Optimism for new business survival in rural communities: an institutional perspective

Abstract

This study uses institutional theory to examine the relationship between rural community norms and optimism for new firm survival. A survey of 1161 residents and business owners in 32 rural US communities explored community-wide attitudes toward change and norms related to community and local business sector symbolic and performative actions and their influence on local residents’ optimism about prospects for success of new businesses. Multiple regression analysis revealed that institutional norms supporting change and reflecting positive attitudes regarding residents’ and business owners’ actions in the task environments are positively related to community optimism about new firm survival. Evidence also supports differential effects of population size on norms related to openness to change and retailer performative actions. Findings suggest that the rural community institutional environment may have an influence on efforts to attract and retain new businesses in rural communities.

La présente étude utilise la théorie institutionnelle pour examiner les relations entre les normes propres aux communautés rurales et les chances de survie des nouvelles entreprises. Une enquête portant sur 1161 résidents et chefs d’entreprises dans 32 communautés rurales américaines a étudié les attitudes à l’échelle des communautés vis-à-vis du changement et les normes relatives aux actions symboliques et performatives touchant la communauté et le secteur des entreprises locales et leur influence sur l’optimisme des résidents locaux quant aux perspectives de réussite des nouvelles entreprises. Une analyse de régression multiple a révélé que les normes institutionnelles appuyant le changement et reflétant des attitudes positives à l’égard des actions des résidents et des chefs d’entreprises dans les champs d’intervention se trouvent liées de manière positive à l’optimisme communautaire concernant la survie des nouvelles entreprises. Les données probantes obtenues confirment également les effets différentiels de l’importance des populations sur les normes liées à l’ouverture au changement et aux actions performatives des distributeurs. Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que le milieu institutionnel de la communauté rurale peut avoir une influence sur les efforts visant à attirer et conserver de nouvelles entreprises dans les communautés rurales.

Keywords:

• independent retailers
• institutional theory
• new firm survival
• rural community
• small business

Mots clés:

• distributeurs indépendants
• théorie institutionnelle
• survie des nouvelles entreprises
• communauté rurale
• petites entreprises

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the National Research Initiative (NRI) of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA, Grant # 2008-55401-04602 from the Rural Development Program.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara Frazier

Barbara Frazier is Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Western Michigan University. Her research interests include rural community business development, and social processes and entrepreneurial activity of rural retailers.

Leslie Stoel

Leslie Stoel is Professor in the Department of Human Sciences at The Ohio State University. Research interests include competitive behaviors of retailers, consumer responses to various retail environments, technology acceptance in the retail context, and the role of retailers in their communities.

Linda Niehm

Linda Niehm is Associate Professor at Iowa State University in the Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management. Her research interests include retailer competitive strategies, rural retailing, consumer-retailer relationships, entrepreneurship, and family business.

Nicole Eckerson

Nicole Eckerson is a lecturer in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Western Michigan University. Her research interests include merchandising and service quality strategies of independent retailers.