How do social incubators deal with its stakeholders’ expectations?
Evidence from Morocco and Tunisia.

Purpose: Following the recent studies on entrepreneurship support programs, this research explores how social incubators manage and balance the expectations of its stakeholders, particularly incubates and fund providers, and the effect on the management of the social incubation programs as well as the incubated social startups.

Design/methodology/approach: the study follows a qualitative approach through a multiple case studies design. Based on an in-depth analysis of primary and secondary qualitative data on 4 Tunisian and Moroccan social incubators, the authors examined how social incubators deal with stakeholder expectations, how do these demands & expectations influence the social incubation program and, are there any differences between social incubators and other incubators in terms of dealing with stakeholders.

Findings: Inspired by the stakeholder model of a company proposed by Donaldson & Preston (1995), the authors created a map showing the relationships and influences of the social incubator with its stakeholders within the ecosystem. This research recapitulates the main pressures, expectations and demands of fund providers (foundations, international cooperation agencies etc.) and social incubators. It also shows that incubates (social startups) are still important stakeholders for the social incubator and, explains the demands and expectations of its founders. Through this research, we analyzed how these interactions, between the social incubators, social startups, and fund providers, may force changes in the incubation programs and the team management. Furthermore, the study emphasized how the management of those expectations and demands may also affect the incubated startups. Furthermore, we highlighted demands, pressures, and expectations of the incubator itself with its main stakeholders such as the fund providers and the social incubators.

Contributions: The paper demonstrated how the social incubator deal/manage its main stakeholders’ expectations and demands, which is reflected in the social incubation practice. Furthermore, the paper has examined social incubators in two north African countries and demonstrated that expectations and demands of the stakeholders are similar within each of the countries. The research has also a practical implication for fund providers and incubator managers.