Collective resourcefulness through placial embeddedness: exploring how Irish Rural Social Enterprises foster Local Development

12th International Social Innovation Research Conference 2020 Stream: Regional and Geographical Aspects of Social InnovationAuthors: Lucas Olmedo and Dr. Mary O’Shaughnessy.Affiliation: Food Business & Development, Cork University Business School, University College Cork (Ireland)AbstractTitle: “Collective resourcefulness through placial embeddedness: the role of Irish Rural Social Enterprises fostering Local Development”The role of rural Social Enterprises (SEs) as (local) development actors has been gaining support (Bock, 2019). Although research has been conducted about the capacity of rural SEs to mobilise resources (Di Domenico, Haugh and Tracey, 2010; Vestrum, 2014) the field can benefit from the use of different theoretical and empirical approaches that add nuance. Departing from Polanyi’s conceptualisation of the (substantive) economy (Polanyi, 2001; Polanyi, Arensberg and Pearson, 1957) but adding a geographical turn to his work (Hess, 2004; Peck, 2013; Roberts, 2018), this study proposes a conceptual framework from which to study how rural SEs foster local development.In order to do so, in-depth qualitative case studies have been conducted within two SEs operating in Irish rural localities. Along 15 months of fieldwork, 37 semi-structure interviews with different (local and non-local) stakeholders and 321 pages of field notes from (participant) observations have been gathered. A thematic analysis following various rounds of coding have been performed (Miles and Huberman, 1994).This study shows how rural SEs provide infrastructures, facilities and basic services due to their ability to combine in innovative ways market, redistribution and reciprocity resources (Gardin, 2006). The strength of these rural SEs resides on their capacity to promote collective/collaborative resourcefulness processes (Barraket et al., 2019) fostered by their role as placial embedded intermediaries (Korsgaard et al., 2015; Richter, 2019). However, our findings also show the reduced capacity of rural SEs to influence key supralocal features to unlock their potential (Steiner and Teasdale, 2019). Hence, rural SEs can represent key actors providing local place-based development within frameworks that enable them as complementary actors, not substitutes, of the local for profit and government-public sector (Barth et al., 2015; Shucksmith, 2012).Keywords: Rural Social Enterprises; Local Development; Substantive/Social Economy; Collective-Collaborative Resourcefulness; Placial Embeddedness