This study explores the emergence of a new entrepreneurship phenomenon (digital social entrepreneurship) as a result of the collaboration among many agents (N-Helix), given the government’s limited capacity to respond to the stakeholders’ needs satisfaction related to an exogenous event (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). Our theory development is based on three ongoing academic debates related to (a) the unrepresentativeness of the stakeholder theory in entrepreneurship research; (b) the emergence of digital social entrepreneurship (DSE) as a bridge between stakeholders’ needs, socio-economic actors, and digital-social initiatives; and (c) the role of N-Helix collaborations to facilitate the emergence of global knowledge-intensive initiatives and the rapid adoptions of open innovations. Our results support our assumptions about the positive mediation effect of DSE in the relationship between N-Helix collaborations and stakeholders’ satisfaction. Notably, results show how pandemic has intensified these relationships and how DSE in N-Helix collaborations can generate social impacts globally. Some implications for policy-makers have emerged from our results that should be considered during/post-COVID-19 pandemic.

鉴于政府在响应利益相关者与外生事件相关的需求满意度方面的能力有限（例如，COVID-19 大流行）。我们的理论发展基于三个正在进行的学术辩论，这些辩论与 (a)利益相关者理论在创业研究中的不具代表性；(b)数字社会企业家精神(DSE) 的出现成为利益相关者需求、社会经济参与者和数字社会倡议之间的桥梁；(c) N-Helix的作用合作以促进全球知识密集型举措的出现和开放式创新的快速采用。我们的结果支持我们关于 DSE 在 N-Helix 合作与利益相关者满意度之间的关系中的积极中介作用的假设。值得注意的是，结果显示了大流行如何加强了这些关系，以及 N-Helix 合作中的 DSE 如何在全球范围内产生社会影响。我们的结果对政策制定者产生了一些影响，应该在 COVID-19 大流行期间/之后加以考虑。