This study focuses on corporate accelerators, one of the latest organizational forms used open innovation, to help large firms to engage with the start-up scene. Despite corporate accelerators’ increased prevalence, our knowledge of their organizational practices, and their dynamics is limited. A process approach is needed to increase our understanding of accelerators and how this organizational form has been translated to the corporate context. This research takes a qualitative approach, and it is grounded on data from six case studies, including 52 interviews and archival materials. Adopting an institutional lens, an empirically-grounded conceptual model is proposed to build theory on how a new organizational form, such as an accelerator, embedded in a corporate context accelerator, uses different strategies over time to accommodate conflicting demands from its multiple audiences. This paper contributes to the nascent literature on accelerators, taking a process perspective that is currently missing in existing research of these entrepreneurial support organizations. Second, it contributes to open innovation literature on structures and strategies for large firms to engage with young ventures. Third, this article contributes to neo-institutional theory by providing a conceptual model on how organizations address institutional complexity with different strategies over time
