A study on the effects of business incubators on entrepreneurs under the light of positive psychology

Business incubators support the development of start-up companies by offering a protective environment and various support services. Since the appearance of incubators, academic studies focused mostly on hard issues like their contribution to the financial success of start-up companies. Nevertheless, when it comes to soft issues, more needs to be studied, The purpose of this research is to help close some of the gaps in the literature by focusing on the contribution of business incubators to the well-being of entrepreneurs. For that purpose, the effects of incubator services on the psychological capital (PsyCap) and life satisfaction of entrepreneurs were focused on. In line with the research aim 126 interviews were made with entrepreneurs using business incubator services via an online survey. As a result, positive and significant relationships were observed between using business incubator services, PsyCap, and the life satisfaction of entrepreneurs. In addition, it was found that the positive impact of incubator services on entrepreneurs’ PsyCap was created mostly through networking and business support services rather than physical services. Also, PsyCap was observed to assume a partially mediating role in the relationship between the utilization of incubator services and the life satisfaction of entrepreneurs. Finally, it was observed that the link between PsyCap and life satisfaction was mostly via the hope dimension of PsyCap. With its interdisciplinary focus and significant findings, the research is expected to be considered one of the pioneering studies in its unique area of interest.