Connecting the dots? Entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainable entrepreneurship as pathways to sustainability

Abstract

While the exponential growth of entrepreneurial ecosystem research has dramatically increased our understanding of the role of context in entrepreneurial outcomes, our knowledge of entrepreneurial ecosystems and environmentally sustainable entrepreneurship is still fragmented. There is ambiguity on how entrepreneurial ecosystems influence sustainable entrepreneurship and what factors facilitate or constrain sustainable entrepreneurship. We attempt to take stock of the extant scholarship on entrepreneurial ecosystems and synthesize studies examining their linkages with sustainability. We systematically reviewed 77 articles identified in the World of Science and Scopus databases to discuss the main themes. The content analysis uncovered four key themes: (a) how entrepreneurial ecosystems become more sustainable, (b) the role of entrepreneurs, (c) the role of universities, and (d) the outcomes of sustainable ecosystems. The findings reveal that interactions between different actors, including customers, suppliers, institutions, governments, and universities, can result in a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. The novelty of our study arises from integrating extant studies on entrepreneurial ecosystem and sustainability in a systematic and replicable manner. We observed heightened attention to the environmental challenges in ecosystem literature and entrepreneurs' expanded roles in generating ecological and social value. Future studies can further evaluate the effectiveness of entrepreneurial ecosystems to examine whether creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem has a similar value while achieving sustainable development goals across varied contexts.