SOCIAL CAPITAL, DIGITAL LITERACY, AND COMMUNITY BUSINESS RESILIENCE

Abstract

Background: Digital tools provide access to information and markets, but resilient use relies on trusted relationships, collective learning, reciprocal support, and the ability to evaluate online risks. Aim: The present study explains how the relationship between the focal practices and community business resilience operates in community businesses and local enterprise networks responding to market shocks and digital transition. Method: A conceptual narrative synthesis draws on selected scholarly and institutional publications. The discussion is organized around mechanisms, boundary conditions, and practical implications. Results: The synthesis identifies six linked mechanisms: bonding and bridging social capital, digital information evaluation, peer learning, collective access to markets and finance, cyber-risk awareness, network adaptation during shocks. The literature examination indicates that outcomes depend less on nominal adoption than on application quality, governance, learning, and fit with local capacity. Conclusion: Decision makers should define the expected outcome, assign responsibility, establish a small set of auditable indicators, and revise the intervention when available findings contradicts its assumptions. Contribution: The investigation provides a conditional framework without claiming primary data that were not collected.