CfP: Social Economy in Rural Areas

Rural areas are central to the processes of maintaining food systems and are also the place where social cohesion is born based on sustainable socio-economic systems. In many rural regions, farms, especially family-owned ones, are still the centres of rural life. However, due to their varying and changing profitability, farmers and rural residents are seeking to use other existing resources to improve their living conditions and, to this end, are creating enterprises and social economy entities (Borzaga 2009). The idea behind these activities is to improve the quality of life, promote social inclusion, and counteract exclusions in rural and marginalised areas by meeting local social and economic needs. Rural residents are focused not only on economic but also cultural and identity potential, especially rural women who are increasingly active and play an important role in the co-creation of community-based solutions due to their growing bargaining power (Agarwal 1997).

Social economy entities emerging in villages are a particular example of activities influencing the stimulation of economic and social development. Many of them fill still existing or even deepen deficit spaces. Rural areas are increasingly exposed to numerous crises and exclusions in social and economic terms, but the entry of rural residents and food producers into the field of social entrepreneurship is an opportunity for them to reduce the negative impact of these phenomena on their life in rural societies (Shucksmith, Champan 1998). The social economy in rural areas takes many forms, so it is important to adopt an international perspective and share experiences in this area (Pugh, Cheers 2010).

The aim of the special issue of the Social Entrepreneurship Review is to assess institutional support for rural and community development, to indentify the role of social entrepreneurship, including women's activities, on rural development, and to analyse existing and search for new sustainable business models that can be applied in rural areas, in harmony with human and environmental needs. The special issue primarily aims to raise awareness of the impact of the social economy on various aspects of rural life. We invite contributions from academics, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders working in the social entrepreneurship and social economy in rural areas. We welcome research papers, case studies, theoretical discussions, and policy analyses that focus on the following topics:

• Institutional support for social economy enterprises in rural areas. How effective is the support for social economy entities in rural areas? How do existing tools, as well as legal and policy frameworks affect the exploitation of the potential of rural areas for the creation and development of social economy entities? Are they sufficient to create favourable conditions for the development of local social initiatives?
• Rural women's activities. What are the functions of women's organisations in villages? How to measure women's entrepreneurship and activism. How to shape female leaders in rural areas and empower women?
• Social farming, social innovation in the countryside. Is social innovation a significant factor in local and regional development? What is the impact of family farms, care farms, community farms, agri-tourism, rural NGOs and others in achieving social economy goals? How does social innovation contribute to intergenerational inclusion, and to what extent is it a response to contemporary social challenges, especially demographics?
• Social entrepreneurship as a sustainable business model in rural area. Can the potential of rural areas: its traditions, culture, human and natural resources be better exploited? What is the mission paradigm of organisations such as cooperatives (including agricultural), associations, foundations, rural housewives' circles, etc.? What are the management processes of a social enterprise - case studies, good practices.
• Tackling exclusion in villages and rural marginalisation. How to bridge the gender gap, fight the digital exclusion of rural inhabitants, counter rural poverty and depopulation phenomena? Ideas for creating new jobs and increasing the level of intergenerational integration.
• Other: We also encourage the submission of articles examining other emerging issues in the field of social entrepreneurship in rural areas, e.g. sustainable food supply chains, food sustainability access, rural networking, sustainable livelihoods in rural areas, rural development projects, the activities of smallholder farmer`s organisations, investments in the green economy in rural areas and their impact on regional development, and others.

Other articles that take a multidisciplinary approach and address both theoretical and practical aspects of social entrepreneurship and social economy in rural areas are also welcome. We encourage the submission of papers that use different research methods, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches.

All papers submitted will undergo a double-blind peer-review process, and accepted papers will be published in a special issue of the “Social Entrepreneurship Review”.

SUBMISSION

The complete articles must be formatted according to Social Entrepreneurship Review requirements (link) and submitted until June 30, 2025 via the OJS system at https://ser.uek.krakow.pl/index.php/

Please choose Section Cfp for this call.

Scheduled: Vol. 2/2025

For further information, please contact the guest editors:

Barbara Kiełbasa, The University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland, barbara.kielbasa@urk.edu.pl

Elena Horska, The Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia, Elena.Horska@uniag.sk

 

Suggested readings:

Armstrong, R.M., Grobbelaar, S.S.S. (2023). Sustainable business models for social enterprises in developing countries: a conceptual framework. Management Review Quarterly, 73, 787-840, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-022-00260-1

Bencheva, N., et. al. (2017). The role of social entrepreneurship for rural development, Agricultural Sciences, 9(21), 89-98, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3142883.

Defourny, J., Nyssens, M. (2017). Fundamentals for an International Typology of Social Enterprise Models. International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, Special Issue on Social Enterprises and Welfare Regimes, (28)6, 2469-2497, doi: 10.1007/s11266-017-9884-7

Knapik, W., Kowalska, M., Masłyk, T., Moravcíková, D. (2022). The European Union Social Policy on Older People in the Light of the Deinstitutionalization of Social Services: A Concept of Care Farming in Rural Poland. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlag, Unipress 1, ISBN 978-3-8471-1481-9

Musinguzi, P., Baker, D., Larder, N., & Villano, R. A. (2023). The measurement of social impacts in rural social enterprises: a systematic literature review and future research implications. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 10(1), 139-166.

Olmedo, L., van Twuijver, M., & O'Shaughnessy, M. (2023). Rurality as context for innovative responses to social challenges–the role of rural social enterprises. Journal of Rural Studies, 99, 272-283.

Steiner, A., Teasdale, S. (2019). Unlocking the potential of rural social enterprise. Journal of Rural Studies, 70, 144-154, doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.12.021.

Twuijver van, M. W., Olmedo, L., O’Shaughnessy, M., & Hennessy, T. (2020). Rural social enterprises in Europe: A systematic literature review. Local Economy, 35(2), 121-142.

Zajda, K. (2023). What Features Distinguish the Rural Nongovernmental Organisations that Implement Social Innovations? Evidence from Postcommunist Poland. International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 34, 1221-1231, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-022-00546-8

Vilke, R., et. al. (2021). Rural Economic Developments and Social Movements: A New Paradigm, 1st ed. 2021 Edition, Palgrave Macmillan.

 

References

Agarwal, B. (1997). Bargaining and gender relations: within and beyond the household. Feminist Economics, 3(1), 1-51, https://doi.org/10.1080/135457097338799

Borzaga, C. (2009). Social Enterprises and Local Economic Development [in:] A. Noya (Eds.) The Changing Boundaries of Social Enterprises. Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), Report OECD, Publishing Partis, 195-228, doi: 10.1787/9789264055513-en.

Pugh, R., Cheers, B. (2010). Rural social work. International perspectives. BASW Policy Press, https://doi.org/10.56687/9781847427908

Shucksmith, M., Chapman, P. (1998). Rural Development and Social Exclusion, Sociologia Ruralis, 38:2, 225-242, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9523.00073