Does ICT Adoption Moderate the Impact of Entrepreneurship on Economic Growth in Africa?

Many African countries continue to face economic challenges even though the continent has much potential for economic progress. Entrepreneurship and ICT are one of the key forces behind economic change. However, little is known about how entrepreneurship, ICT, and economic growth affect economic resilience and development in Africa at the international level. Designing policies supporting a more resilient and inclusive African economy requires understanding this. This study, therefore, contributes to the existing literature by examining the direct and indirect impacts of entrepreneurship and ICT on economic growth in Africa. The study employs static and dynamic panel analyses to analyze panel data on 29 African countries from 2006 to 2020. The empirical results reveal that entrepreneurship positively influences economic growth in the long-run, but has a negative influence in the short-run, while ICT positively influences economic growth both in the short- and long-run. The moderating effects of ICT on the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth reveals that ICT positively strengthens the positive impact of entrepreneurship in Africa both in the short- and long-run. Furthermore, the causality results show that there is bidirectional among economic growth, entrepreneurship, and ICT adoption. Consistent with these findings, policy ramifications are highlighted.