The impact of different Entrepreneurial Support Organizations on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems development: an empirical study

The literature on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems has increasingly raised a conceptual interest of studying Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs), recognizing the importance of their role in spurring ecosystem development. However, the specific outcomes these various types of organizations provide for the territories involved remain underexplored. The ESO element has often been treated as a monolithic block, yet it encompasses diverse entities that may have different influences and impacts on the entrepreneurial environment. This thesis work seeks to address this gap in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem literature by first creating an updated and comprehensive mapping of incubation and acceleration activities, focusing the analysis on Italy, the Netherlands, and Ireland. Subsequently, by conducting regional correlation analyses and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), this study compares various statistics obtained from the research with entrepreneurial output data. Findings suggest that ESOs with specific characteristics are consistently present in regions characterized by high values in terms of entrepreneurial outputs, thereby hosting more active and dynamic Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. This thesis, although limited to just three countries, lays the foundation for more extensive research and offers valuable insights for policymakers aiming to promote the emergence of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in their regions, suggesting that targeted policy interventions on specific factors could positively impact the overall ecosystem health.