The dawn of geographically unbounded entrepreneurial ecosystems

Abstract

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) that support entrepreneurship are seen as tightly spatially bound, top-down systems. They are exogenous to entrepreneurs but endogenous to the jurisdiction's policymakers and other powerful stakeholders. Taking a knowledge spillover theory approach, this paper offers a new perspective on these systems that better fits the globalized, digitalized, and increasingly geographically unbounded realities of entrepreneurship. Resources and knowledge increasingly harbor synergies across, not just within, the spatial bounds of EEs. We describe geographically unbounded EEs (UEEs) as border-spanning, entrepreneur-centered, and hybrid or digital community-centered. These structures support entrepreneurs in assembling knowledge and resources across multiple geographically bounded EEs. We identify four interrelated dimensions of UEEs, namely, resources provided, inclusiveness, spread of activities, and governance, and show how each varies among geographically bounded EEs. The key insight of our study is that UEEs create conditions where the EE becomes increasingly endogenous to the entrepreneur. Such a shift prompts new theoretical questions about entrepreneurial capabilities and the role of policy.