the development of community and place also safeguards business and community interests.

Since the findings are based on one rural area and one religion, future studies should address a broader range of geographical areas and religions. In this study, uncertainty arising from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the resumption of business exchanges also influence the decision-making processes of the entrepreneurial participants. While the findings reflect the normative dispositions and the decision-making processes that are inherent in this context, an even broader examination of rural entrepreneurship will benefit our understanding of entrepreneurial decisions in terms of rationality and place.

The findings reveal that entrepreneurs who relocate to a rural, high-religiosity context should first assess how the community affiliated through a set of beliefs – expects actors to behave. Additionally, applicability to other religions requires further consideration.

This study answers the call to examine entrepreneurship and the underpinnings of rationality that challenge mainstream debates on entrepreneurial decision-making and religion. The findings answer this call by advancing the knowledge of the decision-making process of religious entrepreneurs. In this respect, the findings present a context where rational business behaviors, influenced by a market logic, are transformed through exchanges with a community informed by a logic of religion. A conceptual model illustrates the nature of this context and associated processes.

The purpose of this study is to explore the elements of the Marwari business community’s sociocultural context, which influence entrepreneurial behaviour. The entrepreneurial behaviour of the Marwari community is interrogated in the context of the wider indigenous entrepreneurship literature.

The study adopts a qualitative approach in exploring the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and effectual entrepreneurial behaviour of a sample of Marwari entrepreneurs. An exploratory, qualitative content analysis method was adopted to highlight the emerging insights into traditional entrepreneurship.

The study identifies unique, traditional Marwari behavioural constructs such as Sakh and Samai and the role it plays in trust-based business relationships. Overall, the study finds that although the Marwari practices and ecosystem enable a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial and business process, they do not facilitate creative innovation or entrepreneurial experimentation as seen within modern start-up incubation ecosystems.

The study took a conscious decision to restrict further data collection upon saturation and used a purposeful sampling technique to increase the richness of this study rather than enlarge the sample and dilute the quality of the data.

The study identifies nuances of Marwari’s traditional practices that have come to determine their effectual tendencies that support business growth and sustainability. The study, however, finds that the restrictiveness of the Marwari ecosystem practices on fluency of doing business rather than creative innovation and thought experimentation risks the longevity of the traditional ecosystem advantage enjoyed by the Marwaris for centuries.

The study broadens the understanding of the uniqueness of traditional business communities, which are comparatively marginalized in mainstream entrepreneurship research. Via this study, it is seen that the Marwari form of entrepreneurship is collectivist rather than individualist in nature, which differentiates them from their Western counterparts. This helps to explain why entrepreneurs tend to behave differently; hence, achieving a universal definition of entrepreneurship remains a challenge.

While the relationship between the sociocultural aspects of communities and their entrepreneurial behaviour is known, the role of the constituent elements of the Marwari sociocultural context and influence on business is unclear. This study takes the lead in identifying such elements of the Marwari sociocultural construct and argues how these elements can play a role in the Marwaris demonstrating tendencies of effectual behaviour.

Economic development as a public initiative is traditionally designed to assist designated members of a society in their efforts to adjust to structural change and economic dislocation. The goal of a typical economic development program, while a public interventionist initiative, is to stimulate private sector economic activity, thereby alleviating the stress and damage associated with structural change and economic dislocation; in other words, to help fellow citizens and perhaps neighbours through an economic transition. These are honourable and worthy goals, but even here compassion, empathy, innovative thinking, and resources — especially resources — have their limits.

Community economic development (CED) focuses on the creation of sustainable communities. To that end, a reciprocal relationship that sustains the community and business alike can be created. However, little is known about the nature of informal interactions between residents and businesses that achieves that end. This study aims to explore the nature of these interactions and their contribution to CED within a rural context.

A case study approach was used with interviews with five rural entrepreneurs. Questions explored the nature of the support that they receive from their home community and their contributions back to it.

The results show that communities and businesses do not operate independently of each other, but rather are mutually supportive and contribute directly to the other’s objectives. These relationships are reinforced over time by a business owner’s direct involvement in the community, though this process takes time and effort.

This study focuses on a limited geographical area in British Columbia with a small group of rural entrepreneurs. The results may not be generalizable to other contexts.

The results suggest concrete actions that both the rural entrepreneurs and their associated communities can take to be mutually supportive of each other to the benefit of each party alike.

This paper enlarges the understanding of the types of interactions, especially informal ones, that can support both businesses and the larger community in their efforts to sustain themselves and contribute to CED efforts.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not a dedicated business center within a public library acts as a key success factor in a public library’s services to the community entrepreneur.

A questionnaire survey was sent to 88 public libraries with dedicated business centers, and posted to BRASS-L and BUSLIB-L, for input from public libraries without business centers. Interviews with three survey respondents and one local city official followed.

Fifty-seven per cent of all respondents felt that a dedicated business center is very essential or essential to the services provided to the entrepreneurial community. The services most often offered were workshops/seminars/classes, counseling sessions by collaborative agencies and one-on-one research sessions with librarians. The majority of responding libraries collaborated with a community business agency (80 per cent). Fifty-one per cent spend between 6 and 20 hours/month on the collaboration.

Since 2007, many of the dedicated business centers in public libraries have closed or been consolidated with other sections and services of a public library. This should be further studied. Further research on librarian expertise in market and industry research is recommended.

This study updates the business services associated with public libraries business services since the push in the late 1990s for public libraries to be more active in community economic development.

Posits that most contemporary interest in the university‐industry linkages stems from a concern to increase the birth rate of new technology‐based firms and/or the velocity with which indigenous scientific capability is translated into commercial technologies. Notes that many analysts of science parks and silicon valleys argue that this kind of knowledge‐based innovation requires cosmopolitan economic and social milieux with good communication links, easy access to air transport, highly educated workers and sophisticated cultural amenities. Argues that on the receiving end of contemporary innovation systems are indigenous and other disempowered groups and economically depleted communities with little stake in scientific and technical advancement and virtually no involvement in the policy or social networks set up to steer the knowledge system. Describes an experiment to discover processes by which marginalized, economically distressed communities can use institutions of the “knowledge economy” to foster the social and technological innovation necessary for their survival. Joins the University College of Cape Breton with universities in Mexico to form structured relationships with communities on Cape Breton Island and with a Mayan community on the Yucatán Peninsula. Bases techniques on searching for economic opportunities, construction of community business organizations, training, community development and supportive aftercare services to provide the three components of community economic regeneration: finance, technology and formation. Works to find ways to use the dynamics of triple helix innovation to construct knowledge systems that work in favour of the peripheral communities threatened by trade liberalization and the decline of resource regions. Specifically asks how can the institutions of the “knowledge economy” contribute to the development of a local sub‐economy that supports local businesses? Employs a social economy approach to the establishment of community businesses, differing from others in the community business movement in the belief that the “knowledge economy” can provide resources and eventual economic and social survivability to distressed regions. Argues that economic regeneration among marginal groups requires: access to improved production and organizational technologies; that universities can provide this access, especially in distressed communities; a transfer system usually has to be established; specific steps must be taken to establish new community businesses; and a maintenance system with specific characteristics must be established.

The purpose of this paper is to test the interaction effect of government support in the relationship between business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) survival in post-war communities in Northern Uganda.

Cross-sectional research design was used in the study and quantitative data were collected from 304 SMMEs located in Gulu District using a semi-structured questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) through the use of analysis of moment structures was adopted to establish the interaction effect of government support in the relationship between business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and SMMEs survival in post-war communities in Northern Uganda. Furthermore, Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to show the association between the variables under study.

The results revealed that there is a significant interaction effect of government support in the relationship between business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and SMMEs survival in post-war communities in Northern Uganda. Besides, the results indicated that business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and government support have significant and positive impacts on SMMEs survival in post-war communities in Northern Uganda.

The study employed cross-sectional research design, thus, ignoring longitudinal study approach. Besides, the sample was selected from only Gulu District, therefore, leaving out other Districts located in Northern Uganda.

Advocates of recovery programs and interventions in developing countries should consider government support as a vital factor in promoting business skill, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, and entrepreneurial education in order to enhance SMMEs growth in post-war communities. In addition, governments in developing countries should offer investment incentives and tax waivers to infant SMMEs in post-war communities like in Northern Uganda.

The study examined the interaction effect of government support in the relationship between business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and SMMEs survival in post-war communities in developing countries. Thus, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to test the interaction effect of government support in the relationship between business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and SMMEs survival in post-war communities in Northern Uganda. The use of government support as a moderator in the relationship between business skills, capital adequacy, access to finance, access to market, entrepreneurial education, and SMMEs survival is scarce in entrepreneurship literature and theory. This creates uniqueness in this study.

As conviviality can nurture community social capital, this paper aims to investigate how such capital can give rise to economic behaviour in terms of developing business relationships.

The empirical analysis was based on case studies of Italian businesses recognised as active communities that periodically organise convivial activities to fuel reciprocal collaboration. The case studies were constructed by combining a collection of secondary data, in-depth interviews and participant observations.

This paper shows how: community social capital in convivium emerges from self-narrative stimulated by ritual practices; social trust mobilising a convivial social capital is fuelled by knowledge generated through sharing and empathic relationships; community-based social relations embed business relations and if mediated, community-based business relations can also embed a community business.

The originality of the paper is twofold as it contributes: to understanding how conviviality can be used as a strategic tool for entrepreneurs to develop business relationships from convivial relations; and to finding intersection points between studies on business relationships from social capital and studies on entrepreneurship from community social capital.