The influence of entrepreneurial orientation on firm growth among Iranian agricultural SMEs: the mediation role of entrepreneurial leadership and market orientation

Entrepreneurship orientation is a fundamental topic both in entrepreneurship and in management that has a critical role in the development of the firm. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm growth, specifically, how entrepreneurial leadership and market orientation mediate the relationship between EO and firm growth. The population of this study is agricultural small- and medium-sized enterprises (ASMEs) across Tehran Province. The survey instrument is questionnaires that were sent to 240 owners and/or top managers of ASMEs as a sample. Validity of the questionnaires has been verified in two ways of face and construct, and its reliability has been verified using Cronbach’s alpha. The collected data has been analyzed by using the structural equation modeling. The results reveal that EO significantly influences firm growth in ASMEs. Notably, entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and market orientation (MO) perform a mediating role in the relationships between EO and firm’s growth in ASMEs.

How formal institutional antecedents affect Tunisian venture creation decision scripts

The aim of this paper is to reveal the impact of three Tunisian formal institutional systems on their venture creation decision through the study of entrepreneurial scripts of Tunisians nascent entrepreneur post-revolution phase. The method adopted in this study is the cognitive map. This research enriches entrepreneurial process literature by examining a finer-grained linkage between the degree of the development of Tunisian formal institutional systems and the level of expertise in the decision stage as an early process of venture creation. To do this, the cognitive approach is adopted by using the structural analysis method as a tool for structuring ideas and collective reflections. In the field of entrepreneurship, the mentioned approach has been the subject of few empirical studies. This leads to a better understanding of individual’s cognitive universe (actors, coaches, managers, entrepreneurs, etc.). It is important in the context of this study to identify and analyze the influence of formal institutional antecedents on the cognition of Tunisian nascent entrepreneurs and consequently on their decision. Experiments done on 120 born entrepreneurs incubating in the nurseries allowed to present, in the form of a collective map, the formal institutional antecedents that seem to affect their decisions to become entrepreneurs through their NVCD scripts.