{"title":"Entrepreneurial ecosystems and interregional flows of entrepreneurial talent","authors":"Leonardo Mazzoni, Massimo Riccaboni, Erik Stam","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01022-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems not only enables local startups, but also affects the attraction and supply of non-local founders. We conceptualize entrepreneurial ecosystems as open systems with inflows and outflows of entrepreneurial talent. Beyond individual agency, these talent flows are driven by the quality of the origin and destination entrepreneurial ecosystems. We use network analysis and gravity models to study the interregional flows of founders of non-local startups within Italy and find empirical evidence for the creation, attraction, and supply mechanisms of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurial ecosystems not only provide a supportive environment for the creation of local startups, but also attract non-local founders. In addition, we reveal an escalator mechanism: (prospective) entrepreneurs tend to move from good to better entrepreneurial ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"82 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Small Business Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01022-5","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems not only enables local startups, but also affects the attraction and supply of non-local founders. We conceptualize entrepreneurial ecosystems as open systems with inflows and outflows of entrepreneurial talent. Beyond individual agency, these talent flows are driven by the quality of the origin and destination entrepreneurial ecosystems. We use network analysis and gravity models to study the interregional flows of founders of non-local startups within Italy and find empirical evidence for the creation, attraction, and supply mechanisms of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurial ecosystems not only provide a supportive environment for the creation of local startups, but also attract non-local founders. In addition, we reveal an escalator mechanism: (prospective) entrepreneurs tend to move from good to better entrepreneurial ecosystems.
期刊介绍:
Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal (SBEJ) publishes original, rigorous theoretical and empirical research addressing all aspects of entrepreneurship and small business economics, with a special emphasis on the economic and societal relevance of research findings for scholars, practitioners and policy makers.
SBEJ covers a broad scope of topics, ranging from the core themes of the entrepreneurial process and new venture creation to other topics like self-employment, family firms, small and medium-sized enterprises, innovative start-ups, and entrepreneurial finance. SBEJ welcomes scientific studies at different levels of analysis, including individuals (e.g. entrepreneurs'' characteristics and occupational choice), firms (e.g., firms’ life courses and performance, innovation, and global issues like digitization), macro level (e.g., institutions and public policies within local, regional, national and international contexts), as well as cross-level dynamics.
As a leading entrepreneurship journal, SBEJ welcomes cross-disciplinary research.
Officially cited as: Small Bus Econ