The Interdependence Between Donors and Investors: Liability of Hybridity, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Affordances, and Venture Financing

Brandon Ofem, Ikenna Uzuegbunam and Satish Nambisan

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2025, vol. 49, issue 5, 1357-1391

Abstract: This study investigates how spatial and digital affordances within entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) enable early-stage hybrid ventures to overcome the liability of hybridity and to secure funding from both philanthropic and equity funding sources. Using a simultaneous equation model with a U.S.-based sample of 2,723 hybrid ventures, we demonstrate that philanthropic and equity funding exhibit a statistically and economically significant complementary relationship. We further find that accelerator participation weakens this complementary relationship, while social media utilization strengthens it. These findings highlight the mechanisms through which EE-based affordances enhance hybrid ventures’ ability to navigate competing institutional logics and attract diverse funding sources.

Keywords: accelerators; ecosystems; entrepreneurial finance; hybrid ventures; interdependence; liability of hybridity; social media; spatial affordances; digital affordances (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:entthe:v:49:y:2025:i:5:p:1357-1391

DOI: 10.1177/10422587251347059

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