The Art of Asking the Tiger for Its Skin: How It Entrepreneurial Firms Leverage Political Institutional Resources in Emerging Economies

In emerging economies, political institutions (i.e., government and its agencies), act as a major force in defining and mobilizing resources. IT entrepreneurial firms endeavor to obtain resources from political institutions, named as political institutional resources (PIRs), to overcome insurmountable handicap of resource deficiency. However, how PIRs matter remains unclear. Acknowledging this gap, this study examines the influences of PIRs on IT entrepreneurial firms in emerging economies. Drawing on the institution-based view, we first present a comprehensive typology of PIRs in emerging economies. Moreover, we develop a theoretical model to explain how PIRs shape the performance of IT entrepreneurial firms. We further provide more deep insights to see whether the impacts of PIRs depend on IT entrepreneurial firm’s internal R&D resources. This study has important contributions to the theory development of the institution-based view and the practices of IT entrepreneurship in emerging economies.