Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in GCC and North Africa: ESG Digital Nexus

This study investigates how institutional structures, resource capacities, entrepreneurial orientation, digital transformation readiness, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) integration shape the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems in North Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It applies the ESG–Digital Nexus perspective to explain differences in ecosystem maturity, innovation capacity, and sustainability-driven entrepreneurship across regions. A qualitative descriptive comparative design was employed, relying on secondary data from peer-reviewed journal articles, policy reports, and institutional publications published between 2018 and 2025. The analysis covers Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria in North Africa and compares them with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman in the GCC. A theory-guided thematic comparative analysis was conducted using an integrated framework combining Institutional Theory, the Resource-Based View (RBV), and the Entrepreneurial Orientation Model (EOM). The findings reveal clear regional disparities, with GCC countries demonstrating stronger institutional quality, more advanced digital infrastructure, greater access to entrepreneurial finance, higher ESG integration, and more innovation-oriented entrepreneurial cultures. In contrast, North African ecosystems face institutional fragmentation, limited financing opportunities, uneven digital readiness, and weaker ESG institutionalization. Overall, the findings indicate that entrepreneurial ecosystem maturity is driven by the interaction of institutional quality, resource capacity, entrepreneurial behaviour, digital transformation, and ESG governance, rather than by economic resources alone. The study is limited by its reliance on secondary qualitative data, which restricts firm-level insights and real-time assessment, and by differences in data availability and reporting standards across countries that may affect comparability. The findings suggest that policymakers should strengthen institutional quality, expand access to entrepreneurial finance, accelerate digital infrastructure development, and embed ESG principles into entrepreneurship support systems to improve ecosystem competitiveness and sustainability. The study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated ESG–Digital Nexus framework that unifies institutional, resource, behavioural, digital, and ESG dimensions into a comprehensive explanation of entrepreneurial ecosystem development and applies this framework to a comparative analysis of entrepreneurial ecosystems across North Africa and the GCC.