Recently, increasing attention has been paid to entrepreneurial ecosystems and the process of their formation and function. Researchers have noted the important role that intermediary organizations such as incubators play in connecting various actors within ecosystems. Yet our understanding of this role is limited to a few empirical insights. Using resource dependence and embeddedness as theoretical lenses, the present research examines the role of incubators in entrepreneurial ecosystem formation and function, and analyzes how intermediation activities shape collaboration patterns embedded within entrepreneurial ecosystems. Our findings are based on an empirical investigation of two entrepreneurial ecosystems, one in Kenya and one in Uganda. Our analysis of 38 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurial actors in these ecosystems reveals the underlying structural, operational, and relational conditions that influence the actors’ interaction with each other. We propose three collaboration patterns that emerge among actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems under these conditions: one-sided dependency-based, joint dependency-based, and mutual dependency-based collaborations. We discuss these patterns in detail and identify the circumstances in which each is most likely to occur. This empirical setting clearly shows that beyond their primary roles of providing space, network, and advice to entrepreneurs, intermediary organizations in entrepreneurial ecosystems play a significant role in orchestrating collaborations. Finally, we reflect on the limitations of this study and offer implications for future research.

最近，创业生态系统及其形成和功能的过程越来越受到关注。研究人员已经注意到孵化器等中介组织在连接生态系统内的各个参与者方面发挥的重要作用。然而，我们对这一角色的理解仅限于一些经验见解。本研究以资源依赖和嵌入性为理论视角，考察孵化器在创业生态系统形成和功能中的作用，并分析中介活动如何塑造嵌入在创业生态系统中的协作模式。我们的发现基于对两个创业生态系统的实证调查，一个在肯尼亚，一个在乌干达。我们对这些生态系统中企业家参与者的 38 次半结构化访谈的分析揭示了影响参与者相互互动的潜在结构、运营和关系条件。我们提出了在这些条件下创业生态系统中的参与者之间出现的三种协作模式：片面依赖型，关节依赖性为基础的，并相互基于依赖性的合作。我们详细讨论了这些模式，并确定了每种模式最有可能发生的情况。这一实证设置清楚地表明，除了为企业家提供空间、网络和建议的主要作用外，创业生态系统中的中介组织在协调合作方面也发挥着重要作用。最后，我们反思了本研究的局限性，并为未来的研究提供了启示。