Conviviality behavior in entrepreneurial communities and business networks

This article takes a step toward building of conviviality behavior in entrepreneurial communities and business networks. The actual experience of entrepreneurs suggests the importance of convivial events in entrepreneurial communities, especially to foster social and business networks in industrial markets. Yet little research effort has been devoted to elucidating the factors at play in achieving such effects. With the aim of contributing to closing this gap in the business literature, this study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigating and elaborating on the concept of conviviality as this behavior influences business networks. Two cases of entrepreneurial communities in the Italian fashion industry are examined with the aim of gaining insight on the role played by conviviality in the development of the producers' ability to conduct business in their respective industrial markets. The main results of the paper include three research propositions for a research agenda regarding the role of conviviality in entrepreneurial communities. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.