Where Does Digital Entrepreneurship Go? A Review Based on a Scientific Knowledge Map

Abstract

There is more and more digital entrepreneurship emerging in practice, but research on it is rare and scattered, meaning that a review of digital entrepreneurship is important and necessary. Based on a data set covering 19 years of research, from 2003 to 2021, this article reviews 469 available articles from the Web of Science Core Collection. Using a scientific knowledge map, it divides digital entrepreneurship research into two stages, namely the “emerging stage” (2003–2017) and the “booming stage” (2018–2021). Research developed slowly in the emerging stage, focusing on the definition of digital entrepreneurship, the influence of digital technology, and antecedents of digital entrepreneurship. In the booming stage, however, digital entrepreneurship research grew explosively. This article sorts out the topics from three aspects, that is, organizational behavior, digital entrepreneurial ecosystem, and business model innovation. Longitudinal research, multi-case studies, mixed methods, and quantitative studies become mainstream, replacing the earlier single-case studies and conceptual analyses. The frontiers of research on digital entrepreneurship focus on digital entrepreneurial ecosystems, business model innovation, digital academic entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and the antecedents of digital entrepreneurship. This article proposes four future directions, including the interaction of digital entrepreneurship elements, the process of digital entrepreneurship with a dynamic perspective, digital entrepreneurship research at the community level, and digital entrepreneurship research in different contexts.