The Success and Failure of Small Business in West Virginia

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy and represent the primary job source for American workers. Research exists on small business at a national and an international scale but a limited amount of region-specific information exists in the literature. The problem in this research was that owner-operated small businesses have a high fail rate with less than half surviving more than five years and these survival rates have persisted in a relatively stable fashion for at least a decade with policies appearing unable to increase the longevity of new businesses. The purpose of the research is to explore the relationship between social capital and the failure or success of twelve owner-operated businesses in West Virginia. The theoretical framework for this study is social exchange theory. This qualitative study used interpretive phenomenological analysis as the chosen research design because of the capability to query their lived experiences.