Entrepreneurial Orientation among Migrants and Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a process of creating value by bringing together a unique package of resources to exploit entrepreneurship opportunities. The importance of entrepreneurial activities in society has been acknowledged in the entrepreneurship literature. It has been suggested that entrepreneurial strategies, in terms of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), contribute greatly to entrepreneurship performance (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996; Miller, 1987; Reynolds, 2000). EO is often mentioned as an antecedent of firm growth, competitive advantage, and superior performance. Prior research confirms that a positive relationship exists between EO and firm performance (Wiklund & Shepherd, 2005; Wang, 2008; Runyan, 2008). The success of enterprises are dependent on EO and a range of other factors including age, gender, culture, education, managerial know-how, length of time, size of enterprise, capital, and network connection.

Three disciplines have provided primary contributions to the theoretical development of entrepreneurial orientation (EO). These are economics, social psychology, and strategic management (Mitchell et al., 2002). EO refers to the strategy-making processes and styles of a firm that engage in entrepreneurial activities. There are two schools of thought on EO: the Unidimensional School with three dimensions (proactiveness, risk-taking, and innovativeness) and the multidimensional school with five dimensions (innovativeness, risk-taking, autonomy, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness).

An overview of the entrepreneurial literature shows that there has been little focus on the influence of EO on migrant enterprises. Therefore, the objective of this study will be to examine the relationship between five dimensions of EO and entrepreneurial performance. The study will also assess the moderating influence of environment (environmental characteristics) on the EO-performance relationship.