136 Int. J. Internet and Enterprise Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2007 Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. The prototypal social entrepreneur: a case study about social and economic leveraging of virtual community in regional Australia Judy Drennan* and Josephine Previte School of Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Faculty of Business Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Q 4001, Australia Fax: 61 7 3864 1811 E-mail: j.drennan@qut.edu.au E-mail: j.previte@business.uq.edu.au *Corresponding author Abstract: The network community concept is generally surrounded by substantial hype and enthusiasm, because project visionaries hope computer mediated communication will increase the social capital needed to build sustainable communities and help prevent or reduce community deterioration. The Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) is a networked community success story which has inspired the introduction of similar projects around the globe. One aspirant was the Nerang Electronic Village (NEV) project in regional Australia. This paper investigates the community network philosophy and presents a case study of an Australian community’s attempt to implement the electronic village blueprint. Comparisons drawn between the successful BEV project and the unsuccessful NEV initiative demonstrate the prototypical social entrepreneurial role required to diffuse community-based technological solutions focused on sustaining regional communities. Keywords: internet and enterprise management; social entrepreneur; virtual community; social capital; internet; digital divide; Australia; network community; electronic village. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Drennan, J. and Previte, J. (2007) ‘The prototypal social entrepreneur: a case study about social and economic leveraging of virtual community in regional Australia’, Int. J. Internet and Enterprise Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.136–157. Biographical notes: Judy Drennan (PhD) is a Associate Professor in the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations at the Queensland University of Technology. Her qualifications include a PhD from Deakin University focusing on information technology networks and small business, and a Master of Education from the University of Melbourne. Dr Drennan’s research specialisation is in electronic marketing, and she has published her work in the Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Services Marketing, and Journal of Organizational and End User Computing. Josephine Previte (PhD) is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations at the Queensland University of Technology. Her doctoral research examined the role of the internet in social marketing, applying a multidisciplinary approach that encompassed