‘Put heads together’: How engaging communities of inquiry propels innovation-driven entrepreneurship in emerging economies

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have indicated that innovation-driven entrepreneurship is far more beneficial than traditional entrepreneurship in emerging economies. However, how to propel this type of entrepreneurship remains somewhat unclear. Thus, this study applied social cognitive theory to reveal how engaging communities of inquiry stimulate innovation-driven entrepreneurship in emerging economies. A hierarchical regression analysis on a sample of 207 Chinese entrepreneurs revealed that open community engagement predicts active innovation-driven entrepreneurship, whereas more focused community engagement hinders it. Both relationships are weakened when the entrepreneurial environment is seen as more munificent. The findings advance the entrepreneurship literature by adding understanding of the two kinds of community engagement and explicating their effects on innovation-driven entrepreneurship from the social interaction point of view. That constitutes practical guidance for entrepreneurs, and a basis for governments seeking to encourage innovation-driven entrepreneurship.

KEYWORDS:

• Emerging economies
• social cognitive theory
• community of inquiry
• innovation-driven entrepreneurship
• perceived entrepreneurial munificence
• social interaction

Acknowledgments

We would like to sincerely thank Professor Dilani Jayawarna and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Beijing Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. is a mobile internet company focused on research and the development of high-end smartphones in China. In October of 2014 it became the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer after Samsung and Apple.

2. Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. is a Chinese high-tech company that is rapidly entering overseas markets by launching apps like TikTok. It was recognized as the ‘most valuable startup company in the world’ in 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) ‘Research on Entrepreneurial Activities Driven by User Innovation: From the Perspective of Collective Creation’ [Grant No. 71972085]; and the major project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) ‘Research on Major Theoretical and Practice Issues in Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship’ [Grant No. 72091310], Project 1 ‘Developing Theory on Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship in the Digital Economy’ [Grant No. 72091315].