The Unicorn Phenomenon: An Embeddedness-Based View of Influencing Factors

Abstract Unicorns are a special breed of an entrepreneurial phenomenon that is gaining increased attention from theoretical and practical perspectives. This emerging niche, however, lacks structurization and sufficient investigation of the development of a unicorn firm. The article aims to investigate the factors influencing the emergence and growth of unicorns, using embeddedness as a theoretical framework. It follows a systematic review of empirical articles investigating the unicorn phenomenon based on a search in Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 17 articles were qualified and reviewed in depth for descriptive information and the factors impacting unicorns. The findings confirm that the unicorn phenomenon is a new entrant in entrepreneurship research, with the first study published in 2017. Most of the empirical work relied on secondary data to analyze this phenomenon, with a split of geographical focus between the leading countries (US and China) and the developing ones. The identified influencing factors were analyzed and organized into three levels: context, firm, and individual. They highlight the necessary elements in an entrepreneurship ecosystem, a company’s business and operating models, and the characteristics of founders and unicorns’ leaders for supporting the development of a potential unicorn. This study extends the concept of embeddedness to this special breed of companies and provides insights for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies to a unicorn status and to policymakers on providing an enabling environment to attract startups and promote entrepreneurship.