Causal Recipes Assessing the Quality Level of Incubation Programs – A Comparative Approach Italy – Romania

Abstract

Configurational comparative methods integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches, being particularly useful to provide a better understanding of entrepreneurial ecosystems from different countries. Business incubators should not be treated as independent entities, but rather integrated into the entrepreneurial ecosystem, in order to promote innovation, competitiveness, technology transfer and other key public policy objectives to support entrepreneurship. The objective of the qualitative-comparative study carried out in this article is to determine the causal recipes that influence the quality level of incubation programs in incubators in Italy and Romania. Findings from this empirical research outline how the antecedent conditions (degree of incubator involvement in the initiation stage; degree of involvement of the incubator in the start-up stage; degree of incubator involvement in the execution stage; degree of incubator involvement in the commercial development stage; financial support for incubated start-ups; business accelerator services available) lead to a high-quality level of incubation programs.

Keywords

• business incubator
• business accelerator
• cross-country research
• entrepreneurship
• fsqca