Behaviours and entrepreneurial intention: Empirical findings about secondary students

This paper aims to identify some factors that may be explaining differences among secondary students in start-up intentions. For that, the study develops an entrepreneurial intention model sustained by the use of Azjen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TBP). Using a sample of students aged between 14 and 15 years old, a questionnaire based on the Li?án and Chen’s Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire was administrated. The purpose is to test a model of entrepreneurial intention using structural equations. The findings point that TPB is an appropriate tool to model the development of entrepreneurial intention through pedagogical processes and learning contexts. The education and training should centre itself much more in changing personal attitudes than in knowledge. Moreover, it is desirable that an entrepreneurship educational programme could contribute to the development of competences related to entrepreneurship, social and civic skills, and cultural awareness.     

Varieties of business history: Subject and methods for the twenty-first century

This paper deals with different approaches to business history. It argues that conflicting choices about methodology and subject can enrich a discipline, but that some of the current disputes among business historians produce unnecessary opportunity costs and block a more integrated understanding of how firms function in their larger social, political and economic contexts. The paper provides examples of how the separation in the field works against writing business history that is at once rigorous and appeals to broad audiences. It also suggests two approaches for bridging methodological differences. The first calls for reviving some basic historiographical notions. The second involves developing a closer relationship with business to gain more access to private, primary source materials. German experiences are drawn on to show how mutually beneficial academic–business cooperation can be.     

Migrant entrepreneurship in China: entrepreneurial transition and firm performance

Small Business Economics - China is experiencing rapid urbanization during which millions of migrants move from rural to urban areas. Recently, China initiated the national strategy of “mass...     

Entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty

Individuals living in poverty remain a critical issue. This special issue focuses on how entrepreneurship can help to solve such poverty. Rather than viewing those in poverty as a market for goods, the solution lies in understanding how to help those living in poverty create their own businesses. Ultimately, entrepreneurship among those in poverty will create a long lasting solution to their poverty. Herein, we initially examine the extant knowledge about entrepreneurship. We then examine where future research on this important topic should move. Finally, we introduce the five articles that make up this special issue. These five articles came from the initial 71 submissions and enhance our knowledge about entrepreneurship as a pathway to reducing poverty.     

Entrepreneurship through a qualitative lens: Insights on the construction and/or discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity

This article applies inductive analytic techniques to identify and elaborate on two recurring themes that underpin the core puzzle of entrepreneurship research — where entrepreneurial opportunities come from. The first theme is the unique role of imprinting, or the profound influence of social and historical context in constraining the perceptual apparatus of entrepreneurs and delimiting the range of opportunities for innovation available to them. Second, our analysis offers insight into the counterbalancing role of reflexivity, operating at both individual and collective levels of analysis, in generating the ability of entrepreneurs to overcome the constraints of imprinting. These insights are based on a thematic review of the nine studies that comprise this special issue on qualitative research. The nine studies, individually and each in their own way, offer key insights into how we might better understand the emergence of entrepreneurial opportunity.     

Entrepreneurship in India: the question of occupational transition

Occupational transition from salaried to self-employment status is important in developed economies, but is even more critical in emerging economies, as individuals?? occupational choices can drive economic development. Using data on 3,295 individuals from 23 administrative regions in India, we examine the effect of regional and geographic factors on actual and intended transition. We find that regional self-employment and unemployment rates are associated with a lower likelihood of past and future transitions, but that regional gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is only relevant for actual transitions. Further, urban/rural location moderates the effects of income ratios and regional GDP per capita. While we observe similarities between India and developed economies, there are intriguing differences, and new insights are identified.     

Japanese R&D management in the 1990s: An overture to the industrial revolution of the twenty-first century

In the past, the Japanese R&D effort has focused primarily on improving products. Today's Japanese industrial leaders believe that the twenty-first century will bring a new “industrial revolution” that will change the focus of R&D more toward creating new world-class products rather than merely improving old ones.     

Entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty in developed economies

While entrepreneurship in developing economies at the base of the pyramid is receiving growing attention, scholars have devoted less effort to exploring entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty in advanced economies. Yet, poverty rates have not meaningfully changed in most developed economies in 50 years, and the income gap between rich and poor continues to widen. In this article, we examine entrepreneurship as a source of empowerment for the economically disadvantaged. We explore the nature of poverty and its implications for various aspects of entrepreneurship, identify problematic aspects of the typical low-income startup, and present the SPODER conceptual framework for fostering entrepreneurial development among the poor: (S) supportive infrastructure, (P) preparation of the entrepreneur; (O) expanded opportunity horizons; (D) finding sources of differentiation; (E) a well-designed economic model; and (R) leveraging community resources. We conclude by drawing from the framework implications for those involved in breaking the cycle of poverty.     

A longitudinal analysis of the influence of career motivations on entrepreneurial intention and action

The impact of career motivations on entrepreneurial intention and action remains in need of being investigated conjointly. Using a large sample and follow‐up data collected five years later, we investigate their influence on the entrepreneurial involvement of young adults, from the expression of an intention to entrepreneurial action. We show that only the search for job security seems to have a persistent effect throughout the process. In addition, autonomy is associated with the formation of intention, while wanting to manage full processes is related to actual start‐up participation. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Political connections and entrepreneurial investment: Evidence from China's transition economy

Recent literature in entrepreneurship suggests that market and legal institutions matter for entrepreneurial investment. Yet, prior studies have focused on the role of formal institutions. Building on new institutional theory and political connections literature, this study aims to evaluate the role of political connections in entrepreneurial reinvestment in less developed and transition economies. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it aims to demonstrate systematically how political connections affect entrepreneurial reinvestment. Second, it applies this relationship to a subsample group, i.e., Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in order to empirically test whether political connections are more beneficial for large firms or SMEs. Third, it demonstrates that political connections substitute for, rather than complement, formal market and legal institutions. The empirical test uses a nationally representative sample of entrepreneurial firms from China's transition economy.     

Managing internationalization and innovation tradeoffs in entrepreneurial firms: Evidence from transition economies

For entrepreneurial firms (EFs), internationalization and innovation present two major avenues for growth. Prior research, based primarily on EFs from advanced economies, demonstrates mixed insights for the relationship between these strategies. A deeper understanding of the tradeoffs involved in the internationalization-innovation relationship may help better comprehend the issue. In this study, we draw on the organizational learning and capabilities-based literatures to examine the relationship in the context of EFs in transition economies (EFTEs). Our findings suggest that in EFTEs, internationalization is negatively associated with the likelihood of innovation. We also find that three knowledge-based capabilities of EFTEs (absorptive capacity, appropriation capability, and managerial capability) positively moderate the aforementioned negative relationship. We do not find any evidence of reverse causality (EFTE innovation impacting internationalization). Our research provides novel insights to the IE literature by shedding light on the internationalization–innovation tradeoffs that EFTEs experience.     

Entrepreneurial exit as a critical component of the entrepreneurial process: Theoretical development

By demonstrating the importance of entrepreneurial exit to the entrepreneur, the firm, the industry, and the economy I contend that our understanding of the entrepreneurial process is incomplete without the inclusion of entrepreneurial exit. I define entrepreneurial exit and demonstrate how this conceptualization provides concepts that are unique from those addressed by researchers in other domains; thus outlining a space for it within the literature. In each phase of the entrepreneurial process I explore the development of an exit strategy, reasons for exit and options for exit.     

Bribes as entrepreneurial actions: Why underdog entrepreneurs feel compelled to use them

Entrepreneurs often need external resources to found their new ventures. These can be obtained from many sources, but government sponsored programs are an important and often desirable one because they do not require repayment of the funds provided. Resources from such programs should, in principle, be equally available to all entrepreneurs, but in fact, some entrepreneurs—ones often described as underdogs – have restricted access to them. This disadvantage stems, in part, from personal factors they cannot readily change (e.g., gender, age, race, ethnicity, current occupation, family background, experience). The negative effects of being an underdog are especially harmful to entrepreneurs in the context of poor economic conditions, when competition for available resources is intense. In order to overcome such adversity, underdog entrepreneurs offer bribes to persons who control these resources. We hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between the perception by entrepreneurs that local economic conditions are poor and their use of bribes, and that this relationship would be stronger for “underdog” entrepreneurs than for other entrepreneurs. We also hypothesized that the use of bribes by entrepreneurs and their perception that these bribes will be effective would interact to influence entrepreneurs' decisions to close their new venture. Specifically, bribes would influence such decisions only when they were viewed as effective. Results offered support for these hypotheses, thus providing new insights into why underdog entrepreneurs use bribes to overcome the adversity they face.     

Organizations as biomes of entrepreneurial life: Towards a clarification of the corporate entrepreneurship process

In 1983, Robert A. Burgelman published an influential paper in the field of strategic entrepreneurship, holding that the autonomous entrepreneurial initiative of employees and top management's desire for it might be simultaneously present, simultaneously absent, or go in opposite directions, yielding paradoxical results. To the best of our knowledge, this proposition, that translates into four types of organizations with regards to the process of corporate entrepreneurship, has however never been empirically tested before. Our results partially confirm Burgelman's ideas, while uncovering an unexpected transitional organizational archetype. Borrowing from Biology we metaphorically identify these archetypes as biomes of entrepreneurial life. This study takes an important step towards understanding the corporate entrepreneurial process, contributing not only to scholarship in the domain, but also rendering our conclusions particularly relevant for practitioners. The uncovering of a transitional archetype also holds significant implications for the main entrepreneurship literature in what refers to startup teams.     

International Entrepreneurship as a Dynamic Adaptive System: Towards a Grounded Theory

This paper is based on a primary assumption: That the internationalizing smaller firms are different from large international firms, such as multinational enterprises (MNEs); and therefore, the process of internationalization and growth of smaller firms may not follow processes stipulated in the extant theories of MNEs and international business processes (IBPs). Even the primary orientations and theoretical constructs used in IBP and the theory of multinationals are different from those in entrepreneurship: While the former focuses on the institution of the “firm” the latter concentres on the “entrepreneur” as internationalizing entities. This paper will suggest a theoretical framework capable of integrating this prevailing fragmentation. The framework is based on the tenets of dynamic open complex adaptive system (DOCAS), comprising three layers, reflecting entrepreneurs (or entrepreneurial teams), firms and markets to reflect their own dynamics as well as the inter-relations and interactions of entities within and across layers within the framework. After a brief review of the basic characteristics of a simple DOCAS and the major attributes of entities populating each layer in the framework, the interdependencies and interactions within and across layers are highlighted. This framework presents a coherent and comprehensive structure capable of housing the next six papers contained in this issue. They are reviewed and highlighted from the perspective of the proposed framework. These papers support the proposed framework substantively. The proposed grounded framework appears to lay the foundation for the research and theory necessary for enhancing our understanding of IBP and internationalization in smaller firms. Conclusion and implications of the papers are presented at the end.     

Knowledge and entrepreneurial employees: a country-level analysis

According to the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers, which allow independent entrepreneurs to identify and exploit opportunities (Acs et al. in Small Bus Econ 32(1):15–30, 2009). The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship ignores entrepreneurial activities of employees within established organizations. This ignorance is largely empirical, because there has been no large-scale study on the prevalence and nature of entrepreneurial employee activities. This article presents the outcomes of the first large-scale international study of entrepreneurial employee activities. In multiple advanced capitalist economies, entrepreneurial employee activity is more prevalent than independent entrepreneurial activity. Innovation indicators are positively correlated with the prevalence of entrepreneurial employee activities, but are not or even negatively correlated with the prevalence of independent entrepreneurial activities.     

Modelling job stress as a mediating role in predicting turnover intention

Turnover intention has been an important issue for decades since management has long recognized that low turnover intention of employees is helpful for consequently obtaining high organizational performance and avoiding the potential costs related to recruiting and training new employees. For that reason, this study proposed a research model of turnover intention based on Hackman and Oldham's [(1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250–279.] job characteristics theory. The proposed research model is empirically tested using a survey of 255 employees from Taiwanese banks. Tests results of structural equation modelling provide evidence that role conflicts, role ambiguity, and role overload indeed have positive impacts on job stress. Employees with higher levels of job stress are more likely to think about leaving, while those perceiving more fairness of rewards are less likely. Implications for managerial administration and future research are discussed.     

Entrepreneurship in the EU: To Wish and not to be

The entrepreneurial capacity in an economy is a key determinant of economic growth and productivity improvements. This paper uses survey data from the 15 EU Member States and the US to investigate two aspects of entrepreneurial capacity: latent and actual entrepreneurship. Latent entrepreneurship is measured by the probability of a declared preference for self-employment over employment. Other than demographic variables such as gender, age and education level, the set of explanatory variables used includes country specific effects, the perception by respondents of administrative complexities and of availability of financial support and a rough measure of risk tolerance. The most striking result is the lack of explanatory power of the perception of lack of available financial support in the latent entrepreneurship equation.