The entrepreneurial orientation of special district governments: a study of public entrepreneurship in local governments in Tennessee

Abstract

ABSTRACT Special districts are an increasingly prevalent form of local government. The creation of special districts is an act of public entrepreneurship. However, it is not clear if special districts are imprinted with an enduring entrepreneurial orientation when they are founded or if their entrepreneurial orientation fades as the organisations mature and become more bureaucratic. Building on theories of imprinting and organisational structure and utilising computer-automated text analysis, we explore the persistence and performance implications of the entrepreneurial orientation of special districts through text analysis of local government documents. In a sample of 277 special districts in Tennessee (USA), we find that special districts exhibit an entrepreneurial orientation, this orientation differs based on special district type, and a nonlinear (inverted-U) relationship exists between entrepreneurial orientation and special district performance. Our findings contribute to research at the intersection of local governments and public entrepreneurship and generate actionable insights for local government managers.