Does crowdfunding foster rural entrepreneurship
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14867971 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicola Cortinovis (0000-0003-3985-7530, Utrecht University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Small Business Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0921-898X • E-ISSN: 1573-0913 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11187-026-01194-8 |
| OpenAlex | W7134950901 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 105 |
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
Bridging (networking · Census · Entrepreneurship · Matching (statistics · Rural area · Social capital · Social entrepreneurship · Test (biology · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Private Equity and Venture Capital
Understanding the Process of Economic Change
The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations
Internal Social Capital and the Attraction of Early Contributions in Crowdfunding
Resources and bridging
The best of both worlds
Entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities
Crowdfunding
Nursery Cities
Toward a process theory of entrepreneurial ecosystems
The Principle of Relatedness
Design, innovation, and rural creative places
Innovation and the Use of Technology in Manufacturing Plants and SMEs
Paradox in the periphery
Social capital, religion and small business activity
The role of finance in the literature of entrepreneurial ecosystems
Vulnerable Populations and Individual Social Responsibility in Prosocial Crowdfunding
Fostering rural entrepreneurship
Determinant factors for the development of rural entrepreneurship
Digital entrepreneurship ecosystem
Factors behind the resilience of rural startups
Crowdfunding and social capital
Finance, technology, and values
The production of social capital in US counties
What impact does equity crowdfunding have on SME innovation and growth? An empirical study
Does equity crowdfunding democratize entrepreneurial finance
The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship
The spatial demography of new plants
Entrepreneurial ecosystem elements
Are cities the font of innovation? A critical review of the literature on cities and innovation
Quality of government and social capital as drivers of regional diversification in Europe
Multinational enterprises, industrial relatedness and employment in European regions
Crowdfunding in a not-so-flat world
Innovation, SMEs and the liability of distance
Rural social entrepreneurship
Where is the city? Where is the countryside? Assessing the Methods for the Classification of Urban, Rural, and Intermediate Areas in Europe
Re-conceptualising rural resources as countryside capital
Amenities and new firm formation in rural areas
The stairway to Heaven? The effective use of social capital in new venture creation for a rural business
Figuring it out
Do firms in rural regions lack access to credit? Local variation in small business loans and firm growth
Regional and spatial issues in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises and new ventures
There must be an angel? Local financial markets, business angels and the financing of innovative start-ups
Towards an entrepreneurial ecosystem typology for regional economic development
Industrial Development in Cities
Growth in Cities
Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference
Kinship and business
Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation
Proximity and Innovation
The geography of business angel investments in the UK
The Downside of Social Capital in New Industry Creation
Birds of a Feather
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |