Entrepreneurship, culture and resilience: the determinants of local development in uncertain times

There is a growing recognition that culture, both that specifically related to entrepreneurship and more generally that underpinning social and community activities, plays a role in facilitating economic development. Little attention, however, has been paid to the extent to which entrepreneurial activities are themselves resilient in the face of economic downturns: in particular, the extent to which entrepreneurial activities, attitudes and culture are supported by community culture at the local level. This study, therefore, seeks to address this issue. Data from localities in Great Britain are used to develop a number of indices based on those elements identified within the existing literature concerning community culture. Overall, it is found that entrepreneurship is only one element of the resources required to develop economic resilience, and may even lessen this resilience if ‘over-indulged’ in isolation. The findings further suggest that there is a link between some aspects of community culture and both economic and entrepreneurial resilience, in particular, a negative influence from social cohesion and adherence to social rules Positively for those localities with less market-driven individualistic perspectives, collective action supports entrepreneurial resilience, which means that such localities should not be handicapped in recovering from negative shocks.