Title: Social entrepreneurship in the rural areas - a sports club's mobilisation of people, money and social capital

Authors: Yvonne Von Friedrichs; Olof Wahlberg

Addresses: Department of Business, Economics and Law, Mid Sweden University, 831 25 Östersund, Sweden ' Department of Business, Economics and Law, Mid Sweden University, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden

Abstract: This paper is about the growth, roots and concerns of social entrepreneurship in a small, peripheral society, where the sports club has taken over common public responsibilities and become a change agent for the community development. The aim is to contribute to the knowledge about the conditions and challenges of social entrepreneurship when the voluntary sector in the form of a sports club takes over traditional public commitments in small, rural societies. An exploratory case study approach is used. The club's social embeddedness is found to have given it credibility in the local society, and its geographical proximity has turned it into a bricoleur, while its ability to mobilise critical resources has been key to its success as a social entrepreneur. The study contributes to the growing field of social entrepreneurship with empirical evidence on how volunteers can serve as important change agents in rural local societies.

Keywords: social entrepreneurship; change agents; resource mobilisation; bricoleur; voluntarism; value conflict; local development; rural areas; welfare nation; Sweden; sports clubs; social capital; community development; voluntary sector; rural communities; case study; volunteers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.078706

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.29 No.2, pp.199 - 216

Received: 13 Feb 2015
Accepted: 09 Nov 2015
Published online: 01 Sep 2016 *

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