Abstract
The aim of this article is to verify what the relations are between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge utilization in the internationalization of Polish firms. The article distinguishes four types of knowledge: market knowledge, network knowledge, sociocultural knowledge, and entrepreneurial knowledge. The research uses quantitative design and is based on a survey conducted in 2015 on a sample of 355 businesses from Poland (the response rate was 10.7%), following which statistical techniques (t-tests and regression analyses) were applied to verify the hypotheses. An overview of prior studies enabled us to identify the research gap in the literature regarding the combination of three elements that link to form one picture of reality, namely, (i) entrepreneurial orientation and (ii) knowledge utilization in (iii) the internationalization process of firms. The case of Polish firms confirms that entrepreneurial orientation is substantial in the use of knowledge in the internationalization process. Firms characterized by higher entrepreneurial orientation use particular types of knowledge much more intensely at various stages of the internationalization process. Entrepreneurial orientation, and especially risk-taking, has significant positive effects on the scope of internationalization. Greater entrepreneurial orientation increases the number of foreign markets in which a given firm operates. Not only market knowledge in the traditional approach, but especially network and entrepreneurial knowledge have significant positive effects on the intensification of the internationalization scale.
Highlights
The importance of entrepreneurship for economic development in emerging economies was observed in various empirical studies (e.g., [1,2,3,4])
Based on a sample of 220 banks in Malaysia, Hanif, Malik, and Hamid [35] proved that knowledge acquisition, sharing, and utilization have a positive effect on firm performance; innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking have a positive effect on firm performance in the banking sector. They investigated these variables separately; in contrast, we would like to make a step forward and put these variables together by investigating the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on the knowledge management process. We address this knowledge gap by asking the following research questions: RQ1—What are the relations between entrepreneurial orientation and the internationalization of firms? RQ2—What are the relations between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge utilization in the internationalization of firms? RQ3—What are the relations between knowledge and the entrepreneurial internationalization of firms? RQ4—How does entrepreneurial orientation utilize different types of knowledge in the internationalization of firms?
Entrepreneurial orientation is one of the more important issues discussed within research on internationalization
Summary
The importance of entrepreneurship for economic development in emerging economies was observed in various empirical studies (e.g., [1,2,3,4]). An example of such an economy is Poland, where entrepreneurship and self-employment have always been practiced. The removal of the legal barriers that had hindered the development of private initiatives in a state-controlled economy enabled people to open their own businesses [7]. Numerous studies by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [10] have found that starting and managing new businesses is more popular in Poland on the average than in other country in the European Union (EU). Almost a quarter of Poles are thinking of starting a new business within the period of the forthcoming 3 years [9]
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