Effective Knowledge Governance at Technology Business Incubators: A Process View

Business incubators have been adopted as a driver of “startups” growth. As a platform to learn from diverse stakeholders, the effectiveness of business incubators critically depends upon their ability to enable knowledge creation and transfer. However, little is known about the governance of knowledge processes that lead to effective knowledge transfer from experts and practitioners to startups. This paper investigates micro-level processes of knowledge governance at a decade-old technology business incubator (TBI) in India. Adopting the nested case-analysis approach, this paper applies process tracing using in-depth interviews of key stakeholders. Building on transaction cost, social exchange and knowledge transfer theory, a framework of effective knowledge governance is proposed. This paper argues that an effective alignment between the nature of knowledge transactions, governance needs and governance mechanisms is crucial. This alignment process continues dynamically. Non-alignment leads to knowledge hazards and, consequently, results in poor performance of startups.