A Framework for Exploring Heterogeneity in University Business Incubators

Globally, business incubators and accelerators have been embraced as important mechanisms to support the growth and development of new ventures. Several typologies have been proposed as a means of classifying their alternate forms. Within these typologies university business incubators (UBIs) are often recognized as a separate, but homogeneous class. Yet taking an isomorphic approach fails to acknowledge that differences among UBIs have implications for how they function and how their performance should be evaluated. Performance evaluation is an important issue as universities come under increasing pressure to demonstrate that the public funding they receive in support of their incubation activities is being put to good use. This paper offers a new perspective for the study of UBIs that focuses on their heterogeneity. We develop a framework that posits two competing narratives for UBIs, commercial and educational, that represent extremes on a continuum where hybrid configurations are also possible. Our framework demonstrates that these narratives offer a systematic explanation of differences in UBIs, have implications for performance evaluation, and suggest directions for future research aimed at advancing our understanding of variation in the way UBIs are configured and managed.