Entrepreneurial Orientation of Technology-Based SMEs in Malaysia

Abstract

Many researches all over the world have been studying entrepreneurial orientation in the past. Despite the vast amount of studies conducted, many of these studies adopt Covin and Slevin (1991) dimensions and focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this study is to identify the critical dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and determine the level of entrepreneurial orientation in technology-based SMEs in Malaysia. This study uses survey questionnaire on 150 respondents who are the owners or top managers of technology-based SMEs. Factor, reliability, descriptive, and inferential analyses were subsequently conducted. The factor analysis confirmed five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, i.e., innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy, which are consistent with earlier studies. The descriptive and inferential analyses indicate that all the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation are apparent within technology-based SMEs, and the levels are generally high. Interestingly, innovativeness is the most prevalent among other dimensions for technology-based SMEs. The originality of this paper lies on being among the first few to examine the entrepreneurial orientation using Lumpkin and Dess (1996) dimensions within the context of technology-based SMEs in Malaysia.