This study explores the contribution of community cultural attributes and marketing strategy in determining economic development performance in rural U.S. communities. It is based on a set of depth interviews with leaders of 15 communities that experienced successful development performance in harsh economic environments. Twenty community cultural attributes identified during these interviews were used to develop a set of three community development culture attributes: economic development leadership, community spirit, and institutional foundations. Responses from surveys of community economic development representatives from the Southeast and Southwest provided evidence that two of the three community development culture attributes (economic development leadership and community spirit) are positively related to economic development performance.
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