Rural entrepreneurship is an important means to solve the problem of “rural decline” and is also the focus of the “rural revitalization” strategy. The rural entrepreneurship ecosystem directly affects entrepreneurial performance. Based on the configurational perspective, using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method, taking 85 typical rural innovation and entrepreneurship demonstration counties in China as research samples, this study explores the impact path of the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem composed of multiple factors on entrepreneurial performance and the complex causal mechanisms behind it. The results show that market size, human capital, financial capital, infrastructure (both hardware and software), and government scale cannot individually constitute the necessary conditions for high or non-high rural entrepreneurial performance; there exist two pathways driving high entrepreneurial performance in rural areas: a market-driven financing-and-intelligence integration pathway and a government-supported infrastructure-assisted pathway. Under certain conditions, there is a substitution relationship between rural entrepreneurial market allocation and government intervention; there are two paths driving non-high rural entrepreneurial performance, which are summarized into market–financing suppression and market–government suppression according to the core driving factors. By systematically analyzing the impact of the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem on entrepreneurial performance, and explaining the intrinsic logic and path of high and non-high entrepreneurial performance based on the configurational perspective, this paper provides a decision-making reference for further enhancing the entrepreneurial performance in rural China and realizing rural revitalization.

In this study, we explore the evolution and formation mechanism of innovation ecosystem niche fitness from three perspectives: theoretical analysis, model construction, and empirical testing. Based on the niche theory, a theoretical framework for the innovation ecosystem is constructed. Spatiotemporal analysis and qualitative comparison methods are employed to estimate the innovation niche fitness of nine provinces located in the Yellow River Basin, and their spatiotemporal characteristics and differences in terms of formation mechanism differences are then explored. The results show that: (1) temporally, from 2000 to 2017, the innovation niche fitness in the Yellow River Basin experienced minor fluctuations. However, since 2017, there has been a considerable increase. Spatially, the midstream and downstream regions, particularly in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, and Sichuan, have a higher innovation fitness. Conversely, the upstream regions of Qinghai, Ningxia, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia display a lower fitness because of the lack of advantages in innovation elements. (2) The innovation niche fitness is heavily influenced by several factors, including the number of industrial enterprises above designated size, R&D personnel, higher education institutions, scientific research institutions, expenditure for technical renovation, sales revenue of new products, total expenditure on R&D, and the total retail sales of consumer goods. (3) Four mechanisms explain high innovation niche fitness, each of which corresponds to different regions. The formation mechanisms of low innovation niche fitness can be categorized into two paths, which have an asymmetric relationship with the formation mechanisms of high innovation niche fitness. Therefore, provinces and regions should focus on these advantages to enhance the innovation niche fitness. Our research will serve as a theoretical reference to enhance the overall innovation capacity of the Yellow River Basin in the future.