Power Plays: Surfacing the Hidden Currents in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Judith Terstriep, Alexandra David, Lukas Zaghow, Natalia Vershinina and Jörg Freiling
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Alexandra David: Thèses d'exercice et mémoires - UFR des sciences pharmaceutiques et biologiques de Montpellier - UM - Université de Montpellier
Natalia Vershinina: Audencia Business School

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Abstract: Entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) research has flourished, yet it continues to overlook how power shapes who can mobilise resources, legitimacy, and opportunity within these systems. This paper reframes power as a constitutive, and not incidental, dimension of ecosystem functioning. Integrating insights from Pfeffer's resource-dependence theory with Foucault's and Bourdieu's social perspectives, we develop a Power-Sensitive Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Framework (PSEEF) that conceptualises power across micro (entrepreneurial identity), meso (network structures), and macro (institutional governance) levels. Our key insight is that power dynamics are the hidden mechanisms through which EEs determine who gains visibility and support, and whose ventures remain peripheral. Recognising these mechanisms enables scholars and practitioners to understand ecosystems not merely as collections of resources but as evolving arenas of legitimacy and control. The framework provides actionable tools for ecosystem leaders to diagnose and rebalance inequalities, advancing both the analytical and practical agenda for inclusive and high-performing EEs.

Keywords: entrepreneurial ecosystems; heterodoxy; social practice; social organisation; social systems; relationality; entrepreneurship; power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05382012v1
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Published in Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 2025, 24 (e00584), pp.e00584. ⟨10.1016/j.jbvi.2025.e00584⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05382012

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2025.e00584

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