Empowering for effectuation: examining organisational preparedness for corporate entrepreneurship as antecedent of psychological empowerment and entrepreneurial behaviour

Abstract

Entrepreneurship literature acknowledges the applicability of effectuation and causation as entrepreneurial approaches to illuminate how corporate entrepreneurs develop ideas. However, it still lacks empirical evidence on how organisational factors, such as the organisational preparedness for corporate entrepreneurship (OPCE), influence the choice of entrepreneurial approaches. Within this respect, psychological empowerment of individuals to solve tasks has been a major aspect of scientific discourse, as especially innovative and proactive behaviours are generally known to be impacted by the focal actors' motivations. Hence, this study investigates how organisational factors affect psychological empowerment as motivational precondition that determines the application of entrepreneurial approaches. Based on data of 522 experimental observations, component-based structural equation modelling was applied to examine the aforementioned research questions. The findings of this study reveal that providing work discretion, top management support, time and rewards empowers employees, which subsequently enhances effectual and decreases causational approaches.