It takes an ecosystem to reduce poverty: a call for research on inclusive business entrepreneurial ecosystems

Purpose Inclusive business (IB) is a sustainable development strategy and poverty alleviation intervention that is receiving growing scholarly and policy interest. IB entrepreneurs design innovative business models that co-create value with marginalized, low-income and disadvantaged stakeholders by integrating them into the value chains of their ventures. In creating and scaling their ventures, IB entrepreneurs require distinct contextual resources. However, IB entrepreneurial ecosystems − the interdependent actors and factors in local contexts that are coordinated to support IB entrepreneurship − have received limited attention. The purpose of this perspective piece is to facilitate research on this topic by drawing attention to IB entrepreneurial ecosystems, calling for more research on their functioning and offering a multi-level framework that can be used to study their dynamics. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops a microfoundations framework that identifies the specialized characteristics of IB entrepreneurial ecosystems and explains how the causal linkages between IB entrepreneurs and their ecosystems differ from those of conventional entrepreneurs. Specifically, the microfoundations perspective, social entrepreneurship and the ecosystem-as-structure approach are synthesized to explain how IB entrepreneurial ecosystems facilitate a distinctive ecosystem value proposition: improving the performance of IB entrepreneurs and their ventures. Findings The microfoundations framework of IB entrepreneurial ecosystems explains how the micro- (i.e. individual) characteristics and actions of ecosystem actors influence, and are influenced by, the meso (i.e. group and organizational) and macro (i.e. ecosystem) attributes and activities of ecosystems. Social implications The proposed framework creates novel connections between the microfoundations perspective, social entrepreneurship and the ecosystem-as-structure approach. Originality/value The multilevel framework highlights promising research opportunities in IB entrepreneurship and produces insights for practitioners and policymakers on how to build and leverage ecosystems to reduce poverty.