Entrepreneurial orientation and SME performance across societal cultures: An international study

Abstract

The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is universally applicable, and many empirical studies report a positive relationship between EO and performance in different national contexts. Empirical research, however, scarcely addresses which country-level contingencies affect the EO–performance link. Building on two second-order factors of societal culture—performance-based culture (PBC) and socially supportive culture (SSC)—the present study proposes and tests such a contingency framework. Using a data set of 1248 SMEs from seven national contexts, multilevel analyses show that PBC positively moderates the relationship between EO and performance, whereas SSC has no moderation effect.