The Role of Business Incubators in the Economic Development and Creativity in Jordanian Universities: Evidence from Mutah University

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the role of business incubators in economic development and creativity in Jordanian universities. The study population included Mutah University students who were enrolled in the entrepreneurship program during the academic year 2019-2020. A random sample of 208 male and female students voluntarily participated in the study. A questionnaire that examined four dimensions was used to collect data. These dimensions included: the training and consulting dimension, the technical support and performance evaluation dimension, the administrative and office services dimension, and the financial support dimension. The validity and reliability of these dimensions were also confirmed. The results revealed the important role of business incubators in economic development and creativity in Jordanian universities. They also showed that the training and consulting dimension ranked higher than the other dimensions. The following dimension was the administrative and office services. The technical support and performance evaluation dimension came in third place whereas the financial support dimension came in last. The results also demonstrated that there was no statistically significant difference at the level of (??0.05) in students' perceptions of the role of business incubators in economic development and creativity in Jordanian universities in terms of gender. In contrast, there was a statistically significant difference according to the faculty variable in favor of scientific faculties.

Received: 7 September 2020 / Accepted: 10 November 2020 / Published: 17 January 2021