Do we Lead Together? Leadership Behavioral Integration and Coordination in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are the systems of forces that encourage and sustain entrepreneurship in geographic areas. Vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems exhibit coordination—participants engage in explicit attempts to organize, develop, and promote the ecosystem. Coordination involves ecosystem leaders; however, there is not a theory explaining the linkages between ecosystem leadership and coordination. To understand how ecosystem leaders promote coordination, the current paper proposes a model of entrepreneurial ecosystem behavioral integration. It is theorized that entrepreneurial ecosystem behavioral integration is influenced by leader and leadership‐group characteristics and, in turn, influences an ecosystem's cognitive, social, and cultural coordination. The model contributes to research at the intersection of leadership and entrepreneurship by delineating a precise and theoretically grounded conception of the connections between ecosystem leadership and coordination. A more nuanced understanding of coordination is provided by identifying its mechanisms and sub‐dimensions. The proposed theory charts a path for interdisciplinary research on leadership and entrepreneurial ecosystems and identifies practical implications for ecosystem leaders.