The impact of entrepreneurial orientation on innovation performance: A study on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Colombian Caribbean

Abstract

Traditionally, innovation system literature favors studies of well-functioning economies and innovation in high-technology sectors. In emerging economies, such as Latin America, a significant number of gaps is still found, especially in terms of understanding behaviors towards innovation and how these attitudes might impact the innovation outputs. Based on this scenario, the present study aims to measure how entrepreneurial innovation - a multidimensional construct formed by innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking - impacts on innovation performance. This study adapts the model of Sheppard (2023), originally applied to a Canadian multi-sectoral sample, to an also multi-sector group located in the Caribbean region of Colombia. A translated questionnaire was applied to 154 companies. A total of 123 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) valid cases was considered for analysis. Results show significant impact of entrepreneurial orientation on innovation performance, confirming initial hypothesis. The impact of environmental dynamism presents diverse data that needs to be further analyzed and ‘slack resources’ were found as a statistically significant antecedent to innovation performance. The limitation to measure growth due to restrictions in data access is an important future opportunity to expand the analysis, allowing full comparison to the original model.