Page 65 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Swaty Sharma, Munish Gupta: Does the Rise of Emerging Technologies Transform Digital
Entrepreneurial Activity? Evidence from OECD Nations

Neither theoretical framework, however, takes into account the value of predominant
information accessibility across different national environments. In the field of
technology entrepreneurship, issues that support or hinder information access are
especially crucial; yet they remain understudied in the literature (Yeganegi et al.,
2021). Research studies on social media, innovation, and entrepreneurship have
established confident connections among the fields. Social media platforms support
co-innovation and open innovation, according to Bhimani et al. (2019), by involving
additional contributors. Businesses obtain development guidance from customer
social media activity, which enables them to track emerging technology policy
changes. The use of social media platforms enables managers to sustain critical
information from vital start-up stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, and
competitors, according to Corral De Zubielqui and Jones (2020). The authors of
Orlandi et al. (2020) demonstrated that obtaining social media data allows businesses
to identify technological opportunities for commercial exploitation. The authors
Cantwell and Salmon (2018) noted that creative concepts now derive from a mix of
government, academic, and corporate components, which they call the “triple helix.”
Even though these advancements have been met, not every entrepreneur is entitled to
all that information and cornerstones; they also do not have the resources to carry out
comprehensive research and development activities (Yeganegi et al., 2021). This
hindrance to equitable access to R&D resources, above all within OECD areas, has
not yet been adequately addressed in the existing literature.

Research and Development (R&D) facilitates innovation, knowledge generation, and
technological development, which are key to digital entrepreneurship. R&D
intensifies adaptive and competitive abilities of firms in fast-digitalising settings (de
Lucas Ancillo, 2022; Audi et al., 2022).

R&D promotes innovation, new products, and technologies. The involvement of
researchers in R&D activities facilitates knowledge creation, thereby contributing to
entrepreneurial ecosystems (Cantwell & Salmon, 2018). Also, the triple helix model
(academia-industry-government collaboration) was found to increase commercialisation
channels of research outputs (Orlandi et al., 2020; Elshaiekh et al., 2023). These are the
pathways to the establishment and growth of high-tech ventures that anchor under TEN.

Hypothesis 6: R&D expenditure and researcher activity positively influence digital
entrepreneurship in OECD countries.

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