Impact of organizational entrepreneurship characteristics on entrepreneurial orientation: Moderating role of firm size and education

Abstract

Organizational entrepreneurial characteristics (OEC) have received less attention compared with the individual entrepreneurial ones. In addition, few studies examined this issue in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of OEC on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of an organizational member. OEC are operationalized to include top management support (TMS), organizational culture (OC), and transformational leadership (TL). Two moderators are proposed in this study: the CEO’s education and company`s size. The data were collected via purposive sampling using a questionnaire; a survey included 206 SMEs in Iraq. The data were analyzed using AMOS. The findings indicate that the impact of EOC (B = 0.14) on OE is positive. Its dimensions TL (B = 0.14) and TMS (0.50) also impacted positively the OE. CEO’s education and company size moderated positively the effect of OEC on OE. Decision makers are advised to pay more attention to leadership style and adopt open culture as well as free expression and tolerance among SMEs in Iraq.

The effects of institutions, firm-level factors and rational decision-making on entrepreneurial behaviors of MSMEs: lessons and opportunities for transition communities

“…Moreover, the impact of firm-level responses, such as product development and innovation capabilities, on entrepreneurial behavior is also examined (Ramadani et al , 2019; Coşkun et al , 2022; Kryeziu et al , 2022b). Furthermore, it has been proposed that entrepreneurial skills (Akter and Iqbal, 2022) or the capacity of entrepreneurs to make decisions as a fundamental entrepreneurial activity and to respond to risks stemming from the institutional environment, also influence entrepreneurial behaviors (Melović et al , 2022; Gibcus et al , 2009; Alexandrova, 2004).…”