Rural social enterprises as embedded intermediaries: The innovative power of connecting rural communities with supra-regional networks
研究了农村社会企业如何通过嵌入本地社区并连接超区域网络来促进社会创新，基于奥地利和波兰的跨案例分析，发现它们为农村地区调动外部资源并推动转型变革。
The question of how social enterprises foster social innovation in rural regions remains largely unexplored. In this paper, I develop the assumption that the embeddedness of social enterprises in rural communities and their ability to connect rural communities with supra-regional networks and decision makers are crucial preconditions for generating and fostering social innovation in the countryside. By applying the social network approach and a cross-case analysis of social enterprises in rural regions of Austria and Poland, I show how rural social enterprises mobilise ideas, resources and support from external sources not primarily for their own benefit but for that of their rural region. As embedded intermediaries, they contribute to transformational change and wellbeing, albeit they are only one of many forces that drive rural development.