The determinants of entrepreneurship in urban and non-urban regions: A fuzzy-set QCA approach

Objective: The objective of the article is to identify and analyse the configurations of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems that lead to high levels of entrepreneurship in urban and non-urban regions. Research Design & Methods: This study employed This study employed necessary condition analysis (NCA) and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) to reveal how different combinations of six elements of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE): culture, supports, human capital, policy, markets, and finance, support the presence of high levels of entrepreneurship across 42 urban and non-urban regions in Colombia and Ecuador. Findings: The NCA results revealed that no single element was necessary for the presence of high levels of regional business density. Conversely, some ecosystem elements become necessary when the expected ecosystem outcome is high levels of regional share of high-growth firms. Sufficiency analysis revealed several distinct combinations of elements that lead to high entrepreneurship levels in both urban and non-urban regions. Implications & Recommendations: The findings of this study are valuable for researchers interested in understanding the complexity of EEs and for policymakers. This study provides empirical evidence of the differentiated relevance of EEs’ elements depending on the urban-rural context. Moreover, results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach for entrepreneurship policymaking might be inadequate since the requirements for achieving high levels of entrepreneurial development are substantially different between urban and non-urban regions. Contribution & Value Added: This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on entrepreneurial ecosystems complexity, particularly regarding the questions of how ecosystem elements interact to support entrepreneurship in a particular place and whether all ecosystem elements are equally important for entrepreneurship.