Factors influencing entrepreneurial intensity in communities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing entrepreneurial intensity. More specifically the study addresses the following objectives: propose a way to measure entrepreneurial intensity within the community context in order to determine entrepreneurial activity over a period of ten years, detect the factors influencing the entrepreneurial intensity, and finally locate Kibbutz communities on the entrepreneurial grid.Design/methodology/approachKibbutz communities are the level of analysis. Using a comprehensive questionnaire, a sample of 60 Kibbutzim – constituting 22 percent of the population of Kibbutz communities in Israel – was investigated over a period of ten years. The same questionnaire was administered to the same sample Kibbutzim (Kibbutzim is the plural of Kibbutz) in 1994, 1997 and 2004. Collected data include number and types of enterprises, economic strength, organizational size and age, and features of organizational structure and culture.FindingsQuantitative data analysis revealed a significant increase of entrepreneurial activity of Kibbutz communities in terms of frequency, degree and intensity of entrepreneurship. Organizational size and age have an impact on entrepreneurial intensity as well as the existence of an “entrepreneurial vehicle.” On the entrepreneurial grid Kibbutzim are moving from the incremental/periodic cluster towards the dynamic cluster, but few meaningful breakthroughs can be observed.Research limitations/implicationsMore research is needed in order to understand the interrelationship between community environments and entrepreneurship. The major research limitation of this paper constitutes the fact that only Kibbutz communities were investigated.Originality/valueThe paper utilizes the concept of the entrepreneurial grid for an empirical analysis of community entrepreneurship.