Digital Entrepreneurship: Insights From Online Business Communities

Introduction

Entrepreneurship evolved throughout a rich heritage and has become centre to modern economic development (Hisrich, 1990; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). One perspective characterises entrepreneurs as individuals who lead innovation, exhibit exceptional initiative, coordinate social and economic structures, convert resources and circumstances into viable assets, and assume the risks associated with such ventures (Hisrich, 1990). Another distinctive characteristic of entrepreneurship is primarily centred around the ideas of profitability and opportunity identification, where entrepreneurs recognise opportunities, establish new ventures, or redevelop existing businesses and lead to initiating and managing innovation across various sectors (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Similarly, digital entrepreneurship involves designing, launching, or running a business on digital systems to sell digital products and services across electronic networks. Technological advancements, networks, and easily accessible internet connections have leveraged entrepreneurship to an unprecedented level, merging conventional entrepreneurship with digital technology (Onuoha, 2007; Drucker, 2014).

As technology advances, further research is needed to uncover factors that nurture digital entrepreneurship and identify potential constraints and risk-mitigation opportunities (Mitchelmore & Rowley, 2010). In view of this, entrepreneurship is widely perceived to lead to open innovation, help economies overcome challenges and shape online communities (Kuratko, 2005; Lackéus, 2015). Digital entrepreneurial online communities consist of networks and actors collaborating to support innovative entrepreneurship, leading to significant economic development (Stam & Spigel, 2016). This incorporation of digital technologies has fostered innovation and the growth of digital start-ups, transforming industries and business models (Omorede, 2014). Omorede (2014) further proposed that entrepreneurship is not only based on economic benefits, but social entrepreneurship is driven by the motivation of social benefit, focusing extensively on societal contributions and developments rather than profits and growth.

The rapid growth of online start-up communities and digital ecosystems contributed to open innovation and promoted the development of digital skills among entrepreneurs (Kuratko, 2005; Lackéus, 2015). Social digital entrepreneurship, a subset of digital entrepreneurship is accordingly based on creating a positive social impact using digital technology in its business model (Omorede, 2014). While some views emphasise the economic aspects of entrepreneurship, diverse views perceive that social entrepreneurship is driven by the motivation for social benefit, focusing specifically on societal contributions and developments rather than profits and growth (Harding et al., 2002).

It is essential to consider that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities are significantly influenced by an entrepreneur’s individual intentions, motivations, aspirations, and goal-oriented behaviour. Consequently, entrepreneurs have been classified into two categories: necessity-based and opportunity-based, which helps identify their reasons for embarking on an entrepreneurial conduct (Harding et al., 2002). The extant literature on entrepreneurship has primarily focused on the processes of identifying, evaluating, and exploiting opportunities to develop future goods and services (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Therefore, more emphasis should be placed on exploring digital entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems (Stam & Spigel, 2016). In this chapter, we aim to highlight the concept of digital entrepreneurship and the implications associated with this evolving phenomenon, that changed the ways businesses operate and opened up opportunities for growth and innovation (Drucker, 2014), hoping to pave the way for further investigation of these implications.