Date of Award
12-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Institute on Family and Community Life
Committee Member
Dr. Susan Limber, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Martie Thompson
Committee Member
Dr. Arelis Moore de Peralta
Committee Member
Dr. Jim McDonell
Abstract
The racial wealth divide persistently compromises America's full economic potential. Overwhelming research continues to demonstrate that support of Black entrepreneurship can significantly reduce the racial wealth gap, while simultaneously reducing Black unemployment. Although, there has been substantial research on minority entrepreneurship, there is less emphasis on the relationship between neighborhood factors and Black entrepreneurship. This study employed a cross-sectional correlation design to examine the relationships between socio-economic neighborhood characteristics and the density of certified Black businesses. This dissertation significantly contributes to the Black entrepreneurship literature in the American South by providing neighborhood-level analyses of key economic and social characteristics that foster Black business ownership, through a study of Atlanta's 101 Neighborhood Statistical Areas (NSAs). The study explores the role of jobs, educational attainment, financial security, housing, and safety in fostering certified Black businesses. The overall results of this study provided evidence that neighborhood characteristics significantly predicted the density of Black businesses proportionate to the Black population. In the final neighborhood regression model, five neighborhood characteristics (total jobs, median household income, auto-theft, and burglary) accounted for 45.7% of the overall variance in the density of Black businesses. The policy and practice recommendations focus on supporting community development, community wealth building and scaling investments in targeted neighborhoods.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Janelle, "A Descriptive Exploratory Study: Neighborhood Factors Related to Black Business Density" (2017). All Dissertations. 2041.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2041