How institutional logics configure social capital in community-based financing: a typology

Abstract

This study aims to develop an explanatory typology of community-based financing (CBF) that captures institutional and relational heterogeneity across social and geographic contexts. Although CBF supports financial inclusion and local resilience, prior research has largely catalogued organisational forms or examined isolated effects of social capital, leaving unexplained why different CBF arrangements generate different relational structures. This study conducts a theory-driven systematic literature review of 134 peer-reviewed articles. Bibliometric analysis maps the development and fragmentation of the field, while a theory-guided deductive-inductive thematic analysis examines how organisational structure, funding sources and geographical context express community, market and state logics. These patterns are then interpreted through the lens of bonding, bridging and linking social capital. The analysis identifies four archetypes: communitarian bonding institutions, market-bridging institutions, hybrid bonding-bridging institutions and linking hybrid institutions. These types differ in their sources of legitimacy and accountability, governance mechanisms, relational orientation and capacity to combine internal solidarity with horizontal and vertical external ties. This study advances previous CBF classifications by moving from simple descriptive categories – focused on organisational structure, service areas or funding sources – to a more explanatory, configurational typology. It demonstrates how institutional logics shape social capital and how hybrid CBFs deliberately blend community, market and state influences. This typology serves as a diagnostic tool for researchers and policymakers aiming to develop support strategies tailored to specific contexts for enterprising communities.