Online maker communities : developing the capabilities of aspiring entrepreneurs for new economic realities.

The explosion of innovative and entrepreneurial energy over the last few decades highlights the influence of new digital technologies, especially in the context of user innovation and entrepreneurship. Indeed, numerous works document the salience of this activity in products such as digital audio workstations, ecommerce, and video game modification. This dissertation seeks to develop this research in terms of online maker communities (OMCs) and how they function to help aspiring entrepreneurs build their personal entrepreneurial intelligence. For empirical context, the dissertation explores the world of video games. Chapter One provides an overview and literature review. Chapter Two uses causal inference techniques to consider the effect of video game modding communities on the games in which they innovate. Chapter Three defines and develops the construct of entrepreneurial intelligence (ENTQ) as well as builds theory around how OMCs facilitate its development. Chapter Four provides exploratory evidence of the effect of OMCs in the new world of Dreams, a hybrid game and development engine released for Sony Playstation consoles in February 2020. Chapter Five concludes.