Page 64 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.83, # 1, 2026, pp. 58-81

Digitally transformed companies are part of the entrepreneurial ecosystems providing
collaboration opportunities, shared digital infrastructure, and knowledge spill-overs. This
creates an atmosphere of fertile start-ups (Satalkina & Steiner, 2020; Thao et al., 2023).

Furthermore, Audretsch and Belitski (2021) noted that the presence of incumbent
firms also helps build knowledge-intensive networks, which provide a favourable
environment for innovation for digital entrepreneurs. Similar results were reported by
Lafuente et al. (2019), who stated that productive entrepreneurship is more significant
in regions with strong industrial foundations and well-established firms due to cross-
industry learning effects. Also, firms implementing open innovation frameworks tend
to offer test environments to start-ups through corporate accelerators and venture
arms, as explained by Kohler (2016). Such multidimensional support systems for
established businesses enhance the resilience and success rate of digital
entrepreneurship (Niftiyev, 2020), (Babayev, 2020), (Bayramov, 2016).

Hypothesis 5: The number of established businesses positively influences digital
entrepreneurship in OECD countries.

2.6 R&D Expenditure and Researcher Activity in Digital Entrepreneurship
Information is essential in every stage of the entrepreneurial process, from conceiving
to launching the new venture, and even through growth beyond. Access to current
relevant information is an essential factor in business holders' decision-making, for
real-time adaptation to business environments undergoing rapid and dramatic
changes, and for navigating trajectories of evolving business environments (Elshaiekh
et al., 2023). Empirical evidence shows that business owners who exhibit extensive
information-seeking behaviours tend to generate more innovative ideas and are more
likely to pursue lucrative opportunities than those who rely on mere attentive
engagement or chance (Azwardi et al., 2023). This is consistent with the basic ideas
of Schumpeter (1934) and Kirzner (1973) of entrepreneurship. Schumpeter, that
innovation brought about by changes in technology, resources, and consumer desires,
reveals characteristics of innovation that are harmful in demonstrating and screening
us through innovative competitive strategies, especially in the domain of extensible
industries. Similarly, Kirzner stresses the place of entrepreneurial alertness to
information, pointing out that the most effective information is held by those who
access it at one time, but not at others. Both views show how entrepreneurs use
information to exploit opportunities, whether through creative destruction or by
spotting market gaps D. V. Hoang and T. T. Nguyen (2026).

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