Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation for Sustainability

This book aims to assess the roles of entrepreneurship and social innovation for socio-cultural changes. It also evaluates farmers’ performance in disaster risk management at a community level toward sustainable regional development in a rural haor region of Bangladesh. To achieve the purpose of the research, both a qualitative method (Trajectory Equifinality Modeling, TEM) and a quantitative method (Structural Equation Modeling, SEM) are introduced, based on the results of case studies on local entrepreneurs, interview and focus group discussions with stakeholders, and questionnaire surveys of farm households.

First, the results clarify that social capital is critically important both for male and female entrepreneurs in the haor region, and that education is more important to women for empowerment and technology adoption in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the haor region of Bangladesh. In addition, it makes clear that the Common Interest Group approach plays a role for women’s empowerment in the target region. Furthermore, it identifies the multi-causal relationships among the factors affecting farm households’ performance in disaster risk management at the community level.

This book helps readers to understand regional development through social and cultural transformation in a rural community where poverty and gender discrimination are path-dependent problems.