Key performance indicators for sustainable business incubation: identification and prioritization

• Applies Delphi and DEMATEL to rigorously derive key BI sustainability indicators. • Establishes primacy of economic and social dimensions; environmental is peripheral. • Designates social indicators such as networks, innovation, and technology transfer. • Affirms societal impact as prevailing over financial metrics in public BI contexts. The sustainable development of business incubators (BIs) is contingent upon the rigorous and continual assessment of multidimensional sustainability metrics spanning economic, social, and environmental domains. This research undertakes a novel systematic identification and prioritization of sustainability performance indicators pertinent to BIs in the context of developing country, Thailand, integrating a Delphi panel comprising ten business incubation experts and deploying the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology to elucidate the causal linkages and relative salience among these indicators. Empirical findings indicate that solely economic (16 indicators) and social (4 indicators) dimensions are regarded as pivotal within the prevailing this developing country, whereas environmental considerations remain peripheral. The adapted DEMATEL analysis reveals nuanced interrelationships, with the most significant performance indicators emanating from the social domain namely, the expansion of business networks for incubated entrepreneurs, the enhancement of local products via innovation or research, and the facilitation of technology transfer to the community. Conversely, career advancement for incubation staff, incubator revenue independent of government funding, and the emergence of new local businesses, all within the economic dimension, are deemed least critical. The evidence underscores a pronounced orientation of public BIs towards achieving social benefit rather than financial profitability. This contextualized inquiry signals the imperative for sensitivity to local conditions and institutional missions in indicator deployment. To further fortify the generalizability and depth of insight, subsequent research should encompass a broader typological and economic spectrum of incubators.