The Kaleidoscope of Configurations

Abstract

Abstract Variation in entrepreneurial ecosystems between places is as much due to the different varieties of actors as to the varieties of institutional forces. However, we know less about the individual and organizational actors who constitute entrepreneurial ecosystems, and most current work has focused on the types of resources and institutions in thriving ecosystems. To fill this research gap, this chapter introduces an actor/role configurations perspective to understand the kaleidoscope of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. A role is a set of functions an actor takes on that contributes to the ecosystem’s development, functioning, or reproduction. To investigate the multiple roles that ecosystem actors take on and how these roles shift across different economic and cultural contexts, we analyse eighty semi-structured interviews with technology entrepreneurs in three Canadian entrepreneurial ecosystems: Waterloo, Calgary, and Ottawa. We find that in entrepreneurial ecosystems, actors take on multiple roles, but these actor/role configurations depend on varied local contexts. This demonstrates that entrepreneurial ecosystems are not homogeneous entities; rather, regional contexts lead to different actor/role configurations, creating a kaleidoscope of entrepreneurial ecosystem forms.

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