In this paper we suggest that entrepreneurship researchers can expand conceptualizations of digital entrepreneurship through application of an institutional perspective. We argue that the institutions that give meaning and purpose to digital entrepreneurship include more than the institutional logic—or rationality—of the institutional field that is focused primarily on economics. A greater understanding of the meaning systems that influence digital entrepreneurship is possible by also including the normative rationality of the society institutional field, and the digital rationality of the digital technology field itself. A broader conceptualization of digital entrepreneurship arises as these three institutional fields intersect, and the inter-field resource dependence between and among these institutional fields is examined. In this paper we (1) theorize more broadly the meaning system underlying digital entrepreneurship, (2) provide a detailed mechanism-based theoretical explanation for the process of digital entrepreneurship enablement, (3) integrate digital entrepreneurship research with institutional theory, particularly the concept of institutional work as a purposive actor-centric explanation for the creation of new value through digital technologies, and (4) provide a theoretical rationale for the various practical manifestations that researchers can expect to observe as institutional fields intersect in the entrepreneurial setting.
