Institutional Readiness for Sustainable Start-up Incubation: Evidence from a Public Technical Training Institute in The Gambia

Abstract

This study examines the determinants of institutional readiness for sustainable start-up incubation within a public technical training institute in The Gambia. While existing literature has largely focused on incubation outcomes, limited attention has been given to the internal institutional capacities that enable effective and sustainable incubation systems, particularly in developing economies. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV), this study conceptualizes institutional readiness as a multidimensional construct and investigates how different domains of institutional support influence corresponding adequacy outcomes.
The study employs a quantitative cross-sectional design using primary data collected from 117 staff members of a public technical training institution. A series of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models are estimated to examine the relationship between institutional support dimensions capital, resources, technical machinery, infrastructure, facilities and utilities, services, and space/land and institutional adequacy across corresponding domains.
The findings provide strong empirical support for the proposed hypotheses, indicating that institutional support significantly enhances readiness for sustainable incubation across all domains. However, the results reveal important variations in the strength of these relationships. Space and land support and service support emerge as the most influential determinants, highlighting the critical role of physical infrastructure and service delivery systems in incubation effectiveness. In contrast, capital support, although significant, exhibits relatively weaker explanatory power, suggesting that financial resources alone are insufficient to ensure institutional readiness.
The study contributes to the literature by introducing an institutional readiness perspective to business incubation and provides new empirical evidence from a low-income African context. The findings offer important policy implications for strengthening incubation systems within technical training institutions and promoting sustainable entrepreneurship development.