%0 Journal Article
%T Digital Technologies as External Enablers of New Venture Creation in the IT Hardware Sector
%A Frederik von Briel
%A Jan Recker
%A Per Davidsson
%J Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
%@ 1540-6520
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1042258717732779
%X We develop theory about how and when digital technologies enable new venture creation processes. We identify two fundamental properties of digital technologies¡ªspecificity and relationality¡ªand develop propositions that link these properties to six enabling mechanisms: compression, conservation, expansion, substitution, combination, and generation. We use the linked properties and mechanisms to determine how and when in the venture creation process¡ªfrom prospecting to developing to exploiting¡ªdigital technologies have enabled start-ups in the IT hardware sector and develop stage-dependent propositions about their sector-level effects. We conclude our theorizing by discussing its implications beyond digital technologies and the IT hardware sector
%K digital technologies
%K external enablers
%K hardware start-ups
%K entrepreneurship as a process
%K IT hardware sector
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1042258717732779