Unpacking the multilayered nature of entrepreneurial ecosystems : a conceptual complex adaptive system model

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) is gaining increasing attention from academics, professionals, and policymakers because of its potential as a policy tool for promoting economic growth. However, the theoretical foundation for analyzing EE needs further development to comprehensively capture its systemic, complex, and adaptive nature. Although recent studies have made progress in this area by incorporating complexity theory into this field of literature, the multilayer characteristics of an EE have been overlooked in those conceptualizations. We therefore build upon those papers by introducing an understanding of EE as a multilayer network from the perspective of complexity theory. Building upon this understanding, we provide a representative example to illustrate the practical application of our conceptual model via agent-based modeling while outlining a research agenda that suggests new directions for future studies in this field.