Necessity-driven immigrant entrepreneurs across home and host country ecosystems: dynamic capabilities, firm performance and pathways to prosperity

Purpose This study aims to examine how necessity-driven immigrant entrepreneurs in Taiwan engage entrepreneurial ecosystems through mixed embeddedness across micro (such as family resources and ethnic networks), meso (such as industry structure and intermediary organizations) and macro-levels (such as regulatory regimes and policy) in both home and host contexts. This study analyzes how they mobilize resources to develop dynamic capabilities for adaptation, innovation and competitiveness. This study further investigates how home and host ecosystem conditions shape dynamic capabilities and, through them, multidimensional firm performance (financial, non-financial and sustainability outcomes), which the authors interpret as observable pathways to prosperity-relevant outcomes. In this study, prosperity is used as a macro-level framing outcome, and it is discussed in the motivation and policy implications rather than modeled as an additional latent construct in the SEM. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey of 233 necessity-driven immigrant entrepreneurs was analyzed using PLS-SEM. The model links home and host country ecosystem conditions to the development of dynamic capabilities, which subsequently influence multidimensional firm performance (financial, non-financial and sustainability outcomes). Findings Supportive conditions in both home and host contexts significantly strengthen entrepreneurs’ dynamic capabilities, enabling effective adaptation and growth. The results indicate selective ecosystem effects across micro, meso and macro-levels, while dynamic capabilities enhance multidimensional firm performance, suggesting observable pathways through which inclusive ecosystems may contribute to prosperity-relevant outcomes and inform regional prosperity discussions. Originality/value By integrating mixed embeddedness and dynamic capabilities, this study explains how these entrepreneurs transform resources from dual contexts into enduring firm performance and community value. It extends entrepreneurial ecosystem theory beyond high-growth ventures by demonstrating how necessity-driven immigrant entrepreneurs generate prosperity-relevant outcomes through firm-level performance pathways, thereby informing inclusive ecosystem and policy design.