The effect of effectuation and causation approach on entrepreneurial orientation in the presence of leader dominance and self-efficacy

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma Jun ◽  
Fitri Rini Ariyesti ◽  
Sumran Ali ◽  
Peng Xiaobao

Purpose Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has witnessed a daunting rise in firm-level practices; to some extent, it has been augmented by the factors such as globalization and technological shift. The wide variety of literature has explained the importance of EO for firm performance. However, it has not yet been explored at a firm-level the approaches of causation and effectuation through the prism of leader traits such as leader dominance and self-efficacy as administrative ability and EO as strategic manoeuvring with strategic decisions obliged as a spin of firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors used the quantitative method to analyse the proposed relationships. For this reason, the authors targeted the Chinese firms to collect the data through the semi-structured survey from December 2020 to March 2021 and contributed to the literature by investigating 480 valid responses of leaders from Chinese firms. Findings The findings support the incorporated view of causation and effectuation on EO, which serve as vital strategic manoeuvring along with leader traits for firm stability and growth. Practical implications This study assists the decision-makers (including the top management team, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer choose the particular approach (effectual or causal) to create the new venture/new product/new process or scale up the existing firm on another level for optimal benefits by considering their existing resources. Originality/value EO is a unidirectional process with three dimensions: innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking that could directly favour the firm by considering the well-known approaches (effectuation and causation) in crisis circumstances (like Covid-19). These approaches help the executives enhance their firm’s performance and maintain its sustainability and stability in crisis conditions by effectively using the available resources within its boundaries.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bowon Kim ◽  
Jaeseog Na

PurposeThis study examines whether the behavioral attributes, such as overconfidence, of chief executive officers (CEO) and chief operating officers (COO) affect firm's inventory leanness. If they do, how are they interacting with each other? Moreover, incorporating market competition into the analysis, this study explores how the competition moderates the relationship between managerial overconfidence and inventory leanness.Design/methodology/approachUsing a large panel data of US manufacturing firms between 1998 and 2015, this study measures top managers' overconfident characteristics using stock option information. Then, a panel regression analysis is adopted to test the effects of managerial overconfidence on inventory leanness. Moreover, a moderation model is applied to investigate the interaction effects of market competition.FindingsFirms with overconfident COOs (CEOs), other circumstances being equal, increase (decrease) the inventory leanness as the market becomes more competitive.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that firms should understand top managers' behavioral characteristics to manage inventory efficiently. Collectively, CEOs (COOs) tend to increase (decrease) inventory levels due to their overconfidence as the market gets competitive. Firms should establish a systematic process to be reviewed by diverse stakeholders to deal with managerial overconfidence.Originality/valueThis study is an exploratory study that examines whether and how top management's behavioral attribute relates to a firm's operations performance. It underlines that CEO and COO's overconfident characteristics determine the inventory leanness when market competition is considered. Numerous studies on firm-level strategies emphasized the top managers' overconfidence as a key factor. However, behavioral characteristics at the top management level have rarely been studied in operations management fields. Based on the results, scholars could compare and understand the effects of CEO and COO overconfidence to provide insights into inventory management.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyun Zhang ◽  
Tan Zhang ◽  
Haili Cai ◽  
Yahui Li ◽  
Wayne Wei Huang ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help enhance the scholarly conversation about the essential nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct, its dimensionality and measurement. The authors focus on how EO was defined and measured in various contexts, which is the basis for the proposed five-dimensional EO scale (FDEOS). Design/methodology/approach – Survey was conducted in design industry in China. A pilot test was conducted with 20 Chinese firms. Questionnaires were sent to 1,200 firms. A total of 408 complete and valid questionnaires were received. Findings – It was found that a behavior aspect of EO as a second-order reflective model had a greater degree of agreement among scholarly community. As a result, a new FDEOS was proposed from behavioral perspective. Data were collected from 408 firms of design industry in a big developing country. Originality/value – While five-dimensional EO construct is a well-recognized concept in the literature on entrepreneurship, little is known about its measurement. The research reported in this paper provides support for this assertion and develops a new scale, FDEOS, that designed to be neutral with regard to industry context and type of organization.


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1516-1532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Moreno ◽  
Jose A. Zarrias ◽  
Jose L. Barbero

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of predictors of growth (entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and environmental hostility) and growth itself on small-firm volatility. The objective is to find out: first, whether growth and volatility possess a similar nature; second, what are the predictors of small-firm volatility. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire data were collected from CEOs of 433 Spanish small firms (<500 employees) who provided qualitative as well as quantitative information. Findings – The authors find that some of the predictors on growth can also be used to predict firm volatility. Specifically, the authors find that firm volatility is influenced by EO and environmental hostility. Growth also influences firm volatility. The authors also find a strong interaction effect of growth and firm size on firm volatility. The authors conclude that although growth and firm volatility are related concepts, they are different. Originality/value – Growth has concentrated small-firm research during the last 20 years. However, during the last few years, the environment has become very dynamic and small firms need research helping them to deal with such dynamism. There are few studies on firm-level volatility. The research helps understand more the determinants of small-firm volatility.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 5-7

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This research paper analyzes the underlying factors, particularly the human characteristics of a company's CEO, that influence open innovation (OI) strategies. The results reveal that a CEO's entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and attitude are crucial determinants of the innovation climate and open innovation results achieved by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The CEO's ability to maintain a positive attitude to overcoming psychological resistance to change with their team members is an OI success factor. Another recommendation is that only people with a marked EO are hired into senior positions, in a sustained effort to embed a genuine open innovation-centric culture. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meqbel Aliedan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between experiential knowledge of foreign markets, institutional word of mouth (WOM) and small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs’) internationalization. Specifically, it aims to provide explanations of what and how cross-border experiential knowledge can be institutionally transmitted for SMEs’ internationalization purposes via WOM. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory approach was adopted within the phenomenological/qualitative research tradition. The data collection process was conducted through 23 semi-structured interviews with founders and chief executive officers of Saudi international SMEs. Findings The study’s findings confirm that SMEs seeking productive opportunities in the international market could improve their internationalization experience if they made proper use of institutional WOM as a catalyst for inter-firm learning. This concerns SMEs from emerging countries in particular as they are usually in a bid to legitimatize their presence in foreign markets. Originality/value The triadic relationship between experiential knowledge, institutional WOM and internationalization has not been previously researched. The current study, therefore, clearly adds value to the concept of WOM from three dimensions: institutionalization, cross-borderity and SMEs’ internationalization.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shujaat Mubarik ◽  
VGR Chandran ◽  
Evelyn S Devadason

Purpose – This study aims to examine the influence of relational capital quality on client loyalty, comprising both behavioral and attitudinal, in the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The partial least squares technique is used to test the relationship using a sample of 111 pharmaceutical firms. We applied a non-parametric procedure, the bootstrapping method, to estimate the coefficient path of the relationships. Appropriate construct measures were used based on past studies to measure the dimensions of relational capital quality and client loyalty. Findings – The findings suggest that relational capital quality significantly affects client loyalty. All three dimensions of relational capital quality, commitment, satisfaction and trust, have a significant and positive influence on both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. However, client satisfaction is found to exert the strongest impact on behavioral and attitudinal loyalty. Practical implications – It is important for the pharmaceutical firms in Pakistan to improve client satisfaction to establish behavioral loyalty and sustain their clientele base. Trust and commitment should be managed independently, depending on the focus of firms, either attitudinal loyalty or behavioral loyalty. Originality/value – This study is among the few that was able to empirically examine the role of various dimensions of relational capital quality in influencing clients’ attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. In addition, the study uses a new firm-level data set, compiled from a survey of the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan, which is currently facing challenges in terms of customer–supplier sensitivity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1004-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna Chandra Balodi

Purpose – Extant literature highlights the inadequacy of using just four domains – leadership, strategy, structure, and environment – for identifying firms’ configurations. The purpose of this paper is to answer the questions – what firm-level and external elements should be used to identify young firms’ configurations? Which among these is the core element? Design/methodology/approach – This paper relies on literatures on configuration approach and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) to build the assertions concerning the issue of theoretical specification used for generating young firms’ configurations, and its core element. Crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (CS-QCA) of the data collected from 70 young firms supports the arguments. Various robustness analyses reaffirm these assertions. Findings – Literature review reveals that EO represents a firm’s decision-making proclivity concerning new entry and proactive risk-taking. CS-QCA supports the assertions that: inclusion of EO improves the configurational explanation of young firms’ performance; EO is the core element of young firms’ configurations; and market orientation or social capital cannot substitute EO in configurational studies of young firms’ performance. CS-QCA serves as a tool to support an alternative theoretical stance that questions the adequacy of extant domains used to identify configurations. Originality/value – This paper theorizes for inclusion of EO as an additional domain for identifying young firms’ configurations, and exploits novel capability of set theoretic methods of CS-QCA to explore the issues of model specification and conjunctural causation, and ascertain the core element of configurations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Kam-Sing Wong

Purpose – What leads to new product success (NPS) is a very complex issue. Although prior research widely demonstrates that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a determinant for NPS and environmental turbulence is a form of unpredictability which impacts on the success of a product, little research has been conducted to examine if and to what extent environmental turbulence induces the EO behaviors of a firm and how these behaviors contribute to NPS. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This study, which used data collected from 244 China-based electronics manufacturers, proposed and tested the theoretical relationships among the three constructs in the context of the electronics industry in China. Findings – Results revealed that the three dimensions of EO (innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking) drive NPS. Environmental turbulence strongly influenced all three dimensions of EO, though its influence on NPS was mixed as there existed a strong negative but insignificant direct association between the two constructs. Innovativeness, which was found to be most effective in driving NPS in the EO and NPS relationship, was relatively less responsive to environmental turbulence than proactiveness. The study confirmed the postulated role of environmental turbulence in inducing the EO behaviors of a firm, signaling environmental turbulence, if tactfully leveraged, can play a positive role in new product development (NPD). Research limitations/implications – The study is quantitative using data emanating from the electronics manufacturing industry in China, further empirical study would be useful to verify and complement the results in other industries and other countries. Originality/value – This study contributes to the scholarly inquiry of EO and NPD by exploring the influences of environmental turbulence and EO on NPS. As environmental turbulence induces EO and EO mediates the relationship between environmental turbulence and NPS, simultaneous consideration of these two constructs can lend useful insight into their joint impacts on NPD. Theoretical and managerial implications were examined and policy implications, especially the practicality of the findings to policymakers in China, were discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxuan Li ◽  
Yue Wang ◽  
Miles M. Yang ◽  
Yanzhao Tang

PurposeThis study explores the impact of owner chief executive officers' (CEO) narcissism on the exporting small to medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) decision-making on the international market expansion speed after their initial entry. Specifically, the authors use the mechanism of firms' international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) to examine how owner CEO narcissism may influence SMEs' post-entry speed of internationalization (PSI), both directly and indirectly.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, the authors draw on data from a two-wave questionnaire and on archival export data from 291 Chinese exporting SMEs in three municipalities and 17 provinces from 2019 to 2020.FindingsThe results support the theoretical predictions that owner CEO narcissism shapes exporting SMEs' decisions on PSI, both directly and indirectly, through the mediation of firm-level IEO.Originality/valueThe study extends emerging research on the role of CEO narcissism in the upper echelons literature into the international marketing (IM) context. It also offers new insights into what drives exporting SMEs' IM decision-making from a psychological microfoundations perspective. Furthermore, the authors theoretically establish and empirically demonstrate the key role of a firm's IEO as a mediator to complement the existing literature's focus on the direct influence of CEO narcissism on firms' internationalization decisions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Naaman ◽  
Li Sun

Purpose This study aims to examine whether and how the power of a chief executive officer (CEO) relates to firm-level research and development (R&D) investment. Design/methodology/approach The authors use clustered standard errors ordinary least squares regression using a large sample of US firms from 1994 to 2017. Findings The authors find a significant negative relation between CEO power and R&D investment, suggesting that firms with more powerful CEOs are less likely to invest in R&D activities. Besides, the study finds that this significant negative relation is largely driven by firms with weaker corporate governance. Originality/value This study contributes to the finance literature on the impact and consequences of having powerful CEOs and the financial accounting literature on the determinants of R&D expenditures.


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