Communication and Entrepreneurship: Influence Tactics in Business Support Situations

Securing and improving the start-up process requires matching communicational strategies with business support objectives and situations. Over a period of five years, we did field research in a business incubator in the Paris area to identify the communicational strategies that business support professionals use in order to influence nascent entrepreneurs' attitudes and behaviors. We categorized these strategies as persuasion, engagement, criticism, and provocation. We assessed their impact in terms of commitment, compliance, and resistance.