{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,30]],"date-time":"2026-03-30T04:39:54Z","timestamp":1774845594522,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,29]],"date-time":"2021-11-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1638144000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Project BOT - Learning as a modern teaching method of GEN Z, Strategic Partnership for Higher Education, ERASMUS+, Foundation for the Development of the Education System","award":["2020-1-PL01-KA203-081777"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020-1-PL01-KA203-081777"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Economies"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) have attracted the attention of academics, practitioners, and policymakers, that attempt to unlock \u2018a winning recipe\u2019 considering the different EEs pillars in order to ignite entrepreneurship at large. Therefore, understanding the degree of influence of each pillar on Entrepreneurial Initiative (EI) is helpful in framing more effective policies towards entrepreneurship. This study aims to bring a new facet to entrepreneurship research, specifically on decomposing the transformation of EEs and the influence of EEs pillars on EI. The transformation of EEs is shown by a balanced panel approach based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset over 8 years (2010\u20132017), comprising 18 countries. The study has several implications for entrepreneurship theory and practice as well as public policy since discusses three main issues, mainly supported by empirical results. First, the results show an unbalanced influence of EEs pillars on EI. Second, results also show the ineffectiveness of institutions in encouraging the desire to act entrepreneurially. Third, entrepreneurship needs to be part of the acculturation process evidencing the importance of collective normative. Therefore, providing the instruments and structures is not enough to encourage individuals to start an entrepreneurial journey. Generally, the results reveal that contextual determinants are significant in fostering entrepreneurial propensity to start a business. But the impact of the nine pillars is not equalized, revealing a fragmented influence with funding measures, R&amp;D transfer, and cultural and social norms discouraging entrepreneurial initiative. Overall, the study contributes to the understanding of a multidimensional perspective on EEs and points future policy directions to overcome the lack of entrepreneurship and amend flawed entrepreneurship policies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/economies9040186","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]],"date-time":"2021-12-01T03:12:56Z","timestamp":1638328376000},"page":"186","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Unveiling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems\u2019 Transformation: A GEM Based Portrait"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5198-778X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariana","family":"Pita","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"DEGEIT\u2014Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"},{"name":"GOVCOPP\u2014Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7514-9836","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joana","family":"Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DEGEIT\u2014Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"},{"name":"GOVCOPP\u2014Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"},{"name":"INESCTEC\u2014Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6613-8796","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ant\u00f3nio Carrizo","family":"Moreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DEGEIT\u2014Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"},{"name":"GOVCOPP\u2014Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"},{"name":"INESCTEC\u2014Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.1007\/s11187-005-1998-4","article-title":"Entrepreneurship, Agglomeration and Technological Change","volume":"24","author":"Varga","year":"2005","journal-title":"Small Business Economics"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s11187-017-9864-8","article-title":"The Lineages of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Approach","volume":"49","author":"Acs","year":"2017","journal-title":"Small Business Economics"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"725","DOI":"10.1177\/1042258717736857","article-title":"Necessity or Opportunity? 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