Figuring it out: configurations of high-performing entrepreneurial ecosystems in Europe

Abstract

Is there only one type of successful entrepreneurial ecosystem? This paper applies qualitative comparative analysis to identify and analyse configurations of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems in Europe. We test two rivalling causal logics: a completeness logic stating that all entrepreneurial ecosystem elements need to be present and the weakest link is the most important constraint, and a substitutability logic arguing that elements are substitutable. High entrepreneurship outputs can be realised with different entrepreneurial ecosystem configurations. However, focusing on regions with the highest entrepreneurship outputs, our results point at the importance of a complete entrepreneurial ecosystem.