Business incubators are some of the most frequently used instruments to foster entrepreneurship. However, studies investigating the influence of incubation programs on supported new ventures have yielded mixed and contradictory findings. Little is known about how different types of incubators affect supported ventures’ performance dimensions such as innovation, survival, growth, profits, and employment. In this meta-analysis, we synthesize 182 individual effect sizes capturing the development of 55,219 firms being supported by incubators. We uncover how participation affects various performance dimensions to different degrees and highlight novel salient contextual considerations of participation in incubators-new firm performance relationship. Our results contribute to the entrepreneurship theory research and add valuable insights for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other practitioners.
