Creating as an entrepreneurial competence, innovation and performance of value-system actors in Kenya's leather industry

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to explore creating as a behavioural attribute of entrepreneurship and its relationship with innovation and performance outcomes from an industry ecosystem perspective. A mixed design approach was adopted which involved exploration of the creating, innovation and performance constructs as adapted from previous studies, and a diagnosis of their hypothesized relationship. Quantitative data was collected in a mixed sampling of fifty-eight Nairobi-based Leather Articles Entrepreneurs Association (LAEA) members and ten industry support organizations. A seventy-six percent response rate was achieved from leaders as key informants of a representative sample of the leather value-system actors in Kenya. Instrument reliability was established using the Delphi Technique and a pilot study (Cronbach's Alpha 0.717 – 0.761). Principal Component Analysis was used to explore the constructs before inferential analysis.The study showed creating, innovation and performance as valid constructs. Creating and innovation had a significant and positive causal relationship with performance of value-system actors in Kenya's leather industry (R2=0.135 p<0.05). Further, innovation fully mediated the creating-performance link. Therefore, creating, innovation and performance can be studied as valid entrepreneurial attributes of value-system actors in an industry ecosystem. Creating can be understood as an entrepreneurial competence construct comprising six behavioural indicators. This paper recommends the development of creating as a competence for value-system actors in an industry through training and policies for improved competitiveness. In addition, the validity variables studied as entrepreneurial attributes, their relationships and the methodology applied here should be tested further in diverse industries.