Rural Business Research Articles

Digital Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth ––Empirical evidence based on the China Household Panel Survey

As an innovation in traditional inclusive finance, digital inclusive finance is an important way to coordinate the income gap between urban and rural areas, popularize financial products and services, and promote the digitalization process. Therefore, this study matches the digital inclusive finance index with the Chinese household tracking survey, uses a panel data econometric model, a mediation effect model, and a moderation effect model to control for the characteristics of heads of households and families, and explores the impact mechanism of the development of digital inclusive finance on inclusive growth in urban and rural areas in China, with a view to providing a scientific basis and policy suggestions for promoting inclusive growth. The study finds that: First, digital inclusive finance has a significant income-increasing effect on both urban and rural households, among which it has a greater impact on rural households, which is conducive to narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas; Second, digital inclusive finance improves rural household income and narrows the income gap between urban and rural areas by promoting rural household entrepreneurship and business activities and alleviating the formal credit constraints of rural households; Third, digital inclusive finance can generally promote families with access to the Internet, a strong ability to use digital tools, and small information constraints to start businesses and obtain formal credit. This study innovatively incorporates entrepreneurial quality into the research of the transmission mechanism; three theories of the "digital divide" are put forward and tested. Research value: Clarifying the transmission mechanism of digital inclusive finance to promote inclusive growth, and providing policy suggestions for the development of digital inclusive finance.

Challenges and Problems of Rural Entrepreneurship in India

Rural entrepreneurship is now a significant possibility for those who relocate from rural or semi-urban areas to urban settings. On the contrary, it is also true that the majority of rural businesses face numerous challenges due to a lack of essential amenities in rural parts of developing countries such as India. Lack of education, financial constraints, limited technical and conceptual competence, and other factors make it difficult for rural entrepreneurs to create industries in remote areas. This paper makes an attempt to find out the Problems and Challenges for the of Rural Entrepreneurship. It also focuses on the major problems faced by rural entrepreneurs especially in the fields of Marketing of products, financial amenities and other primary amenities, i.e. availability of electricity, water supply, transport facilities and required energy etc

Implications of COVID-19 relief packages on livelihoods of rural dwellers in border towns along Southwestern Ghana

The global efforts to curtail the livelihood crises brought about by the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed the adoption of livelihood strategies in the form of relief packages. Using a quantitative analytic framework, the article sheds light on recipients’ perspectives on the various government interventions in Ghana, focusing on how socio-economic and political inequalities in Ghana shaped access to pandemic relief support for rural dwellers in border towns in Southwestern Ghana. The findings suggest that, despite the partisan twist, the relief packages positively impacted intended beneficiaries in their short-term income-generation activities. Furthermore, it reduced the vulnerability of rural start-up businesses and brought the establishment of new health facilities to augment the infrastructural development of the area. The article concludes that the pandemic provided insight into how rural communities can better leverage relief packages to improve their livelihood conditions.

Комплексный подход к развитию инфраструктуры сбыта продукции аграрного малого и микро-бизнеса

Small and private subsidiary farms are important members of agricultural community. However, they still lack good infrastructure to market their products because they remain beyond the scope of state interest. The agricultural infrastructure in its present condition neither gives farmers access to co-financing nor allows them to shape the list of services they need. The research featured program documents issued by the Government of the Russian Federation that determine the development of wholesale food markets and aggregators of farm produce. The author generalized the experience of retail chains and agricultural consumer marketing cooperatives, as well as studied the cases of small rural businesses merging into marketing cooperatives in agricultural regions. The bibliographic study covered best foreign practices in shaping infrastructure for small farm produce, which were compared with Russian experience. The author also developed an abstract-logical method of establishing the interaction between stakeholders in a new system of farm produce aggregators. In this research, agricultural regions demonstrated the most acute problems in small business marketing. A good system of agricultural infrastructure supports production in all sectors of small business with growth potential. Today, small businesses are alone in organizing their own sales as wholesale distribution centers are not available to them. These centers work with small suppliers through intermediaries, i.e., aggregators. In the Kemerovo Region, an example of such aggregators is the one created on corporate principles between the Magnit retail chain and the Kalina-Malina agricultural consumer marketing cooperative. The experience demonstrated some advantages and disadvantages. The article introduces conditions for successful financial relations in commodity circulation chains in different distribution systems, including farmers, aggregators, and wholesale distribution centers. This approach reduces prices on consumer markets while increasing the efficiency of small farms.

Farm adaptive business strategies in crisis management: COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted businesses worldwide, with rural businesses being no exception. This study examines the effects of the global crisis on upland farmers in England. It builds on the under-researched area of constrained rural entrepreneurship. Institutional theory is applied as a theoretical lens to understand how crisis events shape the constrained institutional contexts in which farm businesses strategically navigate. Using a qualitative, multiple case study approach, we explore how different farmers, traditionalist and entrepreneurial, have strategically responded to the aftermath of crisis-influenced constraints. Our findings highlight the importance of business strategy—particularly farm diversification—in helping farmers navigate these challenges. We provide a conceptual framework, the Farm Crisis Adaptation Framework, (FCAF) that theorizes farmer adaptation strategies in response to crisis situations. Our findings indicate a greater needed for rural policymakers to help develop the strategic entrepreneurship skillsets of farmers—helping farmers to future-proof their businesses against uncertainties. Moreover, investment is needed in the local and regional economy, establishing a conducive environment supportive of farm development strategies.

E-taxing maturity in developing economies: evidence from corporate tax payers in Ghana

Purpose The adoption of e-taxing plays an important role in modernizing tax administration. Ghana, like many other developing countries, has adopted e-taxing to modernize its revenue collection processes and improve its tax-to-GDP ratio. This study aims to examine the current state of e-taxing maturity in Ghana, focusing on the advancements made and what can be done to achieve a mature e-taxing system. Design/methodology/approach Through qualitative design, interviews were conducted with Ghana Revenue Authority, National Information Technology Agency and Businesses to provide an in-depth understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improving e-taxing maturity. Findings The study reveals mixed e-taxing maturity. While the digital service aspect of e-taxing has seen progress, digital infrastructure, digital analytics, digital integration and digital culture hinder the full actualization of mature e-taxing. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest the need for a comprehensive plan that addresses regulatory, cultural, technical and organizational aspects to drive digital transformation in e-taxing tax implementation. Social implications The lack of resilient infrastructure, especially in rural areas, can worsen societal inequalities. Owing to the lack of telecommunication infrastructure and poor internet connectivity in rural areas, businesses in these areas may lack the needed information for business growth and expansion. This can result in unfair treatment of rural businesses widening the inequality gap between businesses in urban areas and rural areas. Therefore, the study is important from the standpoint that implementing the recommendations will help to bridge the gap between businesses in urban areas and rural areas. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is among the first to conduct an empirical study on e-taxing maturity in Ghana.

A Comprehensive Analysis and Research on the Factors Affecting the Growth of Rural Trade in Cultural Communities

This article analyzes the elements that impact the stages of rural retailing development in the Hwange villages, namely in the areas of Jambezi, Mununa, Milonga, Ndlovu, Chikhanda, Mashake, and Monde. The study used a quantitative technique with a sample size of 400 people, recruited by stratified random sampling. The data analysis was performed using SPSS version 26.0. The survey's main findings reveal that rural residents have a preference for firms that value outstanding customer service and offer a broader range of recreational choices. Furthermore, the condition of road networks was recognized as a crucial element impacting the operational effectiveness of rural businesses. The presence of essential services such as water and electricity was discovered to have a substantial influence on the condition of the retail sector. The paper provides numerous recommendations based on the findings. The implementation of these recommendations is anticipated to stimulate economic expansion, boost living standards, and promote overall welfare in rural regions. By effectively dealing with the highlighted causes, the communities in Hwange have the opportunity to experience positive changes in their retailing industry, which will result in sustainable development and an enhanced quality of life.

Developing and Testing a Rural Business Incubator: A Best Practice Framework

Compared to an urban context, starting a business in a rural context has its distinctive challenges such as the lack of entrepreneurial support infrastructures typical in an urban context. Business incubators are types of entrepreneurial support organizations that support the creation and growth of new companies with tangible and intangible resources. They help incubatees transform their ideas and concepts into feasible products and services with tangible and intangible resources such as facilities, shared equipment, administrative services, knowledge, and access to networks. In the rural context, business incubators can help to address rural entrepreneurship challenges such as population and infrastructure deficiencies, and rural entrepreneurship opportunities such as strong social bonds and embeddedness to a rural environment. In this manner, they can help to mitigate entrepreneurial challenges and foster the use of entrepreneurial opportunities through direct and indirect effects to the local, regional, and national economy. However, rural incubators tend to perform worse than their urban counterparts. The reasons for this aren’t well understood, as there is a lack of incubator research on how locational attributes affect rural business incubators. There is a need for further knowledge about how rural context influences business incubators to improve the development, tracking, and impact of rural business incubators. This study addresses this research gap by creating a rural business incubator best practice framework that addresses general incubator best practices and rural entrepreneurship-specific challenges and opportunities that should be addressed in rural business incubators. The proposed framework is tested in rural VAU!HAUTOMO business incubator and the results are analysed to review the framework´s capabilities and suggest future use cases and research avenues. The framework provides a novel approach to plan, measure, and manage rural business incubators which both researchers and incubator actors can use to develop rural business incubators that better take into account rural entrepreneurship challenges and opportunities.

Rural B&B entrepreneurs’ lifestyle pursuits and rural resilience

This paper explores how rural entrepreneurial activities can bring sustainable solutions to rural villages based on entrepreneurs’ lifestyle pursuits in their business activities. It further examines the relationship between lifestyle pursuits and their impacts on sustainable rural development. Scholars have discussed “lifestyle entrepreneurs” who hold rural areas’ quality of life as a priority, distinguishing these individuals from more business-oriented entrepreneurs who focus on economic profits. This study argues that all rural entrepreneurs in fact favor lifestyle pursuits to a certain extent in terms of rural businesses. In addition, different types of lifestyles shape entrepreneurs’ contributions to rural resilience. Constructivist grounded theory was applied to conduct three rounds of in-depth interviews with 28 rural bed-and-breakfast entrepreneurs in Zhejiang, China, between 2020 and 2022. The resultant framework outlines six types of lifestyles characteristic of these rural entrepreneurs. Findings indicate that “gregarious” and “hedonistic” lifestyles can optimally contribute to both rural resilience and business sustainability.

The Impact of Employee Creativity and Transformational Leadership on Innovation Work Behavior in the Banking Sector

This study examines the role of transformational leadership in promoting an innovative work environment and work behavior in the rural bank Industry. The research was conducted at Bank UMKM, a company that holds a significant market share in the region's rural bank industry. A survey was conducted with 671 employees across the company's branches. The findings reveal that all hypotheses, except Hypothesis 1, were accepted. Transformational leadership positively affects employee creativity, indirectly influencing innovation work behavior. Additionally, the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior is strengthened by the presence of trust in supervisors. Although transformational leadership did not have a direct impact on innovative work behavior, the research highlights the significance of cultivating an inventive work environment and the influence of trust in supervisors in encouraging innovation within the rural bank business.

Cocoa Transfer Agreements, moneylenders, public letter writers and the rise of business elites in South West Nigeria, 1986–2000

Abstract This paper focuses on the subject of the cocoa transfer agreements and the transformation of rural agrarian livelihoods in the cocoa belt of South West Nigeria under the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The paper maps the trajectory and career of three dominant agricultural entrepreneurs in the cocoa produce trade in South West Nigeria during the 20th century. The paper demonstrates that while the cocoa business in Nigeria has received considerable scholarly attention, the impact of moneylenders, public letter writers (PLWs) and cocoa transfer agreements on cocoa business, rural livelihoods and entrepreneurship in the aftermath of SAP is yet to be fully investigated. Analysing the accumulative strategies and contributions of Emmanuel Akintan, Isaac Adegbuyi Akingboye and Rufus Orosundafosi to rural capital formation, the paper highlights the impacts of liberalisation policies on African rural businesses in the aftermath of SAP. The paper combines primary sources, such as oral interviews, personal observation and ethnography, with information collected from the archives, newspapers, diaries, and extant literature to analyse the dynamics of rural accumulation in the cocoa producing South West Nigeria during the 20th century. The paper argues that the acquisition of wealth and the thin line between standard procedures and clandestine deals stimulated accusations of dispossession of peasant farmers by the capitalist moneylenders and merchants in the post-SAP era.

Survival of Rural SMEs During Covid-19 Lockdown in Southern Region of Kwazulu Natal

Many nations had implemented travel restrictions and movement bans as a result of 19 pandemic outbreaks. One of the industries in South Africa that is most immediately impacted by the movement's control order is rural small business. In actuality, smaller businesses are more significantly impacted than their larger counterparts. Due to the closure of numerous supporting industries including retail and transportation, entrepreneurs endure business cancellation or closure as well as loss of revenue. Studies on the effects of a pandemic epidemic on microbusinesses in underdeveloped nations, particularly with regard to business continuity and recovery plan, are still lacking.The research was conducted in Umzinto and Scortburgh town in Umdoni Municipality. The research recommended that government should be forced to refrain from implementing complete lockdowns. But if the government decides that lockdown is the only workable alternative, it must start financial support programs, such as emergency loans and suspensions of principal and interest payments.

Advancing Rural Entrepreneurship: Does Microfinancing Matter?

This paper examines the effect of microfinance products on the performance of rural businesses in developing economies. The study is survey research that uses multiple regression models with a sample of 228 small businesses from rural communities. Two regression models were developed and tested. The two dependent variables are: profits and sales growth. The four independent variables are: loans, savings, insurance, and education, with five control variables: gender, managerial skills, age, industry, and size. Both regression models are significant (0.000) with adjusted R-squared values > 70%. Thus, the two models are valid predictors of financial performance. The optimal strategy is to get micro-loans, education and insurance, and to have micro-savings. The study extends the literature on the microfinance drivers and other characteristics influencing the development of rural businesses in an emerging market context. The study also serves as a benchmark in utilizing scarce resources for the sustainability and performance of rural businesses. Implications for practice and research for rural entrepreneurs, microfinance institutions, and government as well as limitations and further studies, are discussed.

Designing a model for developing local business for rural women Iran with a sustainable development approach

This study endeavors to formulate a sustainable development-oriented model for home-based businesses catering to rural women in Guilan province. Employing a qualitative-quantitative research approach, the study is practical in its objectives and relies on survey methods for data collection. The research population encompasses two main groups: the first group involves academic professionals, scholars, and managers or experts from provincial organizations dedicated to employment and women’s issues, while the second group comprises 274 purposefully sampled individuals, including owners, managers, and women affiliated with micro-credit funds in Guilan province, selected through the snowball technique. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data, and the Smart-PLS software package utilized the partial least squares (PLS) technique for advanced multivariate analysis in structural equation modeling. Evaluation of the home-based business development model for rural women, based on the coefficients of the direct path, reveals that educational (β = 0.112), social (β = 0.232), economic (β = 0.274), and policymaking (β = 0.381) variables significantly influence the sustainable development of home-based businesses (P < 0.05). Notably, the policymaking variable exerts the most substantial impact. Furthermore, the model designed for sustainable development can account for 71 percent of the variance in the dependent variable. It is recommended that the government should allocate financial resources specifically for rural women house-based businesses and policies should prioritize and actively support home-based businesses, recognizing their significant impact on rural women's economic development.

Factors affecting small dental business in rural Germany: Evidence from Hessen.

To determine how social factors influence career decisions of dental service providers, particularly focusing on examining the impact of dentists' origins. Online survey of Hessian panel dentists, with pairwise comparisons to a set of factors impacting their decision-making process. An Analytic Hierarchy Process examined the weighting of influencing drivers in career choice. Dentists from rural backgrounds were more likely to establish practices in rural areas than those from urban origins. Origin correlated with entrepreneurial intentions and a strong association of rural origin. Dentists who grew up in rural areas were 4.19 times more likely to start a business. These findings may support efficient resource allocation and support for rural dental businesses.

British consumer perspectives on terroir in cheese

PurposeThis paper reports on a project looking at consumer perceptions of terroir in the UK, using cheese as a stimulus for the data collection.Design/methodology/approachData collection was based on a consumer survey using a discrete choice experiment which included a number of cues to, and stories about, terroir. Analysis of preferences produced three latent classes with varying attitudes towards terroir cues for cheese. There was also an open-ended question giving rise to a qualitative analysis of respondents understanding of the work “terroir”.FindingsWhen faced with the terroir cues most used some positively to make their choices. A PDO label and stories about the production region and method and business structure all generally offered positive utility.Originality/valueTerroir is a widely used term in the marketing of (especially) wine, particularly in Europe, offering a form of authenticity and has been very important in policies to sustain the economies of otherwise declining rural areas. It has been adopted by producers in the English-speaking world but is less widely recognised, by consumers. The significance of this study is that it is the first large-scale survey of British consumer perceptions around a key tool for rural businesses – terroir – and one of the first around a non-wine product, and it explores the stories which resonate most effectively with consumers.

Государственная поддержка малого и среднего предпринимательства агропромышленного комплекса в регионе

The article discusses the main directions of state support for small and medium-sized businesses, recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of state assistance to the agro-industrial complex using the example of the Republic of Buryatia. The purpose of the study is to determine areas for increasing the efficiency of state support for small and medium-sized businesses in the agricultural sector. The authors analyze the performance indicators of small and medium-sized businesses in the agricultural sector, as well as existing programs and instruments of government support, identify their advantages and disadvantages and propose specific steps to improve the situation. The article also discusses the prospects for the development of agricultural entrepreneurship in the region and possible ways to strengthen the role of the state in this process. Today, agribusiness, as a strategically important sector of agriculture, is in the zone of full state support, which consists of systematic measures aimed both at beginners and for organizations and individual entrepreneurs working in rural areas for a long time. This assistance helps become part of the overall goals of rural business development. Every year in Russia there is quite significant financial support from the state budget for various needs, in particular obtaining grants.

Sustainable entrepreneurial behaviours of family members at the intersection of family firm, cooperative and rural community: a multilevel perspective

ABSTRACT Little is still known about the approach and rationale of family members’ entrepreneurial behaviours for sustainability that occur at different interconnected levels. Our study helps to fill this void by examining a multilevel web that links a family firm, a cooperative and a rural community. We rely on an inductive semi-grounded approach guided by conceptual ideas from the sustainable entrepreneurship literature. We conducted 54 in-depth interviews within a Cypriot cooperative composed of small rural family businesses. Our findings reveal that sustainable entrepreneurship revolves around family members acting as sustainable entrepreneurs. Family sustainable entrepreneurs draw on collaborative entrepreneurship for sustainability and spillover sustainable entrepreneurship, which are key mechanisms for generating sustainable value at the family firm, cooperative and community levels. Family members’ affective attachment and sense of responsibility serve as motives behind these mechanisms. Our findings offer a model depicting family members’ motives and mechanisms of sustainable entrepreneurship across family firm, cooperative and rural community. This study extends our understanding on family entrepreneurship and sustainable entrepreneurship, offering practical contributions and opportunities for future research.

Public policies and the future of agriculture in Cameroon: A case study of the “Tree Year Special Youth Plan”

While national statistics report a seemingly low youth unemployment rate, a closer look reveals a dominance of underemployment, particularly within the informal sector, and there exists a critical gap regarding the effectiveness of government intervention design to address this challenge. The objective of this paper is to study the effect of the Tree Year Special Youth Plan (TYSYP) on enterprise viability and the improvement of youth employability in the rural sector of Cameroon. This highlights the urgency of addressing this issue in Africa, particularly considering the high rates of youth underemployment in rural areas. Analysing the effectiveness of Cameroon's TYSYP programme, this study offers valuable insights to inform policy decisions and contribute to achieving the SDGs for decent work, sustainable food production, and gender equality. In this study, we adopt a positivist stance using a hypothetico-deductive approach. The data used come from the database of the National Youth Observatory (NYO) and the Department of Youth Economic Empowerment (DYEE), which consists of 1108 young people financed and set up by the TYSYP. Preestimation tests (correlation tests) combined with ordinary least squares regression led to two major results. The TYSYP has a positive and significant effect on the viability and employability of rural youth businesses. The sensitivity analysis shows that government policy, represented here by the amount of the project, has a positive and significant influence on the viability of the projects. However, although this policy has a positive and significant impact on employment for men, it is not significant for women. This study contributes to policy discussions on youth empowerment, rural development, and agricultural investment in Cameroon by highlighting the importance of intensifying the program to provide more comprehensive support for young rural entrepreneurs, particularly by focusing on financing larger-scale processing projects. Additionally, targeted initiatives are needed to address gender barriers and encourage young women's participation in these activities. This combined approach has the potential to increase long-term investment in the agricultural sector and develop rural areas through infrastructure.

The Antecedents of the Rural Bank Patronage in Indonesia

Objectives: The objective of the studies is to test the causal models of rural banking patronage behavior are still under research and this study is also aimed at filling the empirical gap. This study operationalizes constructs that better reflect the characteristics and uniqueness of rural banking business processes.Methodology: Data collection was carried out directly by distributing questionnaires to consumers or customers of BPR BKK banks in Banyumas Regency, Purbalingga Regency, and Banjarnegara Regency. The number of samples in this study was determined by the purposive sampling method of as many as 373 people. The analysis tool used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and processed using AMOS software.Finding: The findings of this study stated, among others, the following: (1) Relational benefits have a positive effect on business friendship (2) Relational benefits have a positive effect on brand intimacy (3) Business friendship mediates the effect of relational benefits on brand intimacy (4) Business friendship has a positive effect on brand intimacy (5) Brand intimacy has a positive effect on patronage intention.Conclusion: Customer loyalty to the bank greatly determines the sustainability of the bank's business, especially rural banks which generally have fewer resources than national banks. This study confirms the importance of bank management paying attention to five antecedent variables, namely relational benefits (symbiotic benefits, special treatment benefits, and confidence benefits), business friendships, and brand intimacy.