Digital Entrepreneurship: Literature Review and Research Avenues Proposal (Case of Morocco)

Abstract

After traditional computing in the 90s (Internet technology) and the emergence in the 2010s of other spheres with open source and social media, today we are talking more about digital technology with Big Data, Blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). In this way and in order to support fast-growing ecosystems and value creation for many new businesses, digital technology has been harnessed by many entrepreneurial actors for new opportunities in the field of digital entrepreneurship. Morocco has not been excluded from this growth in digital transformation. Over the past ten years, we have observed the emergence of many start-ups directly or indirectly linked to digital technologies in Morocco, and this interest in digital entrepreneurship has increased in the context of the COVID 19 epidemic. Our article tries to shed light on the impact of digital technology on the entrepreneurship process and digital business models particularly in opportunity identification and the exploitation phase. Also, we are interested in the influence of digital entrepreneurship on digital innovation by evolving digital capabilities and using for instance AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things), VR (Virtual Reality) etc, and its role in expanding the digital market, ensuring the security of digital platforms and generating competitive advantages and customer benefits. In this paper, we have tried to review more than 30 articles to investigate digital entrepreneurship and digital technology, their characteristics and to examine their interrelationships. We ambition to explore theoretical research avenues on digital entrepreneurship, to identify some opportunities for the research agenda as well as to propose an inventory of the situation of digital start-ups in Morocco.