Agro-Industrial Transformation: Understanding the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Agrifood Entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the quality of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), the structural robustness of agro-industrial regimes, and the emergence of agrifood start ups in the Mediterranean NUTS-2 regions in the European Union. Based on the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (EE) framework and the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions, our empirical research draws on cross-sectional regional data and applies a Poisson regression model to test three hypotheses. Findings reveal a statistically significant and positive relationship between EE quality and the number of agrifood start-ups, which points to the enabling effect of institutional, human, and financial capital for regional innovation. If the agro-industrial regime does not exhibit a strong relationship in its log transformation indicating that an agricultural example does not prohibit entrepreneurship birth. Moreover, supportive interaction reveals the absence of interaction effect of EEs is contingent upon regime strength. The study helps to empirically integrate EE and MLP theories within a sectorally and geographically bound context and provides fresh evidence of how systemic elements condition entrepreneurship in structurally challenged regions.