Entrepreneurial Orientation Research Research Articles

Unveiling the complex U‐shaped relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and exploratory/exploitative innovations: strategic planning as a moderator

Grounded in agency and stewardship theories, this study investigates the U‐shaped relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and exploratory/exploitative innovations and the moderating effects of strategic planning. Empirical data is collected from 396 A‐share listed public companies in China. Entrepreneurial orientation is assessed via internal R&D and external investment data, while content analysis captures exploitative, exploratory innovation, and strategic planning. The empirical findings yield two core conclusions: (1) This study finds the presence of U‐shaped relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and exploratory/exploitative innovations. As entrepreneurial orientation increases to an inflection point, it exhibits negative effects due to managerial agency behavior; however, beyond this point, it yields positive outcomes due to stewardship. (2) Strategic planning positively moderates the U‐shaped relationships, countering agency impact at low orientation levels while enhancing stewardship at higher levels. These insights advance entrepreneurial orientation research, agency vs. stewardship literature, and provide a roadmap for fostering exploratory and exploitative innovations through strategic integration of entrepreneurial orientation and leveraging of strategic planning.

Exploring EO strategic performance measures: value-added versus efficiency outcomes

PurposeResearch on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) seeks to understand the EO–performance relationship. However, at a strategic level, performance relates to a competitive advantage and comprises both value-added and efficiency measures. Following arguments that performance is context and strategy dependent, the paper argues that EO research needs to clarify and specify the type of performance relationship measured.Design/methodology/approachTo explore the EO–performance relationship, the research considers the agricultural sector where policy has traditionally encouraged the maximisation of efficiency in production and has only recently promoted entrepreneurship, providing fertile ground to explore different approaches to measuring performance. A survey collected detailed accounting records and context specific EO for 282 commercial farms. The authors estimate two models (Heckman selection regression and stochastic production frontier) that examine the relationships between EO and value-added/efficiency performance outcomes.FindingsThe analysis confirms the EO–value-added performance relationship, with significant positive relationships for the EO components proactiveness and innovativeness and a negative relationship for risk. No EO–efficiency performance relationship was found, despite a robust analysis of technical efficiency using detailed accounting data.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to EO theory by problematizing performance and highlighting the importance of the type of performance measured. This paper contributes empirically with findings relating to a mature industry contributes to entrepreneurship methodology by outlining how EO–performance relationships can be measured in terms of productivity and technical efficiency.

Influence of Socio-emotional Wealth on Entrepreneurial Orientation in Family Firms: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review

This article explores the effects of socio-emotional wealth on the family firms’ entrepreneurial orientation. The family firms aspire to attain economic goals and maintain family control and influence over their firms. These conflicting goals may become detrimental to their entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Against the background of the heterogeneity of family firms, this article deliberates on the effects of socio-emotional wealth on entrepreneurial orientation. This article has explored the research trajectories and themes of socio-emotional wealth and entrepreneurial orientation research discourse by adopting the methods of bibliometric analysis and systematic review research protocol. This article reviews the findings of the research discourse on the relationship between socio-emotional wealth and entrepreneurial orientation. In particular, this article inquires whether family firms’ entrepreneurial orientation decreases because they are concerned about preserving their socio-emotional wealth and, if so, under what conditions. This article also makes practical recommendations for using the desire to meet non-economic goals judiciously. This article provides insights into how family firms can change their business strategies to synthesize the much-needed entrepreneurial orientation to preserve their socio-emotional wealth.

The art of forming a partnership in an entrepreneurial world: the Brazilian case

PurposeThis study aims to design and empirically test a model where autonomy affects partnership (PT) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), which in turn improves competitive aggressiveness (CA), market orientation (MO) and PT; to verify the impact of CA on MO and PT; and to determine to what extent MO mediates the EO–PT relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a quantitative approach to test 101 Brazilian firms from different sectors, analyzed by structural equation modeling using the partial least squares–structural equation modeling.FindingsResults show that autonomy improves EO and PT. EO positively affects CA, MO and PT. CA impacts MO positively, and MO mediates the EO–PT relationship, although it reduces the possibility of PT.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough 101 firms could be a “small sample,” the authors validated it according to Hair et al. (2009) and Chin et al. (2003). Their first contribution is to extend the works relating to EO and PT by showing the positive effects of autonomy on EO and PT. Second, to show the mediating effect of MO on the EO–PT relationship. Finally, they draw attention to how firms with EO improve CA, MO and PT; and CA boost MO. Thus, to generalize EO research internationally, like in the emergent markets.Originality/valueAlthough EO has attracted significant attention to entrepreneurship research, it is not clear how autonomy impacts a firm's EO and PT, considering the mediating effect of MO on the EO–PT relationship; if EO influences CA and MO, and the impact of CA on MO and PT.

The malleability of international entrepreneurial cognitions: a natural quasi-experimental study on voluntary and involuntary shocks

PurposeThe authors investigate the durability of international entrepreneurial cognitions. Specifically, they examine how advanced business education and the Covid-19 pandemic influence international entrepreneurial orientation disposition (IEOD), and subsequently entrepreneurial intentions (EIs), to better understand the psychological dynamics underpinning the drivers of international entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachAgainst the backdrop of emerging entrepreneurial cognition and international entrepreneurial orientation research, the authors theorize that both a planned business education intervention (voluntary) and an unforeseeable radical environmental (involuntary) change constitute cognitive shocks impacting the disposition and intention to engage in entrepreneurial efforts. The authors use pre- and post-Covid-19 panel data (n = 233) and uniquely identify the idiosyncratic cognitive effects of Covid-19 through changes in the OCEAN personality assessment.FindingsFindings demonstrate that when individuals' perceived psychological impact of Covid-19 is low, business education increases IEOD. Conversely, the effects of a strongly perceived Covid-19 impact reduce the risk-taking and proactiveness components of the IEOD scale. The authors trace the same effects forward to EIs.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to a greater understanding of the resilience of entrepreneurial dispositions through an empirical test of the IEOD scale and shows its boundary conditions under planned intervention as well as unplanned externally induced shock.Practical implicationsThe study offers a first benchmark to practitioners of the malleability of international entrepreneurial dispositions and discusses the potential to encourage international entrepreneurial behaviour and the individual-level dispositional risk posed by exogenous shocks.Originality/valueThe study uniquely employs a baseline measure of all our constructs pre-Covid-19 to discern and isolate the pandemic impact on entrepreneurial dispositions and intentions, responding to recent calls for more experimental designs in entrepreneurship research.

Humane Entrepreneurial Framework: A model for effective corporate entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT The concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) has been an important construct of entrepreneurship and business strategy since it was first introduced in 1983 by Danny Miller. Still, it does not fully address the human-centered factors influencing organizations today. Therefore, the concept of humane entrepreneurship (HumEnt) was introduced to better understand organizations’ human side of entrepreneurial development. HumEnt explores how effective people management practices affect employee engagement, innovation, and business growth. The new concept of Humane Entrepreneurial Framework outlines the process of creating HumEnt that focuses on the people side of the business, introducing the elements of high-performance work systems (HPWS) to a company’s entrepreneurial strategy. Building on HPWS and EO research, this article proposes a model suggesting that a “humane” approach to managing employees is a key antecedent to creating and maintaining EO; furthermore, humane organizational practices ultimately lead to sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation in companies. Future research directions are also offered.

The Chicken or the Egg? Causal Inference in Entrepreneurial Orientation–Performance Research

While entrepreneurial orientation (EO) correlates with many organizational phenomena, we lack convincing evidence of causal relationships within EO’s nomological network. We explore the challenges to establishing causal relationships with a systematic review of EO–performance research. We then use a simulation to illustrate how popular research designs in EO research limit our ability to make causal claims. We conclude by outlining the research design considerations to move from associational to causal EO–performance research. Our message is that while experiments may not be practical or feasible in many areas of organizational research, including EO, scholars can nevertheless move towards causal understanding.

The status quo of research on entrepreneurial orientation: Conversational landmarks and theoretical scaffolding

This research aims to gain a deeper appreciation of where the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) conversation has gained momentum based upon an analysis of its key conversational landmarks and the studies which have thus far provided its principal theoretical scaffolding. Drawing upon a bibliometric analysis of 62,499 citations from all 822 publications on EO existing so far, thereby building the most comprehensive overview of EO studies collected to date, we are able to identify which studies, journals, and disciplines have offered critical landmarks within the conversation. Moreover, we categorize these influential landmark studies into four primary areas, namely “Defining pieces”, “Methods and measurement”, “Contingencies”, and “Impact”, and discuss how prominent landmarks within the EO conversation have created the current theoretical scaffolding upon which EO research is now building. Notably, our study observes Schumpeter (1934) theory of entrepreneurship and innovation as ‘creative destruction’ as well as Barney (1991) resource-based view (RBV) as landmarks within EO’s present theoretical scaffolding.

Enhancing Entrepreneurial Orientation Research: From Theorizing to Measuring

Developed more than thirty years ago, the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has helped identify which firms are entrepreneurial versus those that have a conservative strategic posture (Miller, 2011). As markets and competitive dynamics have significantly changed, however, in order to ensure EO’s relevance for the next 30 years and beyond, the current research identifies issues with current EO research, and proposes some preliminary solutions to tackle both the breadth and depth issues of EO. Drawing upon more profound theoretical foundations, we broaden the EO conceptualization by incorporating both Schumpeterian and Kirznerian perspectives, and we deepen the EO dimensions by linking EO research with effectuation theory. From the measuring perspective, we propose that qualitative studies must commence in order to map out a robust measure that allows not only the distinction between conservative and entrepreneurial firms, but also among entrepreneurial firms in terms of their innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, and forms of market entry, as being entrepreneurial can mean many things (Wales et al., 2020). We hope that through this work, EO will become even stronger and more useful for academia and practice.

The Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Export Performance of Emerging Economies: A Multi-dimensional Approach

Purpose - Owing to the dynamic and complex nature of the global business environment, firms are required to develop clearer organizational strategic approaches for combating market ambiguity when creating sustainable growth while undertaking internationalization. As a strategic-making process, entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has received much attention in current business literature. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to further examine the entrepreneurial construct with regards to its multi-dimensional classification which provides additional benefits for smaller or medium sized firms (hereafter SME). Further discussed in this research is the extent to which SMEs need to possess knowledge or competencies related to all the (or individual) dimensions of EO when conducting global commerce. Design/Methodology/Approach - To test the presumptions of the study further, data were collected from 204 South African exporting SMEs. An EFA and CFA where adopted to assess data reliability and validity. Finally, a hierarchical linear regression analysis technique was considered for evaluating the research models and clearly present the findings. Findings - Results from the data analysis shows that while several EO dimensions contributed significantly towards the improved export performance of SMEs, others did not. As SMEs are often hampered by resource limitations, a focus on the roles of each EO dimension provides an opportunity for greater efficiency when SMEs conduct global business by assisting SMEs in increasing their overall exporting performance. Research Implications - While much research exists in the field of EO, a clearer approach for measuring the construct has provided opportunities to explore EO further. The current study builds upon the current novel approach of EO, thus adding more to the papers originality. Finally, the context of the study offers a defining feature towards the originality of the research. While most EO research is focused on advanced nations, the current study conducts research in an African nation, where EO and export research remains scarce.

BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY OF GLOBAL TRENDS IN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION USING SCOPUS DATABASE

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) has widely been studied particularly with link to firm performance. In fact, some researchers believe that the area is already saturated of researches. However, some still believed that there is the need for further researches for two reasons. Firstly, the researches so far did not cover the emerging economies. Secondly, researchers still come up with contradictory results particularly about EO and firm performance relationship. Whatever the reasons for these contradictions, either environmentally induced or induced by study misplacement and poor combination of constructs, the inconsistent outcomes in the EO and firm performance relationship remains a subject of re-examination. This bibliometric study aims at examining the global trends in EO research areas based on co-authorship amongst authors, publication outputs, co-occurrence of author keywords and analysis of concentration of the EO study by country using the Vosviewer software. Scopus data based will be the operational unit. In all there are 1406 journal articles that were published from 1971 to 2019. Thus, the study covers a period of 48years.

Drivers and implications of entrepreneurial orientation for academic spin-offs

This paper has been designed with a dual goal. On the one hand, the paper aims to examine the role of management teams, industry agents, and university agents as providers of a series of key resources and capabilities for academic spin-offs (ASOs) to develop a strategic entrepreneurial orientation (EO). On the other hand, the paper also examines the influence of EO on ASO performance. To this end, an extensive review was conducted based on Resource Based View (RBV), EO, and ASO literature. The assumptions of these frameworks were explored in an empirical study involving 107 Spanish ASOs backed by the Spanish Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). The findings from multilevel linear regression suggest that the presence of non-academic managers within ASO management teams, the achievement of external funding through VC firms, and the TTO efficacy exert a positive influence on the exhibition of higher levels of EO by ASOs. Regarding the relationship between the EO and the performance exhibited by ASOs, the results of multiple regression analysis reveal that ASO performance is strongly and positively influenced by the level of EO exhibited by the firm. The contributions of the paper expand the traditional focus of EO research and attend to the demands of both EO and ASO research, thereby offering a contextualized analysis of both the factors that enhance the EO of ASOs as well as the impact of EO on ASO performance.

Bringing back the discourse on entrepreneurial orientation construct: further clarifications on its dimensions

The nomological validity of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct is re-examined as the current conceptualisation lacks precise articulation of the construct and its measurement. The validity concern is caused primarily by the innovation dimension. We adopt a critical lens to evaluate the dimensions and associated measures of EO and contribute to the ongoing conversation on EO, by empirically testing its indicators and measures. Data collected from 404 firms in Oman are analysed using a two-step approach, initially conducting EFA and CFA tests, followed by structural equation modelling. The results suggest that innovation orientation significantly improves the clarity of the innovation dimension and is more congruent with EO's conceptualisation. The study further clarifies that EO consists of enabling measures that contribute to the generation of entrepreneurial outputs in corporations. The five-factor EO construct is specified formatively and a comprehensive list of measures is drawn from multiple scales associated with EO research.

Bringing back the discourse on entrepreneurial orientation construct: further clarifications on its dimensions

The nomological validity of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct is re-examined as the current conceptualisation lacks precise articulation of the construct and its measurement. The validity concern is caused primarily by the innovation dimension. We adopt a critical lens to evaluate the dimensions and associated measures of EO and contribute to the ongoing conversation on EO, by empirically testing its indicators and measures. Data collected from 404 firms in Oman are analysed using a two-step approach, initially conducting EFA and CFA tests, followed by structural equation modelling. The results suggest that innovation orientation significantly improves the clarity of the innovation dimension and is more congruent with EO's conceptualisation. The study further clarifies that EO consists of enabling measures that contribute to the generation of entrepreneurial outputs in corporations. The five-factor EO construct is specified formatively and a comprehensive list of measures is drawn from multiple scales associated with EO research.

LMX, POS, and task environment as antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation in family business

Family business is facing an uphill challenge to survive and grow. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is one extensive strategy that may provide the solutions. To be comprehensive, our EO construct model considers important antecedents such as internal organisation aspect represented by perceived organisational support (POS), individual element served by leader-member exchange (LMX) and environmental factor acted by perceived task environment (PTE). Our research focuses on how these concepts would relate to EO by building hypothesis and empirical analysis of their respective relations. This study also proposes motivation as alternative non-financial performance measurement of EO. The research was conducted using quantitative empirical analysis of 150 top management team (TMT) representing 51 business units with family context in emerging nation. This study shows that although they might have different significance, all three concepts are positively related to EO and it is plausible to incorporate motivation as the result of EO research.

A Study on Entrepreneurial Orientation and Startup Performance : Mediating Effect of Strategic Orientation

This study aims at examining the effect of strategic orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on startup performance. Accordingly, the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on startup performance and the relationship between and roles of two elements that consist of strategic orientation were studied. Empirical research on 122 startup as residents of startup support institutions was conducted. The suitability of the research model was evaluated with the PLS-based structural equation modeling. As a result of empirical analysis, First, confirmed that entrepreneurial orientation has been verified to have a positive effect on strategic orientation. second, it was found that technology orientation did not play a mediating role in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Finally, it was confirmed that marketing orientation mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. This study is expected to provide entrepreneurial orientation research for startups and implications for practitioners.

Operational flexibility-entrepreneurial orientation relationship: Effects and consequences

The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurial orientation (EO)—a performance relationship in the hospital industry, an important part of the world economy. We also examine the moderating role of operational flexibility (OF), a relatively new multi-dimensional construct grounded in the theory of operations management. We empirically investigate the EO and performance research model using survey data from 152 hospital administrators in the US. The findings confirm EO as a three-dimensional construct comprising innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking, with proactiveness as the most significant dimension in enhancing hospital performance. Results indicate that OF and its three dimensions (input, process and output) moderate the effects of EO on hospital performance. This study contributes to the research stream by investigating the intersection of the corporate entrepreneurship and operations management fields. It provides a novel extension to the entrepreneurship literature, based upon the role of OF as a moderator in the EO-performance relationship.

The Manifestation of Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Social Entrepreneurship Context

This study extends theorisation of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the social entrepreneurship context by introducing firm performance as a construct for examining social enterprises (SEs) EO. Drawing on EO and firm performance research indicating that EO is related to a better firm performance, this paper argues that EO in SEs is positively related to organisational performance. This research empirically studies 303 social enterprises in Saudi Arabia and develops three hypotheses that examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and social entrepreneurs’ firm performance. The results show that innovativeness and proactiveness, but not risk-taking, are positively associated with firm performance. Thus, whilst SEs cover a wide range of business activities there is generally a positive effect of EO across the contexts investigated. Also, this research found that EO can be used as a mechanism to overcome constraints imposed by limited resources in an environment where new opportunities rarely occur.

Bibliometric analysis of entrepreneurial orientation

PurposeThe remarkable concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has attracted scholars’ attention for its relevance to a firm’s performance. Based on bibliometric and distance-based visualization of similarities (VOS) analysis, the purpose of this paper is to outline a broad-spectrum perspective of the structure of research in EO across more than 20 years of publications, identifying the most prominent journals, authors and articles in this field.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the Web of Science Core Collection and the VOS viewer software. The analysis searches for all the documents connected to EO available in the database from 1976 to 2017. The graphical visualization maps the bibliographic data using both bibliographic coupling and co-citation data.FindingsEntrepreneurship Theory and Practice Journal, Journal of Business Venturing and Family Business Review are the most relevant journals in the field. Among the many important authors in the EO literature, key contributors are Lumpkin, Payne, Short, Covin, Dess and Wiklund. Three different streams of research are linked to the EO concept; strategy and entrepreneurship, family business and miscellaneous work in psychometrics, methods, marketing and knowledge/capability-based approaches to organizations.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to EO research by providing a global perspective on the concept’s investigation, using bibliometric data and graphical networks.

Crafting High-Impact Entrepreneurial Orientation Research: Some Suggested Guidelines

Research on the topic of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) continues to proliferate. Nonetheless, the conceptualization and measurement of this construct are matters of ongoing discussion and debate, and construct-specific advice with respect to the generation high value-added EO research is sparse. This editorial is aimed at providing guidance to EO researchers in three areas: (a) EO’s conceptualization(s) and position as they relate to the larger set of corporate entrepreneurship-related constructs, (b) EO’s measurement challenges and possibilities, and (c) suggested guidance and directions for future EO research.