Submitted Abstract
Although entrepreneurship scholarship recognizes that digitalization is a game changer for entrepreneurship affecting its function in the economy and society, detailed analysis of the specific ways in which digital platforms, algorithms and the processing of multiple kinds of artificial intelligence data are shaping entrepreneurial solutions, is yet to receive academic scrutiny. This is especially the case for applied AI solutions that are being developed to target human/social problems that cannot be reached by human capacities alone (i.e. poverty, disadvantage, ecological issues, human rights, discrimination, inequality and human trafficking). The objective of this project is to develop a novel (micro-foundational) theoretical understanding for explaining how entrepreneurial (market-based and social) solutions are being reconfigured in relation to digital technologies and AI. In particular, the study will address the following three sets of processes: (i) how entrepreneurs use digital technologies to transform AI information systems into applied business solutions or entrepreneurial artifacts that augment human capabilities; (ii) how multiple actors external to the venture confer legitimacy and material/social resources through digital media and technologies; and (iii) how this bundling of social and material resources leads to the creation of sustainable (hybrid) business solutions that combine market-based and social impact mechanisms to target social issues.