Performance of Incubator Centres in Kenya: The Pivotal Role of Entrepreneurial Management

Globally, countries are strategically positioning themselves for market leadership due to dynamic business environment. Entrepreneurial spirit is seen as the strategy that will deliver this agenda. This spirit, is believed to be behind the innovative business that revolutionizes the business world. In a dynamic and complex environment, the success of any business is pegged on the entrepreneurial operations of a firm. Entrepreneurial-oriented firms have been proven to be ahead of competition because they are always introduced new products and services and in turn improve their financial results. Scholars believe that learning and development can occur amongst people who actively engage in a common enterprise. This makes learning empowering and productive and thus sustains entrepreneurial orientation. This in turn produces communities of entrepreneurial practice. The role of the entrepreneurial manager is to nurture communities of growth-oriented firms where entrepreneurial learning takes place. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between entrepreneurial management and performance of incubator centres in Kenya. The study used a correlation design because it focused on a causal-effect relationship. The study population was 41 incubator managers in Kenya. After missing data analysis two respondents were expunged leaving 39 respondents. Secondary data was obtained from published sources such as company reports, manuals and research done by other scholars. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the measurement model and test the hypothesized relationship in this study. Simple linear regression model was used to measure the strength of the relationship between entrepreneurial management and performance incubator centre in Kenya. The joint effect model results indicated that entrepreneurial management had a significant relationship with performance of incubator centre.