Transnational networks and mobilities of IT migrant entrepreneurs in a globalizing world

Abstract

ABSTRACT Transnational entrepreneurship has its origins in studies on IT entrepreneurs in the US, and on the role of contextual influences that enable the emergence of vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. In this paper, we look at the role of institutional actors and their transnational connections on transnational entrepreneurship. Based on interviews with institutional actors in two IT hubs of the Californian Silicon Valley and the Maltese Silicon Valletta, we reveal how the transnational connectedness of entrepreneurial ecosystems emerges from the transnational connections of these institutional actors. We further map the connectedness between industry-specific entrepreneurial ecosystems, and we conceptualize these as intra- and cross-categorical transnational connections. This illustrates the mechanism of IT, industry-specific entrepreneurial ecosystems, differing from the logic of other industries, such as finance. This industry-specific perspective of entrepreneurial ecosystems reveals how they are transnationally connected and how transnational entrepreneurship ‘from below’, and its associated mobility contribute to the overall global economy.