Disaggregating entrepreneurial orientation: the non-linear impact of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking on SME performance

Patrick Kreiser, Louis Marino, Donald Kuratko () and K. Weaver

Small Business Economics, 2013, vol. 40, issue 2, 273-291

Abstract: Previous studies have generally established a positive relationship between aggregated measures of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance. However, there are theoretical reasons suggesting that three dimensions of EO (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) may possess differential relationships with performance in smaller firms. This study utilizes a sample consisting of 1,668 small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in nine countries across 13 different industries to provide a finer-grained analysis of the EO-performance relationship. Specifically, we theorize and test a non-monotonic influence of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking on SME performance. Innovativeness and proactiveness displayed predominantly positive U-shaped relationships with SME performance. Risk-taking, however, displayed a predominantly negative U-shaped relationship with SME performance. Further, individualism was found to positively moderate the relationships between innovativeness-performance and proactiveness-performance. Taken together, these results suggest that differential relationships exist between three dimensions of EO and SME performance, with important theoretical implications for future EO research. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Keywords: Entrepreneurial orientation; Innovativeness; Proactiveness; Risk-taking; Individualism; Small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs); L26; L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (67)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-012-9460-x

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