Re-examining Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Multilevel Manifestation

Abstract

Over the past four decades, two conceptualizations of the entrepreneurial orientations (EO) construct have been advanced - trait-based, and behavior-based. Scholars in each camp have developed independent scales to measure EO and have established complementary links between the EO construct, its antecedents, and organizational performance. This has resulted in varied and mixed results on the relationships between these phenomena of interest and it has stymied progress in the field. Recently, Wales, Covin, & Monsen (2020) attempted to untangle this debate by reconceptualizing EO as a construct that has unique manifestations at three organizational levels (management team, internal/organizational, and market). Our review paper is the first attempt to identify the antecedents based on Wales, et al., (2020) latest EO conceptualization. In addition to successfully identifying antecedents of EO at each of the three organizational levels, we also found antecedents that influenced EO at all three levels. We called them ‘cross-level’ antecedents. We discuss potential theoretical and practitioner implications of our findings and offer future research directions in areas such as data collection methods, context-specific studies, configuration approaches, and new antecedents garnered from complementary business disciplines.