The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Capital Among Small Entrepreneurs in Indonesia

One of the various fields in economy being affected by this COVID-19 pandemic is the sector of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as stated on the basis of the data obtained from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia showing that 1,785 cooperatives and 163,713 actors of MSMEs were affected by the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) pandemic. From a number of cooperatives influenced by the COVID-19, it is the MSME sector working on the field of food and beverages that mostly feels the impact. This condition greatly aggravates the small entrepreneurs, therefore it is urgent to discuss first the existence of the small entrepreneurs to survive in their business, second, what efforts the small entrepreneurs do in maintaining their social capital in this pandemic period and third, what efforts they would make to rise from adversity. The findings of this study showed that in this pandemic period, among the owners of enterprises and their customers, there have been growing feelings of sympathy, and also socioemotional values that produce socioemotional goods. The efforts made by the small entrepreneurs to rise from adversity in this COVID-19 period cause shifts and changes of the consumer buying pattern namely through online sales. The rapid development of technology results in a consequence that the business people should quickly respond it by learning and understanding digital marketing