Matching for impact: a dyadic process model of mentor–venture alignment in entrepreneurial support organizations

Business incubators and accelerators (BIAs) play a central role in regional entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing mentoring to support new venture development, yet mentoring outcomes vary considerably. While prior research documents mentoring benefits, limited attention has been paid to how mentors and ventures are matched or how these processes shape outcomes. This study conceptualizes mentor–venture matching as a dyadic, co-constructed process and examines how alignment between mentors and ventures shapes the formation and evolution mentoring relationships and their outcomes. Drawing on a multi-stage qualitative research design involving interviews with program managers, twenty mentors, and twenty-one new ventures across twelve Belgian BIAs, as well as follow-up interviews with ventures, the study identifies distinct yet complementary selection criteria on both sides of the dyad. Mentors evaluate ventures based on experiential alignment, deep-level personal characteristics, and venture-specific attributes, whereas ventures assess mentors based on expertise, interpersonal qualities, and value alignment. The findings show that alignment across these dimensions is associated with different mentoring outcomes, ranging from short-term problem solving to access to networks, investment opportunities, and long-term professional collaborations. This study develops a process model explaining how early-stage matching conditions shape the depth, durability, and strategic value of mentoring relationships over time. By linking matching processes to differentiated outcomes, the study advances a dyadic perspective on entrepreneurial mentoring and contributes to research on entrepreneurial ecosystems by demonstrating how BIAs act as intermediaries shaping how mentoring relationships influence access to resources within entrepreneurial ecosystems.