Entrepreneurial mentoring, financial support and incubator patent licensing: evidence from Chinese incubators
European Journal of Innovation Management
ISSN: 1460-1060
Article publication date: 15 July 2022
Issue publication date: 2 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Based on Chinese incubators as the research sample, this paper aims to examine whether and how incubators' entrepreneurial mentoring and financial support affect incubator patent licensing. Entrepreneurial mentoring functions through the buffering mechanism and financial support functions through the bridging and curating mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
A negative binomial model is used to empirically explain the relation between entrepreneurial mentoring or financial support and incubator patent licensing. In addition, a cross-sectional test is performed to explore whether province-level incubator support policies strengthen the effect of entrepreneurial mentoring and financial support on incubator patent licensing.
Findings
The results reveal that incubators' entrepreneurial mentoring positively affects patent licensing. In contrast, incubators' financial support has an inverted U-shaped relationship with patent licensing. In addition, the two relations are stronger when an incubator locates in a province with more incubator support policies.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the literature on incubator performance by identifying an important but less discussed factor: entrepreneurial mentoring. Through the connection with mentors, tenants efficiently commercialize the value of their patents, facilitate patent licensing and expand the product market. Furthermore, the inverted U-shaped association between financial support and patent licensing shows that incubation support does not always have a linear effect on incubator patent licensing. Overall, this study provides evidence on the effect of incubator support on incubator patent licensing.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding: The study is funded by the State Scholarship Fund by China Scholarship Council (202006980003), Humanities special “outstanding talents” project of Southwest Petroleum University (2019RW018) and the research programs of soft science of Chengdu (2021-RK00-00150-ZF).
Citation
Chang, Y. and Cheng, Q. (2024), "Entrepreneurial mentoring, financial support and incubator patent licensing: evidence from Chinese incubators", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 290-309. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-03-2022-0140
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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