How digital technology promotes entrepreneurship in ecosystems. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zahra, Shaker A.; Liu, Wan; Si, Steven
• Is Part Of: Technovation. Volume 119(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: Digital technology -- Digital entrepreneurship -- Entrepreneurial ecosystems; Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Industrial management -- Periodicals; Innovations -- Périodiques; Gestion d'entreprise -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 658.57
• DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2022.102457
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0166-4972

Abstract

Abstract: In recent years, countries have adopted policies seeking to promote the development and adoption of innovative digital technologies and grow their entrepreneurial ecosystems. In this paper, we review and analyze the vast literature on how digital technologies foster the birth, development and growth of new ventures and how these firms employ these technologies to shape the evolution of their ecosystems. Our analyses highlight the intimate links among ecosystem development, digital technologies and the active role that new ventures play, depicting a complex evolutionary process. We also discuss the role of pioneering, disruptor and imitator digital new ventures in the growth of their ecosystems. We also discuss the theoretical, policy and managerial applications of our work. Highlights: Recognizing the dynamic link between DTs, entrepreneurship and ecosystems. Offering a framework that accounts for strategic co-specialization in ecosystems, capitalizing on DTs. Delineating the diverse but complementary roles of new ventures within an ecosystem. Advancing five theoretically grounded propositions that can guide future research. Articulating an agenda for future research, thereby helping to shape future scholarship.