Societal Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Asian Rural Societies: A Multi-Sectoral Social Capital Approach in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan

Abstract

The agricultural sector in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan is facing a number of interrelated crises, including aging producers, falling market prices, changing consumer preferences, and biodiversity degradation. Small-scale farmers in these three societies have engaged in diverse collaborative initiatives with actors from the public, private, and third sectors to overcome these challenges. We illustrate these initiatives by combining the concept of societal entrepreneurship (Berglund et al. 2012) with a complex understanding of social capital (see Brunie 2009). Given that these initiatives are formed in distinct ways across these societies, the paper aims to answer the following research questions: What is the nature of the relationships (expressed as types of social capital) underlying the processes of societal entrepreneurship? How does social capital contribute to sustainable community development? How does it facilitate the scaling up of solutions through multi-sectoral collaboration? Using a case study approach, we aim to explore multi-sector initiatives in each context in depth, before identifying common patterns and key drivers for collaboration through thematic analysis. We have found that distinct drivers are involved in each context due to different types of social capital, including solutions, advocacy, and reconciliation.

Social Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: A Review of Impact Research

“…Core societal problems are analyzed using the networks, values, and trust approach to building SEs. Here, the main themes analyzed are: (a) poverty [104][105][106][107]; (b) social change (divisions /cohesion/inclusion/solidarity) [108][109][110][111][112]; (c) human empowerment [113]; including women entrepreneurship [114][115][116] and indigenous entrepreneurship [117]; (d) community development [118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133]; (e) growth and wellbeing [134][135][136]; and (f) public goods such as water, electricity, waste management, safety, health, food, and so on [137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148].…”

Social Capital and Sustainability in Oil Palm Sector

“…A study by Mills (2012) identified the extent to which agricultural environmental schemes can contribute to sustainable agriculture by positively impacting farm employment and farm income, developing social capital and knowledge and skills networks for farmers. Rado et al (2021) conducted a study to examine the relationship between social capital and community entrepreneurship and the role of social capital in sustainable community development for small farmers. Their study also looked at the extent to which social capital affects the organizational capacity of gardeners and how that capacity helps create cooperatives with other organizations.…”

Resilient Practices of Small Businesses to Survive from COVID-19 Pandemic ~ Perspectives from S-DL and Social Capital

“…Relational social capital is built via social networks that an actor develops and maintains with other actors to allow them to access and mobilize resources (Brunie, 2009). Collective social capital is understood as an attribute of individuals with a capability to establish social contacts and maintain relationships for better access to resources (Rado et al, 2021); therefore, collective social capital emerges through continuous interactions within a homogeneous group with shared norms (Brunie, 2009). Finally, Brunie (2019) pointed out that generalized social capital relies on trust, and takes the form of citizens' faith in shared norms within society.…”