Towards a Unified Virtual Business Incubator Model: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Virtual business incubators have been highlighted for their positive impacts in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in several business areas, contributing to sustainable economic growth and social development. However, despite their crucial roles, previous literature emphasizes that research concerning their business models has been largely ignored, and several important issues are still unaddressed. This article aims to contribute to filling this gap and advancing this field by providing the first bibliometric and systematic literature review, as far as the authors know, concerning virtual business incubator models. The main results reveal the following: that academic production is relatively new, fragmented, and develops under a diversity of research paths; the analyzed models (n = 12) have only some dimensions in common and are proposed based on three different perspectives (business organization and management, information and communication systems, and user experience); there is not a virtual business incubator model more suitable to support digital businesses or startups creation. Based on the results, it is argued that there is a need to further develop a model towards a unified virtual business incubator by actively involving different stakeholders during its design. This research can help managers, academics, and other professionals interested in running virtual business incubator programs.

Business incubators and their impact on startup success: A review in the USA

“…These initiatives aim to create a supportive ecosystem where startups can thrive, contributing to job creation and economic growth (Hendrikse, et. al., 2020, Shames & Scherr, 2020, Vaz, et. al., 2022.…”

Typology of Business Incubators in Spain according to the Stages of Startups Incubation

“…Business incubators provide entrepreneurs with information, advice, management guidance, accommodation spaces; whether shared (pre-incubator or coworking) or individual (office), training programs, networking, events and connection activities, networks of mentors and other resources, and have become an important element of the business ecosystem, contributing greatly to the value generation [15,16].…”

“…In Spain, business incubators offer business advice and subsequently monitor the venture for several years. Furthermore, since COVID 19, virtual incubators have proliferated, which support the entrepreneur without providing a physical space to carry out their activity [24,25].…”

“…Consequently, incubators constitute key elements in incubators and are fundamental for business development [45,46], sustainable development [47], and territorial cohesion [48][49][50][51]. Likewise, it is complex to quantify the success of business incubators, because there are different metrics, indicators and approaches, such as: business innovation [52], efficiency [53], performance [54], the entrepreneur's perspective [55], among others.…”

EXPLORANDO O DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH EM PROJETOS DE PD&I PARA ÁREA DE DEFESA

“…A Design Science Research (DSR) é uma abordagem que pode ser utilizada para o desenvolvimento de produtos inovadores, gerando conhecimento aplicável para a solução de problemas em áreas e classes específicas, desenvolvendo artefatos úteis para a ação nas organizações (LACERDA et al, 2003), possuindo uma estrutura escalável, iterativa e validada por inúmeros projetos de inovação (BANDIOLI et al, 2023;COSTELLO e DONNELLAN, 2016;KAMMERLOHR et al, 2022;MOON e NGAI, 2010;NGAI et al, 2009;VAZ et al, 2023).…”