Performance management challenges at Chinese business incubators: A systematic literature review

Abstract

The number and types of incubators have increased considerably worldwide, especially in China. A large proportion of such facilities are set up via public sector funding, resulting in heightened public scrutiny on their mandate as ‘start-up engines’. There is an expectation within the Chinese national context that researchers investigate ‘how best to evaluate the performance of different types of Chinese incubator archetypes’. This systematic literature review (SLR) and the accompanying bibliometric analysis encompasses 38 publications, including 24 pieces of indigenous Mandarin literature. We aim to advance knowledge of incubator performance management (PM) and its link to incubator financial sustainability. Our aim is to explain the root causes of incubator PM ‘problems’, extract the extant performance problems evidenced within the Chinese incubator-incubation ecosystem, and assess the viability of dominant theoretical frameworks for the design of PM systems. We contend that incubator PM is multifaceted, owing to the hybrid nature of the incubator's organisational form. There is a need for further research to define incubator PM outcomes and unpack how PM metrics are linked or derived from specific incubator archetypes and modes of governance.