The Alaskan Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: A Systematic Literature Review of Individual and Organizational Variables

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of global economies. Understanding the variables that promote thriving entrepreneurial communities is important in ensuring the greatest possible economic benefits. Alaska is experiencing tremendous economic distress due to state’s reliance on declining oil industry (Guettabi, 2020, 2016). Entrepreneurship provides opportunities for economic prosperity against vacuum created by this decline. A report on the current state of entrepreneurship in Alaska by The University of Alaska Center for Economic Development (2018) noted that broader understanding of successful entrepreneurship could result in job growth and community benefits.

Our research focus is to identify the relationships between entrepreneurial ecosystems, cultures, gender diversity, races, personalities, and ethical behaviors (Gupta et al., 2014). Specifically, we are exploring correlations between these variables and entrepreneurial performance and satisfaction. Our goal is to determine whether entrepreneurial success is based on certain individual traits or whether entrepreneurs can be due to many adjusted variations and success is more dependent upon entrepreneurial ecosystems. We conclude with discussing many new interesting potential associations between the aforementioned variables.