Exploring factors hampering the performance of business incubators in South Africa: – a public, private, and university business incubator cross-case analysis

ABSTRACT The performance of business incubators (BIs) in South Africa (SA) is perceived to be under par. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore factors hampering the performance of public, private, and university BIs in SA. A resource-based view was assumed under a phenomenological approach that incorporated a cross-case analysis design. Qualitative data were collected by conducting 16 semi-structured interviews with purposively selected stakeholders. BIs’ sustainability emerged as the primary overarching theme of the findings. A lack of financial resources was identified as the biggest hampering factor. This resulted in structural decoupling – a phenomenon whereby the major activity of the BI tends to be disconnected from its organizational control structures and from its intended mandate yet trying to maintain its identity. The findings have important implications for considerations by the key stakeholders in trying to encourage business incubators as a small business development mechanisms.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Small Enterprise Research

• Publication date

  2025-06-21

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/13215906.2025.2519142
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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