

This research deals both with practitioners' view of entrepreneurship and with scientific literature, intertwining both with the purpose of providing valuable information for incubators and accelerators. These results are relevant for incubators and accelerators, which now gain a better, more complete understanding of success factors of their incubatees. The results show that cognitive traits, as defined in the TPB, act as the “last mile” in the entrepreneurial decision process, while demographic and human capital factors appear to antecede them. The authors rely on a sample of 141 technological new ventures being incubated in Madrid, Spain, which is analyzed with the multilayer perceptron technique. The present study focuses on the latter, looking into how demographic characteristics, possession of human capital and cognitive traits interrelate. From a practitioner stand-point, the GEM posits that these factors can be classified as contextual, social and individual factors.

In this research the authors analyze the factors that catalyze the founding of new technology-based firms. This research aims at the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) framework – How can cognitive traits for entrepreneurship be used by incubators and accelerators? We provide indications of the presence and importance of entrepreneurial role models, the function of these role models, the similarity between the entrepreneur and the role model, and the strength of their relationship. Our study is based on the outcomes of a questionnaire completed by a representative sample of 292 entrepreneurs in three major Dutch cities – entrepreneurs who have recently started up a business in the retail, hotel and restaurant sectors, business services and other services. Our explorative empirical study is a first step towards filling this gap. Knowledge of the presence of entrepreneurial role models, their specific functions and characteristics is therefore limited. However, empirical research aimed at establishing the importance of role models for (nascent) entrepreneurs is scarce. Various conceptual studies have proposed links between role models and entrepreneurial intentions. In the media role models are increasingly being acknowledged as an influential factor in explaining the reasons for the choice of occupation and career.
