Spatial embeddedness in indigenous rural entrepreneurship: a systematic literature review

Purpose The literature associating embeddedness and entrepreneurship usually considers the social and economic aspects of embeddedness, disregarding the spatial embeddedness dimension. In turn, the literature on indigenous entrepreneurship emphasises entrepreneurs according to the culture and characteristics of their ethnic groups. This study aims to investigate whether research on indigenous entrepreneurship understands entrepreneurs as agents embedded in social structures based on their spatial dimension, which is an integral part of the embeddedness concept. Design/methodology/approach This paper systematically reviews indigenous entrepreneurship literature published in Scopus and Web of Science over the past 14 years. The authors appropriate two resources: a bibliometric sample description and content analysis. Findings Despite the relevance of the association between the themes, there needs to be more theoretical and practical interactions between embeddedness and indigenous entrepreneurship. Data from the study suggest that the development of indigenous enterprises seems to be partly associated with their ability to build solid internal ties with their more closed social networks while simultaneously having the ability to create external ties, overcoming structural gaps between different networks. Originality/value This study presents five propositions as part of an extensive future research agenda for researchers in the field. Simultaneously, it suggests the need for new thinking about indigenous entrepreneurship and embeddedness. Furthermore, embeddedness, as addressed in studies of indigenous entrepreneurship, is differentiated from rural entrepreneurship, indicating unexplored opportunities in the area.