Entrepreneurial ecosystem theory has often been operationalised through territorially bounded elements: talent, finance, knowledge, networks, leadership and related institutional conditions are typically measured within a region. Diaspora scholarship complicates that boundary by showing that relevant resources can remain accessible after skilled people leave, yet it has rarely specified which ecosystem elements are affected, how, or why conversion differs across origin economies. The resulting literature contains apparently contradictory findings: patent-citation evidence indicates that innovator emigration can reduce domestic access to co-located knowledge, while firm- and country-level studies report circumstances in which diaspora ties support opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. This article treats that divergence as a theoretical problem to be explained, not as noise. The article develops the Conditional Absorption Model of Diaspora Knowledge Networks (CAM-DKN), a theoretical framework whose central proposition is that resources located outside an ecosystem’s territory can nevertheless function as ecosystem elements when they are conditionally available to its actors—that is, reliably accessible, matchable and usable through trusted relationships and intermediation. On this view, a DKN is not simply an international connection but a potentially extra-territorial ecosystem element. The framework specifies three transfer mechanisms—brokered search, institutional substitution and signalling, and normative standard-setting—and three origin-side conditions proposed to govern conversion: domestic absorptive capacity, intermediation architecture and credible reciprocity. It is elaborated through a structured synthesis of thirteen documented cases, selected for analytical variation rather than representativeness, from which four provisional configurations are derived: Latent Reservoir, Extractive Channel, Brokered Bridge and Circulatory Ecosystem. The cross-case record is consistent with conditional and element-specific DKN effects; these patterns are analytical interpretations of published evidence, not statistical estimates or evidence of prevalence. The article contributes a boundary extension of ecosystem-elements theory based on conditional availability, a conditional explanation of heterogeneous brain-drain and brain-gain findings, a mechanism-specific account of DKN-to-ecosystem transfer, a provisional configuration typology, and a proposed measurement architecture comprising a knowledge-weighted diaspora exposure construct and a diaspora-specific reciprocity coding instrument. No new estimation is reported; the propositions, the conjunctural specification, the typology and both measures are offered for validation, and the article specifies the alternative models, identification challenges and falsification conditions against which they should be evaluated.
Home entrepreneurial ecosystems can gain from diaspora members’ market knowledge, managerial experience, and international connections, but these resources matter only when knowledge holders choose to contribute them. The study examined how a diaspora ecosystem connector’s external knowledge-sharing scope and governance emphasis shaped that decision in a 2 × 2 randomised vignette experiment ( N = 400) with Indian-origin knowledge holders living in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Broad authorised access increased both perceived social impact and perceived loss of knowledge power, creating opposing indirect effects on intention to share entrepreneurial knowledge. Procedure-dominant governance weakened the knowledge-power cost of broad access, while group-level self-investment strengthened the positive effect of perceived social impact. The study shows how psychological and governance mechanisms jointly shape diaspora participation in home entrepreneurial ecosystems and why wider reach needs credible safeguards for contributors’ expertise.
This article proposes a methodological approach to investigating diaspora entrepreneurial ecosystems through the lens of epistemic access. It argues that in diaspora, migrant, ethnic minority, faith-based, informal, and socially bounded entrepreneurial communities, access is not just about getting into the community; it also shapes what researchers can gather, interpret, and report. It extends the access theory proposed by Buchanan et al. (1988, Doing research in organisations , pp. 53–67) and identifies four interconnected dimensions of epistemic access: (a) relational ; (b) cultural ; (c) linguistic ; and (d) ethical . These dimensions help explain how trust, cultural awareness, language use, reciprocal arrangements, and legitimate representation affect disclosure, interpretation, meaning transfer, and knowledge generation. The article concludes that rigorous qualitative research on diaspora entrepreneurial ecosystems depends on sustained trust, cultural sensitivity, linguistic attentiveness, and ethical accountability. It contributes to qualitative entrepreneurship methodology by repositioning access as an epistemic and ethical condition of inquiry.
For entrepreneurs, the legitimisation process in the early stages is crucial for acquiring essential resources and ensuring the viability and growth of their new ventures. Drawing on signalling theory and optimal distinctiveness literature, the article investigates the configurations of signals that entrepreneurs can send in the early stages of their original entrepreneurial project to attain various thresholds of legitimacy. The study is based on a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) analysis of 145 crowdfunding projects. The findings reveal that original projects require more intricate signal configurations than non-original projects to achieve high levels of legitimacy. The present research advances the ongoing discourse by unveiling the dynamic interplay between distinctiveness, legitimacy, and signal configurations.
This study aims to assess how negative life events, social norms, and need for achievement influence entrepreneurial propensity, and to examine whether resilience and locus of control mediate these relationships. To carry out this study, a quantitative methodology was used through questionnaires. The 584 validated questionnaires allowed the estimation of a structural equation model using the SMART PLS 4.0 software. The results of this study suggest that negative life events do not have a direct impact on entrepreneurial propensity, with locus of control, resilience, shame of failure and the need for achievement having a direct influence on the choice of an entrepreneurial career. This study offers a significant contribution to the literature on entrepreneurial behaviour, especially considering the scarcity of research in this area, particularly regarding the influence of negative life events throughout an individual’s life on entrepreneurial propensity. The research comprehensively explores the determinants, expanding existing theoretical foundations and providing new insights into how adverse experiences can shape and strengthen entrepreneurial capacity.
