It’s like turning on a light in the dark. Reinventing forgotten identities through collective social entrepreneuring in liminal areas

Scholars widely investigated the phenomenon of liminality when exploring entrepreneurs’ work and occupational practices in marginalized geographical areas and organizational contexts. However, scant attention has been given to how such liminal spaces reinvent their collective identity (CI) through organization-creation initiatives able to cope with tensions and conflicts over time. By emphasizing a communal perspective of social action, this study builds on CI literature and collective social entrepreneurship (CSE) to investigate entrepreneuring dynamics over time as a strategic organization-creation tool able to boost CI development in liminal contexts. To do so, we address the following research question: “How can CSE reinvent a sustainable CI able to dynamically overcome conflicts, tensions, and crises in liminal areas?” Taking a process view and drawing on a 6-month participation observation case study, we explore how CSE emerges, develops, and changes over time while affecting the CI of an Italian semi-abandoned town center. This study contributes new theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence to the conceptualization of liminal areas’ CI through collective social entrepreneurship initiatives.