Exploring Entrepreneurial Decision-making in Early-stage Start-ups within University Business Incubators

Abstract

University Business Incubators (UBIs) play an increasingly prominent role in supporting early-stage ventures, yet the dynamics of entrepreneurial decision-making within these spaces remain underexplored.  This article explores the entrepreneurial decision-making process among early-stage start-ups within University Business Incubators (UBIs).  A qualitative study was carried out with the use of archived meeting records between early-stage entrepreneurs and business mentors within a UBI based in Scotland. The analysis consisted of 55 meeting records, spanning a period of six months, from 23 start-ups.  Our analysis reveals that entrepreneurs use UBIs for different purposes; ranging from accessing resources and mentorship to outsourcing critical tasks such as grant writing. We also identify a typology of entrepreneurs: those with high self-awareness who proactively develop their ideas, and those who rely heavily on mentors to act due to limited clarity or confidence.  Most importantly, our findings illustrate how entrepreneurial decision-making is developed within UBIs amongst early-stage start-ups via a set of entrepreneurial decision-making stages: i). configuration, ii). set-up, iii). scaling, iv). configuration and set-up, v). configuration, set-up, and scaling.  All these culminate in a framework that conceptualises and explains entrepreneurial decisions amongst early-stage start-ups.  The paper contributes to the literature by offering a perspective of decision-making in UBIs and providing practical insights into how UBIs can align their resources with the varying readiness levels and plans of entrepreneurs.