Leadership, entrepreneurship and collective action: A case study from the Colombian Pacific region

Abstract

Building upon case-based evidence this paper explores the role of leaders in Ecomanglar, a community-based enterprise in the Black collective territory of La Plata-Bahía Málaga in the Colombian Pacific Basin, whose purpose is to provide eco and ethno-tourism services. This purpose is inextricably bound up with the region’s biophysical and institutional characteristics, both of which make management of common-pool resources a key strategic task for Ecomanglar. We propose an analytical framework to understand the role of these leaders based on the interaction of two dimensions: institutional transfer channels and operational capacity. We further analyse the role of leaders as essential ‘brokers’ to initialise and sustain collective action, a role that brings about entrepreneurial solutions for sustainable development but also creates, or exacerbates, conflicts within the community. Our findings challenge approaches which view collective action as an emergent decentralised group-oriented outcome. The paper contributes to the literature on leadership, entrepreneurship and collective action by identifying missing links and potential points of convergence. It also sheds light on some of the challenges in promoting entrepreneurship as a means to advance sustainable development in rural communities.