Abstract
Entrepreneurship is an effective way to support economic development, especially in high-tech industries, where the rapid commercialization of new technologies can lead to entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) emergence, as well as significant economic and socioenvironmental challenges. However, the role of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) in this process is still understudied. Thus, this PhD thesis employs an institutional perspective combined with the Quadruple/Quintuple helix model, to explore the macro and meso interactions of EE actors within their socioenvironmental institutional context. Moreover, it specifically analyses the importance of knowledge production and dissemination in EEs by relying on the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Indeed, an exploratory qualitative is used to investigate the case of the French space EE, which is driven by major sociotechnological transformations, characterizing the “New Space” era. By relying on 80 practitioner-oriented articles and 45 semi-structured interviews with critical actors from the French space EE, the analysis of the datasets is based on an abductive reasoning following rigorous criteria to ensure methodological rigor and data transparency and replicability through a thematic and systematic-iterative analysis. As a result, this research makes a theoretical contribution to the entrepreneurship literature by demonstrating the vital role of ESOs in nascent EEs towards sustainable entrepreneurship. It sheds light on ESO role in fostering entrepreneurial dynamics addressing EE socioenvironmental issues, as those listed by the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations. Precisely, ESOs acts as intermediaries by including civil society and new entrants to EE knowledge production. This enhances a democracy-based knowledge enabling EE actors to address socioenvironmental issues in nascent EEs. Eventually, the findings induce several practical implications for ESO managers and policy makers to support EE development and address its related socioenvironmental challenges.
