The impacts of online transition due to COVID-19 on the startup accelerator experience of the participants
Le, Trang (2021)
Lataukset:
Le, Trang
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021060814915
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021060814915
Tiivistelmä
The outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted the operations of events and businesses. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, not much research has been done on how the sudden online transition forced by COVID-19 has affected the businesses and organisations that had their events held physically up until the pandemic. Therefore, this research aimed to explore the startup accelerator experiences that have been influenced by the online transition and prospect how to improve these experiences to bring the most value to its participants in the online environment.
Qualitative methods were employed to gain in-depth knowledge of the research topic for they offer an explorative approach and emphasises the understanding from subjective insider viewpoints. Since this research aimed to discover new solutions and practice for accelerator organisers, the qualitative approach is relevant to the research questions and objectives. Two online synchronous semi-structured interviews with the participants from Startup Journey 2020 were conducted to gain knowledge from the insider view. Additionally, the author’s involvement in the planning and execution of the program has considerably attributed to the generation of recommendations for the program.
The study showed that all experiences within Startup Journey 2020 were affected by the online transitions, particularly by the changes in the interaction, the engagement, and the support networks that the online format caused. Thus, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of an online accelerator suggests the organisations consider carefully executing an ideal accelerator that matched the participants’ needs.
Qualitative methods were employed to gain in-depth knowledge of the research topic for they offer an explorative approach and emphasises the understanding from subjective insider viewpoints. Since this research aimed to discover new solutions and practice for accelerator organisers, the qualitative approach is relevant to the research questions and objectives. Two online synchronous semi-structured interviews with the participants from Startup Journey 2020 were conducted to gain knowledge from the insider view. Additionally, the author’s involvement in the planning and execution of the program has considerably attributed to the generation of recommendations for the program.
The study showed that all experiences within Startup Journey 2020 were affected by the online transitions, particularly by the changes in the interaction, the engagement, and the support networks that the online format caused. Thus, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of an online accelerator suggests the organisations consider carefully executing an ideal accelerator that matched the participants’ needs.