Proactiveness,legitimation via ISO certification and the growth of SMEs in China |
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Authors: | Yunzhou Du Bing Ren Zhongwei Chen Yuli Zhang |
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Institution: | 1.School of Business,Nankai University,Tianjin,China;2.School of Management,Anhui University of Finance & Economics,Bengbu,China |
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Abstract: | According to the literature on entrepreneurial orientation (EO), proactive firms are more likely to achieve first-mover advantage
and higher performance. The neoinstitutionalism, however, suggests that enterprises with more legitimacy will acquire more
growth opportunities. Usually, the first mover might face more legitimacy obstacles. To date, there has been little research
on how proactive firms cope with legitimacy constraints and achieve firm growth. Integrating the legitimacy perspective and
the EO literature, this research examines the roles of ISO certification as a strategy for seeking legitimacy of small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies, and the relationship between proactiveness and firm performance. In
particular, it hypothesizes that ISO certification has a mediating effect on the relationship between proactiveness and firm
growth. We test the hypothesis using a sample of 632 firms collected from a nationwide survey on SMEs conducted by the Chinese
SME Association. The results reveal that ISO certification partially mediates the relationship between proactiveness and firm
growth, suggesting that proactive firms tend to use legitimation via ISO certification to enhance firm growth. Our paper contributes
to the literature by shedding light on the important relationship between seeking legitimacy, entrepreneurial orientation
and firm growth in SMEs in an emerging economy. |
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