Joshua V. White, Kris Irwin, Cameron J. Borgholthaus, Jeffrey Cavanaugh
{"title":"Immigrant communities and rural entrepreneurship: the double-edged dynamics of business exits in rural America","authors":"Joshua V. White, Kris Irwin, Cameron J. Borgholthaus, Jeffrey Cavanaugh","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01197-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01197-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147461953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angelo Cavallo, Massimo Gaetano Colombo, Nicolai J. Foss
{"title":"Microfoundations of entrepreneurial ecosystems: a critical commentary on future Research directions","authors":"Angelo Cavallo, Massimo Gaetano Colombo, Nicolai J. Foss","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01202-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01202-x","url":null,"abstract":"Research on entrepreneurial ecosystems has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, generating substantial insights into their constituent elements and associated outcomes. However, the microfoundational mechanisms through which these elements and outcomes interact across levels of analysis remain poorly understood, limiting theoretical progress in the entrepreneurial ecosystems literature. This paper offers a critical examination of existing research on entrepreneurial ecosystems, including early contributions that explicitly adopt a microfoundational perspective. We argue that greater conceptual clarity is needed with respect to system-level properties and, in particular, the distinction between microfoundational elements and causal mechanisms. We emphasize the importance of developing functional microfoundations, understood as the strategic actions and interactions through which ecosystem-level elements and outcomes are generated and sustained. Drawing on illustrative examples and alternative conceptualizations of key constructs, the paper provides guidance for developing robust, mechanism-based theories that advance understanding of the microfoundations of entrepreneurial ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147461951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does crowdfunding foster rural entrepreneurship?","authors":"Nicola Cortinovis","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01194-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01194-8","url":null,"abstract":"Entrepreneurs in rural areas face much greater difficulties than those located in cities, also with respect to the access to entrepreneurial finance. Recent developments in the provision of capital, however, have opened new opportunities for small firms and start-ups to obtain funding. In this empirical work, I hypothesize that crowdfunding provides crucial resources and support for rural-based entrepreneurs and that rural areas characterized by greater (bridging) social capital are better positioned to benefit from the opportunities of crowdfunding. Using a newly developed database linking crowdfunding campaigns to industry and counties in the U.S. (KIUS), county-level information on social capital and official U.S. census data, I test these hypotheses. My findings indicate that crowdfunding is indeed positively related to the number of ventures operating in the industry-location in the following period. In addition, this relationship is stronger for counties with higher levels of bridging social capital and of civic engagement. The results are robust to a number of checks, including a placebo test and matching exercises.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147461952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Entrepreneurship under ambiguity: extending Aghion and Howitt","authors":"Niclas Berggren","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01203-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01203-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147368050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Danny Soetanto, Qihai Huang, Shuangfa Huang, Xiaoying Li, Guowei Cai
{"title":"The impact of education on entrepreneurial entry in rural areas: the role of village entrepreneurial intensity and clan culture in emerging economies","authors":"Danny Soetanto, Qihai Huang, Shuangfa Huang, Xiaoying Li, Guowei Cai","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01166-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01166-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sebastián Uriarte, Vesna Mandakovic, José Ernesto Amorós
{"title":"Socio-cognitive traits and hybrid entrepreneurship: the moderating role of labor institutions","authors":"Sebastián Uriarte, Vesna Mandakovic, José Ernesto Amorós","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01182-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01182-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"241 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Entrepreneurship for the rural? A reflection on rural entrepreneurship in a time of multi-crisis","authors":"Steffen Korsgaard, Gary Bosworth, Johan Gaddefors","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01184-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01184-w","url":null,"abstract":"Rural areas in most of the world are facing a multi-crisis related to climate change, regional inequalities, and increasing political unrest. This calls for rethinking and exploring forms of entrepreneurial action that can engage with these crises. In this conceptual paper, we conduct a Weberian ideal type analysis and suggest that the prevailing ideal types of rural entrepreneurship run the risk of an epistemic fallacy and of inadvertently legitimizing centralizing policies. To address this, we propose a new ideal type of “entrepreneurship for the rural” that highlights the need to engage with issues of spatial justice, which lie at the heart of the conflicts and potentials that constitute the current multi-crisis. The ideal type of “entrepreneurship for the rural” emphasizes institutional and political forms of entrepreneurship that seek to create changes in the structural conditions of regional inequality and spatial patterns of opportunity. Further research into this type of entrepreneurship is recommended.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146196589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoyin Li, Jason S. Entsminger, Heather M. Stephens
{"title":"Perspectives on rural entrepreneurial ecosystems and women’s venturing: an analysis of local factors associated with female self-employment in non-metro U.S. counties","authors":"Xiaoyin Li, Jason S. Entsminger, Heather M. Stephens","doi":"10.1007/s11187-026-01178-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01178-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146196590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The rise of nonemployer businesses in the United States: an analysis by geography","authors":"Tessa Conroy, Austin Landini, Mary McDermott","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01141-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01141-z","url":null,"abstract":"During the first two decades of the 2000s, the number of nonemployer businesses grew remarkably, far outpacing the growth in the number of employer businesses. We analyze the factors that may be driving the growth of nonemployer businesses per capita at the county level. We pay particular attention to geography, namely the rural and urban contexts and potential spatial spillovers between counties. We find that nonemployer growth is highest in places with large non-White populations as well as low incomes and home values, suggesting that nonemployer business ownership may be a form of necessity entrepreneurship that is more common in low-wealth areas. Yet, nonemployer growth is also higher in places with more small business lending, indicating the important role of capital even for very small businesses. Using a panel Spatial Durbin Model and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to assess the importance of spatial spillovers, we find that the main results are largely robust to spatial models, but the GWR model highlights important local insights.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146153520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marcelo Gonzalez, Isabel María Bodas Freitas, Steven A. Brieger
{"title":"National environmental regulations and green market participation by SMEs","authors":"Marcelo Gonzalez, Isabel María Bodas Freitas, Steven A. Brieger","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01170-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01170-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146153521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}