Synergistic Agency: Civic Engagement and Entrepreneurship in a Global Context

• In Event: 20481 - Section on Sociology of Development Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3. Markets & Economic Development

Abstract

Civic engagement is one of the most important forms of agentic social action. Considering this agentic nature, our study proposes a positive association between civic engagement and entrepreneurship. Because entrepreneurship typically needs strong initiatives and self-reliance, it may be synergistic with social endeavors that exhibit these characteristics. The initiatives of taking actions to address a social issue share similarities with the initiatives of taking actions to seize business opportunities; similarly, self-organizing for addressing social issues may resemble the largely self-reliant nature of new venture creation. Furthermore, engaging in public life alongside fellow citizens and community members can serve as a valuable source of both business ideas and support. Based on a combination of multiple global datasets, we found a significant effect of civic engagement on entrepreneurship. Our study suggests that a more civically engaged society can be a more entrepreneurial society as well, and the global analysis underlines that the positive relationship between civic engagement and entrepreneurship constitutes a universal mechanism that transcends national differences. Whereas civic engagement is typically studied in the domain of political science and entrepreneurship is a core theme in economic sociology, our study sheds light on their connections, helping to bridge these two key streams of social science research.

Authors

• Dali Ma, Drexel University

• Ankita Kulkarni