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In today’s knowledge-based economy, entrepreneurship is a driver for innovation and competition (Gorji & Rahimian, 2011). Because entrepreneurship can stimulate positive outcomes for firms and societies (Duane Ireland & Webb, 2007), it is a key driving force in the economic development of a country (Carree &Thurik, 2003; Gupta, MacMillan, & Surie, 2004). On one hand, entrepreneurship can facilitate firms in product, process, and administrative innovation (Covin & Miles, 1999; Schumpeter, 2010). It not only facilitates strategic renewal in firms (Hitt, Nixon, Hoskisson, & Kochhar, 1999), but also creates values for customers and wealth for shareholders (Hitt, Ireland, Camp, & Sexton, 2001). On the other hand, entrepreneurship contributes to societies by creating jobs (Birley, 1986), promoting technological progress and the revitalization of economies (Birley, 1986; Zahra, 1996), and shaping global cultures (Gudeman, 1992; Inglehart & Baker, 2000). Therefore, entrepreneurship is a means of contributing to employment as well as social and political stability (Sarri & Trihopoulou,2005).
Janson and Wrycza (1999) point out that there is a positive association between the use of information technologies and firms’ entrepreneurial activities. Information technologies can be applied for creating customer value, improving organizational effectiveness, and managing business risk (Janson & Wrycza, 1999). Some innovative technologies have brought benefits to businesses, including big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT) (Furtado et al 2017; Hassani et al 2018; Ivanov 2019; Ivanov, Borisova, and Muminova 2019; Li et al 2018; Lu 2018a,2018b, 2019; Oliverio 2018; Viriyasitavat, Anuphaptrirong, Hoonsopon, 2019; Viriyasitavat and Hoonsopon 2019; Xu et al 2014; Xu and Duan 2019). Particularly, as the next generation of communication infrastructure and economic tide after computer and the Internet, IoT is expected to bring a revolution in society by boosting a tremendous amount of innovation, efficiency, and quality (Bi, Xu, & Wang, 2014; He, Lo, Xie, & Lartigue, 2016; Viriyasitavat, Xu, Bi, Hoonsopon, Charoenruk, 2019; Weyrich & Ebert, 2016; Xu 2011; Xu & Viriyasitavat, 2019; Xu, Xu, Li 2018).
Technology entrepreneurship is different from mainstream entrepreneurship because it focuses on new opportunities through innovation in science and engineering (Shane &Venkataraman, 2003; Beckman, Eisenhardt, Kotha, Meyer, & Rajagopalan, 2012). According to Bailetti (2012), technology entrepreneurship is “an investment in a project that assembles and deploys specialized individuals and heterogeneous assets that are intricately related to advances in scientific and technological knowledge for the purpose of creating and capturing value for a firm” (p9). It is an effective approach for growth, differentiation, and competitive advantage at the firm, regional, and national levels (Bailetti, 2012).