Ideology, Incompetence and Reflexivity in a University Incubator

Entrepreneurship is surrounded by ideology, but how is this ideology transmitted within the context of university incubators? Prior research suggests both a model of direct and unreflexive ideological transmission and one emphasizing reflexivity and reinterpretation. Based primarily on 25 interviews with student entrepreneurs and employees in DreamLab, a student incubator in a Scandinavian university, we find that unreflexive transmission dominates student entrepreneurs’ initial experiences with the incubator, as employees promote the incubator and entrepreneurial ideology to students. Student entrepreneurs entering the incubator do not question the ideology, but often use it to promote the incubator to other students. However, three distinct types of “incompetence experience” can prompt students to reflect on both the incubator and the entrepreneurial ideology. Following an incompetence experience, student entrepreneurs distance themselves from the incubator and engage either in ideology problematization or in ideology affirmation. These findings extend current conceptions of how entrepreneurial ideology diffuses within higher education and raise questions about the role of incubators within universities and the entrepreneurial process.