To deepen theory on the interplay between entrepreneurship and context, recent scholarship calls for more understanding on how entrepreneurs and stakeholders collectively do “contexts.” In this study, the authors examine how a dynamic and flexible incubation context is constructed by joint efforts between entrepreneurs and incubator management. Findings from a 4-month ethnography point to four practices—onboarding, gathering, lunching, and feedbacking—through which entrepreneurs and incubator management maintain a productive balance between agency and structure on a daily basis. These findings have several theoretical implications for theory on incubation processes and the entrepreneurship-context nexus.
Incubation research overlooks the artful social practices required to sustain a fruitful incubation context. To maintain a balance between entrepreneurial autonomy and guided entrepreneurship programs, entrepreneurs and incubator management mutually engage in four practices: onboarding, gathering, lunching, and feedbacking. Onboarding fosters a shared understanding of norms, values, and practicalities of participation. Gathering facilitates collective decision-making. Lunching maintains a desirable level of trust. Feedbacking enables the co-creation of ideas and maintains reciprocity. Our findings deepen theory on the interplay between entrepreneurship and context and contribute to research and practice on incubation processes.