Innovation ecosystem resilience as a “coping” strategy to face deglobalization: The role of entrepreneurial orientation and affective/cognitive responses

Global warming, pandemics, and geopolitical tensions are accelerating deglobalization, challenging the openness and collaboration that typically underpin innovation ecosystems. While innovation increasingly relies on openness, deglobalization fosters more polarized and nationally bounded systems. In this context, understanding how local innovation ecosystems respond remains a critical yet underexplored question. This study redefines local innovation ecosystem resilience as a multidimensional coping mechanism, encompassing both structural and psychological dimensions. Drawing on existing literature, we conceptualize resilience as the integration of entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) with cognitive and affective responses to uncertainty. Through two experimental studies, we examine how innovation ecosystem resilience mediates the effect of high (vs. low) deglobalization on intentions to invest in new technologies. The first study operationalizes resilience via entrepreneurial orientation, while the second study captures cognitive and emotional coping mechanisms. Results show that high degrees of globalisation increase intentions to invest in technological innovation, and that this relationship is mediated by ecosystem resilience across both structural and psychological dimensions. Furthermore, we identify a moderating effect of local ecosystem ethnocentricity: higher ethnocentric tendencies strengthen the positive link between deglobalization and investment intentions. This research advances theory on innovation ecosystems by demonstrating that resilience, anchored in both entrepreneurial structures and psychological adaptability, plays a critical role in enabling strategic responses to global disruptions. Implications for policy and management include fostering resilience-oriented mindsets and capabilities to sustain innovation amid growing geopolitical and economic volatility. • High deglobalization levels increase tech investment intentions significantly. • Ecosystem resilience mediates deglobalization's impact on tech investments. • Entrepreneurial orientation drives resilience under deglobalization pressures. • Cognitive and affective responses shape resilience and investment behavior. • Ethnocentricity amplifies deglobalization's effect on investment decisions.