ABSTRACT KC, BIRENDRA. Examining Networks, Social Capital, and Social Influence among Wildlife Tourism Microentrepreneurs in Coastal North Carolina. (Under the direction of Duarte B. Morais). Social networks are an important element of entrepreneurship because entrepreneurs consistently rely on those networks to access ideas, information, and resources to facilitate the entrepreneurial process. Social capital is defined as the collective linkages inside social networks and the value of all the tangible and intangible resources embedded in those networks. Extensive social capital is argued to have significant positive impact on entrepreneurial success, in part because dimensions of cognitive social capital, such as trust, reciprocity, and togetherness are expected to enhance cooperation among network ties. Moreover, network structures themselves foster the development of different forms of social capital (i.e., bonding and bridging). The literature on small-scale tourism enterprises is limited, although they are prevalent globally and often touted as a critical strategy for natural resource-rich communities to pursue endogenous economic development. This study was carried out in North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound region, a region with rich wildlife resources yet with high economic disparity, to examine the network developed among local wildlife tourism (WT) microentrepreneurs. Specifically, this study examined the WT microentrepreneurs’ network structure based on the types of support exchanged with each other; the forms of bonding or bridging network structure and key influencers within the network; the extent and type of network ties (strong versus weak ties) developed among them; the process they use to form and nurture those ties; and the effect of social influence on trust, reciprocity, and togetherness exerted through network structure. Results revealed that, in the studied WT microentrepreneur network, there is a prevalence of business ties (i.e., weak ties) over family and friends ties (i.e., strong ties). WT microentrepreneurs reported to receive support from each other in terms of marketing and advertising, information sharing, and product support. Business connections were established and nurtured primarily through face-to-face interactions in professional workshops and seminars, as well as working in the same natural areas, or in informal meetings at the local supply stores. Dimensions of cognitive social capital, such as reciprocity, togetherness, and trust were found to play a critical role in the maintenance of these business connections, but the level of reciprocity, togetherness, and trust were found to diminish with increased number of business ties. Further, microentrepreneurs’ level of trust and reciprocity in the network was influenced by the levels of trust and reciprocity reported by their direct ties. Lastly, the structure of the network revealed that the members were aggregated into loosely formed sub- groups connected with each other by redundant bridging ties. Those bridging ties consisted of influential members in the network recognized for providing much support to their peers and for preventing network fragmentation. Overall, this study contributes towards a better understanding of the networking behavior of WT microentrepreneurs, revealing that social networking, social capital, and social influence theories apply partially to the context of microentrepreneurship. Further, the study provides specific actionable insights for organizations working in the area of microentrepreneurial tourism development, wildlife or coastal resource management, and endogenous rural development. © Copyright 2015 Birendra KC All Rights Reserved Examining Networks, Social Capital, and Social Influence among Wildlife Tourism Microentrepreneurs in Coastal North Carolina by Birendra KC A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management Raleigh, North Carolina 2015 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ _______________________________ Duarte B. Morais M. Nils Peterson Committee Chair _______________________________ _______________________________ Jordan W. Smith Erin L. Seekamp DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family for their unwavering love, support, and encouragement. ii BIOGRAPHY Birendra KC is originally from Pokhara, Nepal. He received his Bachelors’ of Science degree in Forestry from Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He received his MS degree in Forestry from University of Kentucky. In 2012, he joined the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at NC State University to pursue his passion for research and teaching. His broad research interests include sustainable tourism, community sustainability, and natural resource management. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I would like to acknowledge my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Duarte B. Morais for his support. I greatly appreciate his continuous effort to bring out the best in me. I am equally thankful to my committee members, Dr. Jordan Smith, Dr. Erin Seekamp, and Dr. Nils Peterson for their valuable suggestions and guidance that helped me to complete this dissertation successfully. Indeed, my work was only possible because of my generous study participants who sacrificed their valuable time talking to me and sharing their opinions. I am specifically thankful to Captain George Beckwith, Captain Chris Kimry, Captain Dave Stewart, Captain Tom Roller, and Captain Richard Andrews for putting out good words about my research, which greatly assisted my data collection process. I would like to thank Casey Perry, the manager of Camp Caroline, for helping me with the accommodation, which was a huge favor to me. I am grateful to Southeast Chapter of TTRA (SETTRA) for providing Sean McCarthy Research Grant. The grant supported the first phase of my dissertation project (i.e., preliminary assessment of the project). Further, I would like to thank Cooperative Extension agents from Pamlico and Carteret counties, North Carolina Sea Grant staff, as well as many other key informants for sharing their views and insights during the preliminary assessment of the project. I would like extend my gratitude towards People-First Tourism (P1T) team, Dr. Duarte B. Morias, Dr. Tim Wallace, Dr. Gene Brothers, Deidre Peroff, Dr. Yuchen Mao, Dr. Chantell LaPan, Ladan Ghahramani, Bruno Ferreira, Shahab Nazariadli, and Mary Lorscheider. I enjoyed working with the team. iv I would like to extend my regards to Dr. Myron Floyd and Dr. Yu-Fai Leung for providing all the support that I needed, it greatly assisted my academic pursuit. A special thanks goes to Anju Singh for sending timely reminders of the deadlines, as well as for her suggestions and encouragement. I would also like to thank Debbie Hurst for providing all the assistance that I needed. My sincere thanks goes to my colleagues and friends for their valuable suggestions, Matthew Jurjonas, Dr. Chantell LaPan, Mirza Halim, Dr. Abinash Bhattachan, Dr. Rajeev Rajbhandari, Prativa Shrestha, Deidre Peroff, and Tian Guo. I am grateful to my family and friends for supporting me throughout this process, your encouragement and motivation made it all possible. I greatly appreciate you all for supporting me, and others who helped me in any way, to complete this exciting journey. Thank you! v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. xi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................................ 4 Social Capital ....................................................................................................................... 5 Social Influence ................................................................................................................... 7 Prospects of Wildlife Tourism Microentrepreneurship .................................................. 8 Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 10 Study Setting...................................................................................................................... 12 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 17 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 17 Pre-Study Field Visits ................................................................................................... 19 Structured Interview Protocol ..................................................................................... 20 Collection of Structure Interview Data ....................................................................... 23 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................. 24 Delimitations .....................................................................................................................