Chapter 9: Building Online Communities to Support Women Creative Entrepreneurs During Lockdown Available to Purchase

The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns forced us all to spend more time online. This chapter compares in-person and online community building as a business support tool for women creative entrepreneurs. Four cycles of action research collected qualitative data and tested different iterations of a peer-coaching training programme, with two cycles held in person pre-pandemic and two held online peri-pandemic. Communities were created during the structured sessions and benefits are considered in the context of social capital generation. The affordability and accessibility of in-person and online support is also assessed. Results show online participants developed close bonds and rapport with their new community as quickly as participants at in-person sessions. These relationships were long-lasting, with several groups continuing to meet months after the study ended. The peer-coaching training approach provided a low-cost option for business support and the move to online increased accessibility. Putnam’s theory of bridging social capital explains why community building between diverse individuals is useful for entrepreneurs, as it introduces new perspectives and expands connections. Participants found underlying commonalities in their personal values and entrepreneurial experiences, which helped them build these connections. This study presents a comparison between the in-person and online sessions and proposes that online structured peer-coaching sessions can provide business support to women creative entrepreneurs by helping them increase their social capital.