This study aims to unfold the dynamics of collective action in the context of small business communities. Using the rich longitudinal fieldwork data on the Baltimore Avenue’s Dollar Stroll Business Events from 2017 – 2022 in Philadelphia, this study reveals how the business community organizers and participants together sustain the successful collective action of neighborhood business events, and how the seemingly freeriding behaviors of the participants can potentially contribute to the success of neighborhood collective action. This study suggests that local organizations’ formal rules and the participant’s self-interest are two important mechanisms in facilitating community collective action. This study highlights that social capital, the important public good in the community, serves as the midground where the public good and the pursuit of self-interest reconcile in sustaining collective action, such that the presence of each participant contributes to the success of the business events in the form of citizen engagement. This study contributes to both the collective action literature and the small business literature regarding how to mobilize collective action to further small business community development and improvement, hence broadens the conventional understanding of the successful collective action and the nuances in free riding.
