Multi-level entrepreneurial ecosystem framework: founder, incubator, and country characteristics for start-up performance

Sohail, K., Belitski, M. and Christiansen, L. C. (2025) Multi-level entrepreneurial ecosystem framework: founder, incubator, and country characteristics for start-up performance. Journal of Small Business Management. ISSN 0047-2778 doi: 10.1080/00472778.2025.2581669

Abstract/Summary

The entrepreneurial ecosystem literature assumes the multi-faceted and multi-level nature of the ecosystem interactions and includes macro-, meso-, and micro-level characteristics. The joint multi-level analysis of start-up founders’ team characteristics, type of entrepreneurship ecosystem support, and its effect on start-up performance is limited. Our article bridges this gap and contributes to the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature by examining a multi-level model of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including the role of the founder’s team, business incubation process characteristics, and macroeconomic characteristics where a start-up is located, in predicting start-up growth and fundraising success. Using a global data set of start-ups from 408 incubation programs across 178 countries and employing multi-level random intercept modeling, the analysis revealed that start-up performance relies on a specific combination of founders’ team and incubator-type characteristics.