1. The Creation of Social Capital Across Different Types of Business Incubators
Arthur Barbut
Athabasca University
Faculty of Business

2. Introduction
In 1980 there were only 12 business incubators in North America and now the number is over 7,000 world wide (Al-Mubaraki & Busler, 2012).
Social capital plays a prominent role in economic and business literature, but to date limited research has focused on social capital within a business incubation environment.
My research investigates three business incubator models (non-profit economic development incubators, for profit collaborative incubators and academic incubators) and how they create social capital for the start-ups residing within them.

3. Purpose
According to Hacket and Dilts (2004), if incubator-incubation research is to advance in a theoretically meaningful matter it must go beyond simply looking at critical success factors and investigate factors that look at “how”, “why”, and “in what context”.
The purpose of this research is to further our understanding of business incubation, in particular how social capital is created within the business incubator ecosystem and across different types of business incubator models.

4. Statement of the Problem
To date, much of the research focusing on business incubators has taken a descriptive approach concentrating mainly on the documentation of tangible services provided and we do not have a complete picture of how business incubators support the process of nurturing and accelerating start-ups (Bøllingtoft & Ulhøi, 2005).

5. Research Question
How is social capital created across different types of business incubators?

6. Importance of the Study
Gedajlovic et al. (2013, p. 456), suggest that social capital is “uniquely situated to address the integrative theoretical needs of entrepreneurship scholars because it helps explain processes and outcomes of social interactions at multiple levels of analysis and across a diverse set of situations and contexts”.
This will be one of the first studies in Canada to examine business incubators through the lens of social capital and will have key implications for both academics and practitioners.

7. Business Incubation and the Role of Business Incubators
The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubation as:
“A business support process that accelerates the successful development of start-up and fledgling companies by providing entrepreneurs with an array of targeted resources and services (NBIA, 2012a).”
The overall aim of BIs [business incubators] is to leverage entrepreneurial talent. This means that the driver of new business ventures is neither the availability of funds nor the rate of technological advance but entrepreneurial agency. Business incubators seek to maximize the potential of entrepreneurial agency by providing entrepreneurial actors with services and support that complement their existing talents and resources, which in turn is meant to enable them to expand their potential (Bøllingtoft & Ulhøi, 2005, p. 269).

8. Different Types of Business Incubators

9. Measuring Success of Business Incubators
Tangible Factors
Business Incubator Occupancy
Client Revenues
Jobs Created
Client Graduation Rates
Intangible Factors
Knowledge Sharing
Social Inputs
Psychological Support
Network of Peers

10. Social Capital
Social capital can be described as an asset embedded in the relationships of networks, communities, individuals and societies (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998; Burt 1997; Walker, Kogut, and Shan 1997) and is based on the premise that a network provides value to its members by allowing them access to information and resources embedded within the network (Bourdieu, 1985; Seibert, Kraimer, & Liden, 2001).
For my research I will using Nahapiet and Goshal’s (1998) framework of social capital, where social capital is broken into three dimensions: structural capital, relational capital, and cognitive capital.

11. Methodology Multiple Case Study Approach
A multiple case study design will allow me to analyze business incubators within and across settings (Baxter and Jack, 2008), providing insight into the similarities as well as the differences between how different types of business incubators create social capital for their clients.

12. Data Collection & Analysis
Quantitative
Data captured through survey
Analysis will be completed using Principal Component Analysis
Qualitative
Data captured through semi-structured interviews
Interviews recorded and transcribed
Analysis will be done using Mc Cracken’s (1998) five step analytic process

13. Next Steps
Pilot study with the TechTown Detroit and the Downtown Windsor Business Accelerator – in progress
Roll out full study – September to December 2016
Complete Final Dissertation Draft – May to July, 2017
Defend Dissertation – Summer/Fall, 2017

14. References
Bourdieu, P. (1985). "The Forms of Capital," in Handbook of Theory and Research for Sociology of Education. Ed. J. G. Richardson. New York: Greenwood,
Bøllingtoft, A., & Ulhøi, J. P. (2005). The networked business incubator—leveraging entrepreneurial agency? Journal of Business Venturing, 20 (2),
Gedajlovic, E., Honig, B., Moore, C.B., Payne, G.T., & Wright, M. (2013). Social capital and entrepreneurship: A schema and research agenda. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(3),
Hackett, S. M., & Dilts, D. M. (2004). A systematic review of business incubation research. Journal of Technology Transfer, 29 (1), 55–82.

15. References Cont’d
Mian, S. A. (1991). An assessment of university-sponsored business incubators in supporting the development of new technology-based firms. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Phan, P. H., Siegel, D. S., & Wright, M. (2005). Science parks and incubators: observations, synthesis and future research. Journal of Business Venturing, 20 (2),
Scott E. Seibert, Maria L. Kraimer and Robert C. Liden. The Academy of Management Journal Vol. 44, No. 2,
McCracken, G. (1998). The long interview. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publication.