Legitimacy judgements in business incubators: a perception model of screening entrepreneurial ventures in Chinese business incubator resource decisions

Based on the importance of resources to entrepreneurial ventures and the predominant role of legitimacy theory in explaining resource supports, this dissertation research explores the mechanism of resource decisions with a perceptual model of legitimacy judgment process. The model was then applied to business incubators, where the screening of new ventures plays a critical role under high uncertainties and in need of better theorization. In study 1, a qualitative analysis with archival information and interviews revealed that opportunity characteristics and entrepreneur characteristics are the two major components of new venture legitimacy in incubator contexts. Study 2 with 170 incubator managers tested the legitimacy judgment model with a vignette study for their effectiveness in explaining judgments formation and resource decisions in business incubators. Results of the vignette study supported the positive effects of both project novelty and team credibility on incubator managers’ legitimacy judgments, and the positive relationships between legitimacy judgments and managers’ resource decisions. The study also confirmed that both CLJ and ELJ’s mediate the effects of venture characteristics on incubator resource decisions. Study 2 did not support the moderation role of team credibility for the mediated relationships between project novelty and resource decisions. However, the between-group comparison analysis suggested that the composition of venture qualities is one critical factor for new venture legitimacy. This research addressed the complexity of social dynamics in business incubators and directed further attention to specific contextual factors and individual-level processes (Bergek & Norrman, 2008; Phan et al., 2005). Business incubation context also supplied a ground for examining different objectives and outcomes of legitimation and revealing the interactive dynamics of legitimacy judgment process.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Xiangyi Kon