Three levels of culture and firms’ entrepreneurial orientation: A research agenda

Numerous studies examining the linkage between corporate entrepreneurship and performance resort to the entrepreneurial orientation construct to assess a firm's degree of entrepreneurship. Little conceptual and empirical research has been devoted to understanding the factors and conditions that produce Entrepreneurial Orientation. Generic explanatory variables such as environment, organization, strategy and culture have been mentioned in past research, but though a number of hypotheses have been proposed, few have been thoroughly developed and tested. In this article, we focus on one explanatory variable – culture – that we develop along multiple axes. We propose a conceptual framework that aims to provide a better understanding of how three interdependent levels of culture – national, industry and corporate – influence Entrepreneurial Orientation.     

Entrepreneurial migrants from/in emerging economies: breaking taboos and stereotypes

Entrepreneurial migration from/in emerging economies, as grand societal and humanitarian challenges that we currently face, underscores the need for scholarly research. In our role as social science researchers, this special issue aimed to stimulate scholars from different social science fields to rethink more broadly about the opportunities for making an impact with our research focus on entrepreneurial migration from/in emerging economies. This article provides an overview of the theoretical, empirical, managerial, and policy implications of entrepreneurial migrants from/in emerging economies research. It puts forward key concepts and measures, explores the relations within the current broader literature on migration and entrepreneurship, and identifies several gaps that represent future research questions. We also introduce eight papers in a special section of this issue, which offer answers to critical gaps and questioning some taboos/stereotypes related entrepreneurial migrants. We conclude by outlining an agenda for engaging the academic community to extend research on entrepreneurial migrants from/in emerging economies. It is the perfect time to “make a difference” through our research, teaching, and interaction with multiple socioeconomic agents to constitute impacts that “endorse a real transformation” for supporting the migrants’ community.

     

坚持就是胜利吗?创业坚持的研究述评与展望

创业坚持是创业过程中的重要内容。尽管近几年国内学者对创业坚持的关注度逐渐升温,但仍处于起步阶段。本文在回顾国内外文献的基础上,首先,从逆境与挫折、外部机会视角阐明了创业坚持的内涵,并辨析了其与毅力、创业韧性的区别;其次,从创业者、企业和外部环境三个层面梳理了创业坚持的影响因素和影响过程;最后,从理性与非理性视角出发,指出创业坚持是一把双刃剑,在提高创业者的工作满意度和财富收入,以及促进企业创建、成长和企业绩效的同时,也可能引发遗憾和工作-家庭冲突。在此基础上,针对当前研究存在的不足与缺陷,提出未来研究应该从创业坚持的测量、影响因素、结果变量、边界条件、跨文化研究等方向做进一步探索。     

Evaluating the impact of prior experience in entrepreneurial intention

Although entrepreneurial behavior is proposed as part of the solution to fragile labor markets, in particular in periods of economic and social change, policy makers are struggling to find the right levers to promote it. Despite the extant prior research on entrepreneurial behavior, little is known on the entrepreneurial behavior drivers for the individuals of working age with experience. Prior research explores the influence of entrepreneurial knowledge to study the drivers of experienced individuals evaluating whether or not to engage in an entrepreneurial behavior. This research introduces entrepreneurial knowledge to study the impact of prior experience on entrepreneurial intention. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research work analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial intention, and the mediating effects of the TPB perceptual variables: personal attitude (PA), social norm (SN), and perceived behavioral-control (PBC). A structural equation model (SEM) has been used to analyze the responses of a sample of 431 experienced individuals of working-age that completed a questionnaire based on Liñan & Chen’s, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 593–618, (2009) Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ). The results showed that entrepreneurial knowledge positively influences entrepreneurial intention and that this influence is mediated by the perceptual variables of the TPB model (PA, SN, PBC). These findings contribute to the understanding of the entrepreneurial intention for experienced individuals and consolidate the use of the TPB model to study individual entrepreneurial intention. The findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to individual entrepreneurial knowledge, and strengthen the attractiveness of an entrepreneurial career, if they are interested in fostering entrepreneurial behavior among individuals of working age with experience.     

Entrepreneurs’ achieved success: developing a multi-faceted measure

Firm performance is typically measured via objective financial indicators. However, researchers increasingly acknowledge that entrepreneurs do not measure their success solely in financial terms but that a range of often subjective indicators matter to them. This article contributes to the debate on entrepreneurial performance by studying how entrepreneurs assess their achieved success. ‘Entrepreneurs’ achieved success’ was conceptualized as a multi-faceted construct that includes entrepreneurs’ self-reported achievement of firm performance, workplace relationships, personal fulfilment, community impact, and personal financial rewards. It was measured via the Subjective Entrepreneurial Success–Achievement Scale (SES-AS). Over the course of three studies (N?=?390) the factorial structure of ‘entrepreneurs’ achieved success’ was established and largely replicated in two cultures. Based on a nomological network, we documented relationships among ‘entrepreneurs’ achieved success’, quasi-objective indicators of firm performance, and entrepreneurs’ financial satisfaction, creativity, and health. Based on our research, we propose a new conceptual framework to study performance in the context of entrepreneurship. This framework acknowledges both the success criteria that entrepreneurs wish to achieve and those that they actually achieve, and extends our understanding of firm performance.

     

Explorers of the twenty-first century? A systematic literature review of the scholarship on international entrepreneurs from developed economies

Throughout history, expeditionists and explorers have discovered foreign countries and new worlds, markedly influencing the lives of succeeding generations. However, as multinational enterprises have come to drive globalisation, the existence of entrepreneurial individuals without the resources of large corporations is a relatively recent phenomenon. Although research on migrant entrepreneurs demonstrates the positive impact that foreign entrepreneurial activity can have on job creation and innovation, a clear perspective on entrepreneurs from developed economies venturing abroad is lacking. The study aggregates evidence from 33 articles to establish a unifying framework that describes the foreign entrepreneurial process originating in developed economies. The framework proposes categorising foreign entrepreneurial activity according to social and economic dimensions and introduces four archetypes of foreign entrepreneurs, helping us understand the dynamics of the institutional context and the motivations for venturing into foreign environments. Finally, the study discusses the implications for foreign entrepreneurs and considers future research avenues.

     

Linking entrepreneurial and market orientation to the SME’s performance growth: the moderating role of entrepreneurial experience and networks

Entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation (EO and MO, respectively) have received extensive research attention in the past several decades. Although scholars widely agree that both MO and EO are critical to firms’ performances, a better understanding is still needed about how market and entrepreneurial orientation develop over time as well as their relative impact on the growth of the SME’s performance. This study does not consider MO and EO as generic resources that always positively influence firms’ performances; instead, it tries to explore contingent elements, such as social and business networks and accumulated entrepreneurial experience. The hypotheses were tested on 191 small and medium-sized electronic firms located in an Italian geographical cluster during two periods: 2005 and 2016. This study suggests that SMEs, which develop social networks, may enjoy considerable advantages from entrepreneurial and market orientation, improving their performance benefits. Moreover, our results show that previous entrepreneurial experience, when specific, can reinforce the impact of entrepreneurial and market orientation on firms’ performance growth. This analysis makes several important contributions to the management literature on the strategic orientation of firms, the entrepreneurial experience and network development.

     

Reconceptualizing entrepreneurial framework conditions

This report is an empirical examination of entrepreneurial framework conditions—the environmental conditions that encourage and support entrepreneurial activity at the national level. In particular, it attempts to validate the framework conditions employed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), a multi-year, multinational study of entrepreneurial activity widely used in entrepreneurship research. The validity of the GEM entrepreneurial framework conditions is examined using empirical analysis of data drawn from Global Competitiveness Report measures for 53 countries over 4 years. The data suggest an alternative conceptualization of entrepreneurial framework conditions: commercial munificence, technology openness, regulatory openness, and technology influx. These findings have implications for theorists and policy makers interested in antecedents to entrepreneurially based economic growth.     

当前国内外创业机会研究述评

创业机会逐渐发展成为创业研究的前提和核心。国内外学者围绕创业机会形成的研究焦点是创业机会的来源、识别、评价和利用。在新的时代背景下,创业机会具体来源途径、组织背景下的创业机会识别、量化的评价模式、组织员工对创业机会的利用将是下一步创业机会研究的中心。     

创业团队领导研究

近年来关于创业团队的研究成为一个热门的研究领域,而关于创业团队领导方面的研究较少。从创业团队的角度去研究领导理论,或者说关注创业团队领导,是近几年出现的有关创业团队研究的新方向,也是管理理论、领导理论新的热点问题。     

创业团队研究动态探讨

创业团队日益普遍的出现和存在,其创业绩效要好于个体创业的创业绩效,创业团队的组成是以情感的纽带为基础、为起始,以专长的互补为辅、为继。创业团队是有领导的。     

Developing an entrepreneurial typology: the roles of entrepreneurial alertness and attributional style

This study develops an entrepreneurial typology employing two dimensions, high versus low entrepreneurial alertness and internal versus external attributional styles that helps illustrate why entrepreneurs start new businesses. The resulting 2 × 2 typology of entrepreneurs identifies four entrepreneur types based on these two dimensions: the true believer, clueless, practical, and reluctant. Using a representative sample of 315 nascent entrepreneurs from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, we found that some types differed across three key entrepreneurial characteristics, need for achievement, risk-taking propensity, and commitment, thereby providing some preliminary empirical support for the typology’s validity. We conclude by discussing future research avenues.     

Does direct experience matter? Examining the consequences of current entrepreneurial behavior on entrepreneurial intention

Entrepreneurial behavior research has used intention models to explain how an individual’s beliefs shape the attitudes and motivations that influence entrepreneurial intention. Nevertheless, as entrepreneurship promotion initiatives become global, it becomes relevant to explore the consequences of being engaged in entrepreneurial behavior on entrepreneurial intention. We aim to shed light on whether the direct experience reinforces an individual’s entrepreneurial intention or reduces it. Building on an extended version of the planned behavior theory, we use the behavioral reasoning theory to propose a research design to study the influence of being currently engaged in entrepreneurial behavior on entrepreneurial intention. We introduce individual’s age as an additional moderator of the effects of directly experiencing entrepreneurial behavior. We use PLS-MGA to complete a multi-group SEM analysis for different groups of individuals (from a sample of 430), comparing groups based on their entrepreneurial activity and age group. Results of this research work evidence that current engagement in entrepreneurship activities produces significant differences in the intention to start a new venture between older and younger participants. The results suggest that engagement in entrepreneurial activity modifies entrepreneurial intention and that these effects are contingent to the individual’s age. This research work contributes to the extant call to explore reverse causality between actual behavior and an individual’s intention by introducing behavioral reasoning theory. These results provide support to initiatives to adapt entrepreneurship promotion efforts to the specific characteristics of the participants.     

The behavioural gap between entrepreneurial SME’s and high growth: evidence from Canada

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) describes a firm’s attitude towards entrepreneurial activity; however, it does not measure the specific behaviors likely to contribute to high growth. This research applies the resource-based and dynamic capabilities views to propose a mediation model between EO and high growth. The theoretical framework is drawn from the strategic management and entrepreneurship literature. Competing models are tested against a sample of Canadian SMEs to validate the proposed explanation for the presence of high-growth firms among the population. The study finds that the relationship between EO and high growth is perfectly mediated by innovation performance, a behavioral measure of innovation. This research contributes to firm growth theory while providing further insight into the drivers of high growth useful to policy makers endeavoring to stimulate, and overcome barriers to, entrepreneurship and innovation. Determining the factors associated with firm growth can have implications for management as well as policy. If a firm’s goal is to grow it must be able to focus its limited resources using a strategy appropriate for growth.

     

Identifying the factors determining the entrepreneurial ecosystem of internet cultural industries in emerging economies

The integration of the Internet and the real economy has propelled the formation of a new economy. Internet cultural industries—defined as a collection of industries that engage in creative cultural content, production, circulation, and services based on Internet technology and core digitization—are a critical part of this new economy. This study argues that the development of Internet cultural industries has created a new entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is a dynamic and open ecosystem impacted by numerous factors. Using a structural equation model (SEM) method, we empirically examine the factors impacting the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Internet cultural industries. We find that both external ecosystem factors, including politics, the economy, sociocultural activities, and technological environments, and internal ecosystem factors, including netizens, governments, enterprises, and media and industry associations, are verified to significantly affect the entrepreneurial ecosystem performance of Internet culture industries. Most interestingly, we find that the political environment is the most crucial factor impacting the entrepreneurial ecosystem performance of Internet cultural industries. Thus, Internet cultural industries should prioritize the improvement of good government governance. Overall, our study deepens the research on the Internet entrepreneurial ecosystem by identifying its internal and external determining factors in the context of emerging economies.

     

Social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs and new venture performance: the moderating effects of entrepreneurial alertness and gender discrimination

The social networks of entrepreneurs are an important factor affecting new venture performance. Based on the survey data of 316 new ventures in China, this paper explores the relationship between the social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs and new venture performance, and examines the moderating effects of entrepreneurial alertness and gender discrimination on this relationship. Our findings reveal that: (a) the social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs have a positive effect on new venture performance; (b) the entrepreneurial alertness of female tech-entrepreneurs has a positive effect on new venture performance; and (c) gender discrimination against women has a negative effect on new venture performance. Moreover, we found that gender discrimination negatively moderates the relationship between the social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs and new venture performance. We also found that entrepreneurial alertness positively moderates the relationship between the social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs and new venture performance. Our findings provide theoretical and practical implications for female technical individuals in the entrepreneurial practice, and shed light on the study of entrepreneurship theory in other emerging economies.     

Entrepreneurial Orientation’s effect on marketing strategies and success: implications for US firms entering Cuba

Entering a newly liberalized market is a great challenge for companies as the environment is new and untested. On one side, to have success in these markets, firms must have a plan of action before resources are committed. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is associated with the successful exploration of resources and the creation of new niches as the Resource Theory supports. On another side, a natural bond between EO and marketing is found in the Value Creation Theory. So, to maximize firm success in newly liberalized markets (such as Cuba), firms must be able to objectively gauge their own entrepreneurial orientation adopting a marketing approach. Within this framework, the present paper will attempt to effectively measure the entrepreneurial orientation of US firms that have an interest in entering the Cuban market. A final sample of 81 US firms was obtained. The sample was then split into two groups (high and low entrepreneurial orientation) and compared regarding their marketing strategies (H1) and their levels of success (H2). Our results confirmed both hypotheses.     

创业机会的创新性、员工心理授权与企业绩效的实证研究

创业活动源于创业者对创业机会的识别,而创业机会的创新性强弱则介于模仿性机会和创新性机会之间,过往研究认为创业机会的创新性与企业绩效正相关。但心理授权理论认为员工对工作认知的不同将影响到其行为,故需考虑员工心理授权的调节作用,毕竟对创新机会的开发利用需要员工共同努力。研究发现,创业机会的创新性确实对企业绩效有显著的正向影响;而且心理授权的4个维度因子,即员工对自身能力的认知、影响力的认知、工作意义的认知以及工作自主性的认知均对企业绩效具有显著的正向影响,说明提升员工的心理授权感受将有助于提升绩效。还发现,员工对自身能力的认知、工作意义的认知以及工作自主性的认知均显著正向调节了创业机会创新性与企业绩效的关系,只有员工对自身影响力的认知的调节作用不显著。研究结论有助于从外部客观创业机会和内部员工心理授权感知两个过程看待企业绩效的提升,全面理解企业绩效的发生机制。     

The influence of perceptions on potential entrepreneurs

Much research has tried to explain why some people, but not others, choose to become entrepreneurs. The cognitive approach provides a useful insight to explore the entrepreneur-related phenomena through perceptions and intentions. Cross-national studies of this kind are rare, since large international surveys are needed. In this sense, the GEM-project questionnaire includes some questions about entrepreneurial perceptions of the adult population. Thus, the main objective of this paper is building a theoretical framework of entrepreneurial perceptions and testing their influence on entrepreneurial intentions with GEM data. This may allow overcoming some of the weaknesses of previous studies in entrepreneurial intentions. Three kinds of perceptions are identified: individual perceptions, perceptions about entrepreneurial opportunities, and socio-cultural perceptions. Their effect on intentions is tested along with some control variables. Results confirm that these perceptions are relevant variables in explaining the entrepreneurial intention of individuals across nations. At the same time, results from this paper would contribute to the opening up of a new line of analysis using GEM-project data: the conception stage of the new venture process; that is, the study of potential entrepreneurs.     

Enhancing individual entrepreneurial orientation measurement using a metacognitive decision making-based framework

Entrepreneurship, and individuals’ predisposition toward entrepreneurial activities in particular, i.e. Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation (IEO), has been gaining increasing relevance in academia and management practice alike. Understanding IEO is a critical element not only for its promotion, but for better and more informed managerial and investor decision making as well. As such, this study proposes a new framework for understanding and measuring IEO based on the integrated use of cognitive mapping and the interactive multiple criteria decision making (TODIM) method. We present the steps for building such a framework, as well as a practical application of these steps. The results are promising: the methodology applied allowed a large number of determinants of IEO and their relationships to be mapped; and, subsequently, ranked and weighted for the creation of an IEO measurement tool. The implications of the resulting framework for theory and practice, its limitations and possibilities for further research are also discussed.