IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v62y2024i1d10.1007_s11187-023-00778-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Paradoxes of accelerator programs and new venture performance: Do varieties of experiences make a difference?

Author

Listed:
  • Farzana Chowdhury

    (Durham University Business School)

  • David B. Audretsch

    (Indiana University)

Abstract

Incubators and accelerators have proliferated, but their impact on new ventures’ performance remains unclear. This article explores whether all ventures benefit equally from participating in accelerator programs. We propose that the entrepreneurs’ human capital resources influence the benefits extracted from accelerator program participation. Using application data from the accelerator programs across developed and developing countries, we find participation in accelerator programs positively impacts the ventures’ innovation performance but has a mixed impact on social performance. Founders with high education benefit from participating in accelerator programs for innovation and social performance. However, entrepreneurial experience and vast industry experience do not significantly influence ventures’ social and innovation-related performance from accelerator participation. The result is consistent for both solo and team founders.

Suggested Citation

  • Farzana Chowdhury & David B. Audretsch, 2024. "Paradoxes of accelerator programs and new venture performance: Do varieties of experiences make a difference?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 381-409, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:62:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11187-023-00778-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00778-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-023-00778-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-023-00778-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elena Kulchina, 2017. "Do foreign entrepreneurs benefit their firms as managers?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1588-1607, August.
    2. Niels Bosma & Mirjam van Praag & Roy Thurik & Gerrit de Wit, 2004. "The Value of Human and Social Capital Investments for the Business Performance of Startups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 227-236, October.
    3. Daniel Erian Armanios & Charles E. Eesley & Jizhen Li & Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, 2017. "How entrepreneurs leverage institutional intermediaries in emerging economies to acquire public resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(7), pages 1373-1390, July.
    4. Kyle Lewis & Benjamin Herndon, 2011. "Transactive Memory Systems: Current Issues and Future Research Directions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1254-1265, October.
    5. Christopher S. Hayter & Andrew J. Nelson & Stephanie Zayed & Alan C. O’Connor, 2018. "Conceptualizing academic entrepreneurship ecosystems: a review, analysis and extension of the literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 1039-1082, August.
    6. Block, Jörn H. & Fisch, Christian O. & Hahn, Alexander & Sandner, Philipp G., 2015. "Why do SMEs file trademarks? Insights from firms in innovative industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1915-1930.
    7. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2010. "On growth drivers of high-tech start-ups: Exploring the role of founders' human capital and venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 610-626, November.
    8. John Stayton & Vincent Mangematin, 2019. "Seed accelerators and the speed of new venture creation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1163-1187, August.
    9. Matthew R. Marvel & Justin L. Davis & Curtis R. Sproul, 2016. "Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Research: A Critical Review and Future Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 599-626, May.
    10. Grid Thoma, 2020. "The valuation of patent-trademark pairing as IP strategy: evidence from the USPTO," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1-2), pages 80-104, February.
    11. Del Sarto, Nicola & Isabelle, Diane A. & Di Minin, Alberto, 2020. "The role of accelerators in firm survival: An fsQCA analysis of Italian startups," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 90.
    12. Deniz Ucbasaran & Paul Westhead & Mike Wright, 2008. "Opportunity Identification and Pursuit: Does an Entrepreneur’s Human Capital Matter?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 153-173, February.
    13. Saras Sarasvathy & Anil Menon & Graciela Kuechle, 2013. "Failing firms and successful entrepreneurs: serial entrepreneurship as a temporal portfolio," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 417-434, February.
    14. Unger, Jens M. & Rauch, Andreas & Frese, Michael & Rosenbusch, Nina, 2011. "Human capital and entrepreneurial success: A meta-analytical review," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 341-358, May.
    15. Ernst, Holger, 2001. "Patent applications and subsequent changes of performance: evidence from time-series cross-section analyses on the firm level," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 143-157, January.
    16. Sean M. Hackett & David M. Dilts, 2004. "A Systematic Review of Business Incubation Research," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 55-82, January.
    17. Benjamin L. Hallen & Susan L. Cohen & Sung Ho Park, 2023. "Are seed accelerators status springboards for startups? Or sand traps?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 2060-2096, August.
    18. Amezcua, Alejandro & Ratinho, Tiago & Plummer, Lawrence A. & Jayamohan, Parvathi, 2020. "Organizational sponsorship and the economics of place: How regional urbanization and localization shape incubator outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    19. Susan E. Mayer, 2000. "Income Inequality: Economic Segregation and Children's Educational Attainment," Working Papers 0026, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    20. Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe & Michael Leatherbee, 2018. "The Effects of Business Accelerators on Venture Performance: Evidence from Start-Up Chile," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 1566-1603.
    21. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Why Do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 203-224, Winter.
    22. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2005. "Founders' human capital and the growth of new technology-based firms: A competence-based view," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 795-816, August.
    23. Iain M. Cockburn & Megan J. MacGarvie, 2009. "Patents, Thickets and the Financing of Early‐Stage Firms: Evidence from the Software Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 729-773, September.
    24. Cohen, Susan & Fehder, Daniel C. & Hochberg, Yael V. & Murray, Fiona, 2019. "The design of startup accelerators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1781-1797.
    25. Klapper, Leora & Laeven, Luc & Rajan, Raghuram, 2006. "Entry regulation as a barrier to entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 591-629, December.
    26. Cardon, Melissa S. & Stevens, Christopher E. & Potter, D. Ryland, 2011. "Misfortunes or mistakes?: Cultural sensemaking of entrepreneurial failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 79-92, January.
    27. Paul Robson & Charles Akuetteh & Paul Westhead & Mike Wright, 2012. "Innovative opportunity pursuit, human capital and business ownership experience in an emerging region: evidence from Ghana," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 603-625, October.
    28. Lois Peters & Mark Rice & Malavika Sundararajan, 2004. "The Role of Incubators in the Entrepreneurial Process," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 83-91, January.
    29. David B. Audretsch, 1995. "Innovation and Industry Evolution," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011468, April.
    30. Sandy Yu, 2020. "How Do Accelerators Impact the Performance of High-Technology Ventures?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 530-552, February.
    31. Sohail, Kanza & Belitski, Maksim & Castro Christiansen, Liza, 2023. "Developing business incubation process frameworks: A systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    32. Susan E. Mayer, 2001. "How the Growth in Income Inequality Increased Economic Segregation," Working Papers 0117, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    33. Pia Arenius & Dirk Clercq, 2005. "A Network-based Approach on Opportunity Recognition," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 249-265, February.
    34. Sander Wennekers & André Stel & Roy Thurik & Paul Reynolds, 2008. "Nascent entrepreneurship and the level of economic development," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 325-325, March.
    35. Cassar, Gavin, 2014. "Industry and startup experience on entrepreneur forecast performance in new firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 137-151.
    36. Meindert Flikkema & Ard-Pieter De Man & Carolina Castaldi, 2014. "Are Trademark Counts a Valid Indicator of Innovation? Results of an In-Depth Study of New Benelux Trademarks Filed by SMEs," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 310-331, May.
    37. Wang, Zhaoxing & He, Qile & Xia, Senmao & Sarpong, David & Xiong, Ailun & Maas, Gideon, 2020. "Capacities of business incubator and regional innovation performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    38. G. Page West & Terry W. Noel, 2009. "The Impact of Knowledge Resources on New Venture Performance," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 1-22, January.
    39. Susan Cohen, 2013. "What Do Accelerators Do? Insights from Incubators and Angels," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 8(3-4), pages 19-25, December.
    40. Pierre Azoulay & Waverly Ding & Toby Stuart, 2009. "The Impact Of Academic Patenting On The Rate, Quality And Direction Of (Public) Research Output," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 637-676, December.
    41. Johanna Mair & Ignasi Marti & Marc Ventresca, 2012. "Building Inclusive Markets in Rural Bangladesh : How Intermediaries Work Institutional Voids," Post-Print hal-02312706, HAL.
    42. Elizabeth Lyons & Laurina Zhang, 2018. "Who does (not) benefit from entrepreneurship programs?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 85-112, January.
    43. Danny Miller, 2003. "An asymmetry‐based view of advantage: towards an attainable sustainability," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 961-976, October.
    44. Thomä, Jörg & Bizer, Kilian, 2013. "To protect or not to protect? Modes of appropriability in the small enterprise sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 35-49.
    45. Mas-Verdú, Francisco & Ribeiro-Soriano, Domingo & Roig-Tierno, Norat, 2015. "Firm survival: The role of incubators and business characteristics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 793-796.
    46. Amara, Nabil & Landry, Réjean & Traoré, Namatié, 2008. "Managing the protection of innovations in knowledge-intensive business services," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1530-1547, October.
    47. Michael Schwartz, 2009. "Beyond incubation: an analysis of firm survival and exit dynamics in the post-graduation period," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 403-421, August.
    48. Davidsson, Per & Honig, Benson, 2003. "The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 301-331, May.
    49. Colombo, Massimo G. & Delmastro, Marco & Grilli, Luca, 2004. "Entrepreneurs' human capital and the start-up size of new technology-based firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1183-1211, November.
    50. Shaker A. Zahra & Igor Filatotchev, 2004. "Governance of the Entrepreneurial Threshold Firm: A Knowledge‐based Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 885-897, July.
    51. Diane M. Sullivan & Matthew R. Marvel, 2011. "Knowledge Acquisition, Network Reliance, and Early‐Stage Technology Venture Outcomes," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 1169-1193, September.
    52. Zheng, Yanfeng & Liu, Jing & George, Gerard, 2010. "The dynamic impact of innovative capability and inter-firm network on firm valuation: A longitudinal study of biotechnology start-ups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 593-609, November.
    53. Deniz Ucbasaran & Andy Lockett & Mike Wright & Paul Westhead, 2003. "Entrepreneurial Founder Teams: Factors Associated with Member Entry and Exit," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(2), pages 107-128, March.
    54. Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: Reply," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1514-1514, December.
    55. G. Tyge Payne, 2006. "Examining Configurations and Firm Performance in a Suboptimal Equifinality Context," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(6), pages 756-770, December.
    56. Toft-Kehler, Rasmus & Wennberg, Karl & Kim, Phillip H., 2014. "Practice makes perfect: Entrepreneurial-experience curves and venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 453-470.
    57. Haeussler, Carolin & Harhoff, Dietmar & Mueller, Elisabeth, 2014. "How patenting informs VC investors – The case of biotechnology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1286-1298.
    58. Christopher I. Rider & Giacomo Negro, 2015. "Organizational Failure and Intraprofessional Status Loss," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 633-649, June.
    59. Geraldine A. Wu, 2012. "The Effect of Going Public on Innovative Productivity and Exploratory Search," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 928-950, August.
    60. Thai, Mai Thi Thanh & Turkina, Ekaterina, 2014. "Macro-level determinants of formal entrepreneurship versus informal entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 490-510.
    61. Ana Venâncio & João Jorge, 2022. "The role of accelerator programmes on the capital structure of start-ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1143-1167, October.
    62. Brian J. Bergman & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2022. "Helping Entrepreneurs Help Themselves: A Review and Relational Research Agenda on Entrepreneurial Support Organizations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 688-728, May.
    63. Rui Baptista & Murat Karaöz & Joana Mendonça, 2014. "The impact of human capital on the early success of necessity versus opportunity-based entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 831-847, April.
    64. Patricia McDougall & Richard B. Robinson, 1990. "New venture strategies: An empirical identification of eight ‘archetypes’ of competitive strategies for entry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(6), pages 447-467, October.
    65. Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1504-1511, December.
    66. Geertjan De Vries & Enrico Pennings & Joern H. Block & Christian Fisch, 2017. "Trademark or patent? The effects of market concentration, customer type and venture capital financing on start-ups’ initial IP applications," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 325-345, May.
    67. Benjamin L. Hallen & Susan L. Cohen & Christopher B. Bingham, 2020. "Do Accelerators Work? If So, How?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 378-414, March.
    68. Jintong Tang & Patrick J. Murphy, 2012. "Prior Knowledge and New Product and Service Introductions by Entrepreneurial Firms: The Mediating Role of Technological Innovation," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 41-62, January.
    69. Nile W. Hatch & Jeffrey H. Dyer, 2004. "Human capital and learning as a source of sustainable competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(12), pages 1155-1178, December.
    70. Colin Wren, 2002. "Evaluating the effect of soft business support upon small firm performance," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 54(2), pages 334-365, April.
    71. Emil Lucian Crișan & Irina Iulia Salanță & Ioana Natalia Beleiu & Ovidiu Niculae Bordean & Raluca Bunduchi, 2021. "A systematic literature review on accelerators," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 62-89, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Avnimelech, Gil & Rechter, Eyal, 2023. "How and why accelerators enhance female entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    2. Brian J. Bergman & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2022. "Helping Entrepreneurs Help Themselves: A Review and Relational Research Agenda on Entrepreneurial Support Organizations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 688-728, May.
    3. Valentina A. Assenova, 2020. "Early-Stage Venture Incubation and Mentoring Promote Learning, Scaling, and Profitability Among Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 1560-1578, November.
    4. Masatoshi Kato, 2017. "Founders’ human capital and external knowledge sourcing: An absorptive capacity perspective for innovative start-ups," Discussion Paper Series 162, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised Jun 2017.
    5. Klyver, Kim & Steffens, Paul & Lomberg, Carina, 2020. "Having your cake and eating it too? A two-stage model of the impact of employment and parallel job search on hybrid nascent entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).
    6. Nuscheler, Daniela & Engelen, Andreas & Zahra, Shaker A., 2019. "The role of top management teams in transforming technology-based new ventures' product introductions into growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 122-140.
    7. Clayton, Paige, 2024. "Mentored without incubation: Start-up survival, funding, and the role of entrepreneurial support organization services," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    8. Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Nandakumar, M.K. & Pereira, Vijay & Temouri, Yama, 2021. "Knowledge capital in social and commercial entrepreneurship: Investigating the role of informal institutions," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    9. Ganotakis, Panagiotis & D'Angelo, Alfredo & Konara, Palitha, 2021. "From latent to emergent entrepreneurship: The role of human capital in entrepreneurial founding teams and the effect of external knowledge spillovers for technology adoption," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    10. Manhart, Niklas, 2022. "The Mission Comes First: Exploring the Mechanisms of Organizational Sponsorship for the Acceleration of Social Start-Ups," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 7(2), pages 289-337.
    11. Joern H. Block & Christian O. Fisch & Mirjam van Praag, 2017. "The Schumpeterian entrepreneur: a review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behaviour and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 61-95, January.
    12. Nicola Del Sarto & Alberto Di Minin & Giulio Ferrigno & Andrea Piccaluga, 2021. "Born global and well educated: start-up survival through fuzzy set analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1405-1423, April.
    13. Vera Rocha & Luca Grilli, 2024. "Early-stage start-up hiring: the interplay between start-ups’ initial resources and innovation orientation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1641-1668, April.
    14. Marvel, Matthew R. & Wolfe, Marcus T. & Kuratko, Donald F., 2020. "Escaping the knowledge corridor: How founder human capital and founder coachability impacts product innovation in new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    15. Pramendra Singh Tank, 2023. "Unlocking the Power of Accelerators: The Crucial Role of Institutions in Boosting New Venture Performance," IIMA Working Papers WP 2023-04-04, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    16. Merguei, Nitzan, 2022. "Venturing out: Designing effective pre-acceleration programs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    17. Eriko Naiki & Yuta Ogane, 2022. "Human capital effects on fundraising for necessity- and opportunity-based entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 721-741, August.
    18. Paige Clayton, 2024. "Different outcomes for different founders? Local organizational sponsorship and entrepreneurial finance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 23-62, January.
    19. Dirk Dohse & Sascha Walter, 2012. "Knowledge context and entrepreneurial intentions among students," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 877-895, November.
    20. Gonzalez-Uribe, Juanita & Hmaddi, Ouafaa, 2022. "The multi-dimensional impacts of business accelerators: what does the research tell us?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115461, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accelerator; Innovation; New Ventures; Human Capital; Industry Experience; Entrepreneurial Experience;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:62:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11187-023-00778-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.