Do Membership Associations Affect Entrepreneurship? The Effect of Type, Composition, and Engagement
- 10 September 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
- Vol. 43 (2_suppl), 84S-104S
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764013502580
Abstract
This article focuses on how membership associations can increase entrepreneurial activity in communities by facilitating access to resources that enable entrepreneurs to launch businesses. While much research differentiates membership associations based on association type, this article suggests that their effect on entrepreneurship may be better assessed by examining the composition of each association’s membership and their engagement in associational activities. An exploratory analysis of every community in the contiguous United States from 1999 to 2008 reveals that when it comes to facilitating entrepreneurial activity, association type may be less relevant than whether the association is sociodemographically diverse and whether its members are also members of other associations. However, engagement may not be as important when assessing an association’s ability to encourage entrepreneurial activity. These findings suggest that future research should look beyond association type and examine additional characteristics by which membership associations can be differentiated.Keywords
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