Intellectual property protection, legal awareness, and startup growth: evidence from Somalia

Intellectual property (IP) protection is increasingly recognized as a strategic mechanism through which startups can safeguard innovation, strengthen competitive advantage, and support business development. However, limited empirical evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of IP protection in fragile institutional environments such as Somalia. This study examines the effects of intellectual property protection and legal awareness on startup growth and investigates whether legal awareness strengthens the relationship between IP protection and growth.

This study employed quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 220 startup founders, owners, managers, and senior employees in Somalia. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess the measurement model and test the direct and moderating relationships among intellectual property protection, legal awareness, and startup growth.

The findings demonstrate that intellectual property protection has a positive and significant relationship with startup growth. Legal awareness also positively influences startup growth and emerges as the stronger of the two direct predictors. However, legal awareness does not significantly moderate the relationship between intellectual property protection and startup growth. These findings indicate that legal awareness operates primarily as an independent growth-enabling capability rather than as a condition that strengthens the growth effect of intellectual property protection.

The study extends entrepreneurship and intellectual property research by providing empirical evidence from a fragile and under-researched institutional context. The findings suggest that startup development depends not only on protecting intangible assets but also on strengthening entrepreneurs' legal capabilities. The study therefore highlights the importance of integrating practical legal awareness, IP management, and accessible legal support into entrepreneurship education, incubation programs, and startup policy in developing economies.