Rural social entrepreneurs often attempt to approach socio-economic problems of structurally weak rural regions by providing goods or services addressing the specific needs of local communities. In this regard the aim of this paper is to analyze the specific role and embeddeddness of a social entrepreneur in rural remote areas. The empirical analysis of this thesis draws on a multi-level framework, which is based on a social capital approach. A key insight of the analysis is the identification of the social entrepreneur as an intermediary between local community and regime level actors, which is in line with the suggested theoretical model. Results also indicate that the degree of the social entrepreneurs social legitimacy is decisive for the success of the social enterprise business model, since this may positively influences value propositions perceived by other stakeholders. Rural social entrepreneurs are capable to act as a driving force of social change in rural settings, in case they recognize the need of strategically activating and mobilizing complementary resources, which can be leveraged through bonding, bridging and linking networks. The paper also clearly demonstrates that it is particularly the ability of the rural social entrepreneur to establish vertical linkages between rural communities and instrumental resource holders in the insitutional environment, which makes him to a key actor for promoting social regional development.
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||