From Digital Technology to Digital Entrepreneurship: Connotation, Characteristics and Internal Connection

Abstract

With the outbreak of new technologies such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, the field of digital entrepreneurship, characterized by the intersection and integration of digital technology and entrepreneurship, is profoundly changing the model of economic growth, the shape of the real economy and the industrial layout. In recent years, the research on digital entrepreneurship has become increasingly attractive. Scholars from different fields such as information system, entrepreneurship and innovation, and strategic management have joined this emerging field, and its interdisciplinary nature has become increasingly prominent. However, the current research is still in the initial stage. The understanding of the two basic concepts of digital technology and digital entrepreneurship is not thorough enough, and the relevant research is fragmented. In addition, the lack of deep understanding of the underlying logic of how digital technologies impact entrepreneurial activities has limited the development of the field.Based on an interdisciplinary perspective, this study reviews research on digital technology as well as digital entrepreneurship by selecting literatures published in the fields of information systems and entrepreneurship management in the past 20 years. Based on this, the concept connotation and characteristics of digital technology and digital entrepreneurship are defined. Digital technology is defined as the latest development of ICT technology, including the physical part, the logical part, and the result part. The characteristic of digital technology is classified into four categories and ten specific types. Digital entrepreneurship refers to the process of identifying, evaluating and exploiting opportunities through the creation or use of digital technologies, and ultimately creating, distributing and acquiring value. It is characterized in five dimensions, namely as digitalization, innovation, openness, flexibility and value.Then, a BREAK theoretical framework is built to explain the mechanism of how digital technologies shape the characteristics of digital entrepreneurship. This study holds that the “break” of digital technology to the process of digital entrepreneurship is realized through five mechanisms, namely Build, Reconfigure, Enhance, Amplify and Keep. At present, the shaping of digital technology to digital entrepreneurship’s characteristics of digitalization and openness is inclined to “disruptive breaking”, the shaping of innovation and flexibility is similar to “improved breaking”, and the shaping of value is both. Considering that digital technology has a strong potential for action, its “breaking effect” on digital entrepreneurial activities is not static, but gradually evolves from incremental improvement to qualitative disruption with the deepening of technology application.Finally, we propose several directions for future research. Based on the BREAK framework, we argue that there are great theoretical value and research potential in the identification and development of data resource value, the strategic balance between the open and control of digital firms, the transformation of the firm’s business logic in the digital era, the multidimensional influences of digital innovation. This study deepens our understanding of digital entrepreneurship through promoting the research question from “what is the digital entrepreneurship” to “why digital entrepreneurship happens”. Further, this study promotes the transformation of digital entrepreneurship research from the explicit description of practical phenomena to in-depth analysis of the internal theoretical logic, thus contributes to the development of digital entrepreneurship field.