When incubator resources are crucial: survival chances of student startups operating in an academic incubator
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When incubator resources are crucial: survival chances of student startups operating in an academic incubator Tali Hadasa Blank1 Accepted: 10 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Earlier studies provide mixed results regarding the influence of incubator resources on a startup’s chances of survival. This study suggests that this is because they tend not to take into consideration the attributes of the founders who actually make use of those resources. Based on 59 student startups operating in an academic incubator, this study finds that founding teams’ prior experience moderates the positive relationship between an incubator’s mentoring program and the startup’s chances of survival through the first year. The results demonstrate that the survival chances of startups whose founding teams have high levels of managerial experience or low levels of entrepreneurial experience are low when they do not take advantage of the incubator’s mentoring program. Drawing on learning theory, this study explains how different types of prior experience influence the relationship between the incubator’s mentoring program and the startup’s first year survival chances. The study’s results expand our understanding of and contribute to resource-based view theory by considering the interactive influence of founding teams’ human capital and incubators’ resources on startups’ chances of survival. Keywords Entrepreneurs’ prior experience · Incubator resources · Resource-based view · Learning theory · Startups JEL Classifications C30 · I22 · I23 · O31 · O32
1 Introduction Entrepreneurs face the challenge of gathering the resources needed to pursue nascent opportunities (Baker and Nelson 2005; Shane and Venkataraman 2000). In their search for resources, many startups explore the incubation format. A business incubator is an organization that supports the creation and growth of new businesses by providing a variety of tangible and intangible resources in a safe and nurturing environment (Hackett and Dilts 2004). Startups operating in an incubator have the resources to refine their idea, build their business plan, work on their product-market fit, identify intellectual * Tali Hadasa Blank [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Hadassah Academic College, 37 Hanevi’im, 9101001 Jerusalem, Israel
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property issues, and network within the startup ecosystem. Incubated startups engage in formational and developmental activities without having to confront environmental threats directly (Barnett et al. 1994; Scillitoe and Chakrabarti 2010). In accordance with resource-based view (RBV) theory, incubators are said to help startups gain a competitive advantage by creating a resource-rich environment that enables the latter to complement their resource base in a cost-effective and timely manner (Ahmad 2014; Albert and Gaynor 2001; McAdam and McAdam 2008; van Weele 2016). Business incubators mediate the relationship between startups and their environments b
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