From Accelerator Programs to Business Model Innovation in Startups: The Roles of Program Quality, Knowledge Spillovers and Founder Absorptive Capacity

Abstract

Business model innovation (BMI) is an important mechanism through which startups refine their value proposition, adapt to market needs and strengthen their growth potential. Although accelerator programs are widely used to support early-stage ventures, the knowledge-based mechanisms through which they are associated with BMI remain insufficiently understood. This study examines how accelerator program quality is associated with business model innovation in accelerated startups, focusing on the mediating roles of knowledge spillover exposure and founders’ absorptive capacity. Drawing on knowledge spillover theory and the absorptive capacity perspective, we conceptualise accelerator programs as structured knowledge environments where startups access external knowledge through mentoring, training, peer interaction, expert feedback, market validation, investor exposure and ecosystem connections. We argue that perceived program quality is associated with BMI because higher-quality accelerator experiences provide founders with more relevant opportunities to access, interpret and apply external knowledge. However, this process also depends on founders’ absorptive capacity, understood as their ability to recognize, assimilate, transform and exploit such knowledge. Using cross-sectional survey data from 226 founders of startups that participated in accelerator programs in Spain, the study tests a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) model linking perceived program quality, knowledge spillover exposure, founders’ absorptive capacity and BMI. The findings indicate that perceived accelerator program quality is positively associated with knowledge spillover exposure, founders’ absorptive capacity and business model innovation. Knowledge spillover exposure partially mediates the relationship between program quality and BMI. Although founders’ absorptive capacity does not show a significant direct effect on BMI, its total effect becomes significant when the indirect path through knowledge spillover exposure is considered. The study contributes to accelerator research by shifting attention from accelerator participation to perceived program quality and by explaining BMI as a knowledge-driven outcome of acceleration. It also contributes to knowledge spillover and absorptive capacity perspectives by showing how accelerated startups transform external knowledge exposure into business model reconfiguration.