The Impact of Imitation Strategies, Managerial and Entrepreneurial Skills on Startups’ Entrepreneurial Innovation

Panagiotis Tsolakidis, Naoum Mylonas and Eugenia Petridou
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Panagiotis Tsolakidis: Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Naoum Mylonas: Department of Tourism, Ionian University, P. Armeni Vraila 4, 49100 Corfu, Greece
Eugenia Petridou: Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Economies, 2020, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The scope of this paper is to investigate whether imitation strategies adopted by startups are effective in the pursuit of enhanced entrepreneurial innovation. To this end, a literature review was carried out in order to develop a research framework with factors related to imitation predicting entrepreneurial innovation. Moreover, managerial skills and entrepreneurial skills were incorporated as predictors of entrepreneurial innovation. In this respect, a structured questionnaire was developed to address these research objectives, based on scales tested in previous studies. In 2020, a survey was conducted on 486 startup owners operating in Greece, and a total of 289 responses were received. A hierarchical regression analysis was employed in order to examine the research framework. In congruence with the hypotheses, the findings demonstrated that outcome-based imitation strategies and trait-based imitation strategies positively affect the development of entrepreneurial innovation. Moreover, the positive impact of managerial and entrepreneurial skills on the development of entrepreneurial innovation was also confirmed. In contrast, the findings suggest that frequency-based imitation strategies negatively predict entrepreneurial innovation. However, outcome-based imitation and trait-based imitation strategies have been shown as the determinants with a positive impact on entrepreneurial innovation.

Keywords: outcome-based imitation; trait-based imitation; frequency-based imitation; innovation; managerial skills; entrepreneurial skills; startups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E F I J O Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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