Volunteer Organizations: Odds or Obstacle for Small Business Formation in Rural Areas? Evidence from Swiss Municipalities

S<sc>chulz</sc> T. and B<sc>aumgartner</sc> D. Volunteer organizations: odds or obstacle for small business formation in rural areas? Evidence from Swiss municipalities, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. Rural development strategies often claim to stimulate new firm foundations, for example, by supporting locally active volunteer organizations for economic development. Based on survey data from 254 rural Swiss municipalities, this paper analyses the influence of different types of volunteer organizations on new firm foundations by applying a zero-inflated Poisson regression approach. The results suggest that, generally, a higher number of volunteer organizations positively influence the foundation of local firms. Too many ‘bonding’ associations for economic development, however, lead to decreasing foundations. Exclusive support of organizations for economic development is thus not effective for stimulating new firm foundations in rural areas.