The impact of personal attitudes on the growth ambitions of small business owners

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical evidence in support of widespread calls for new approaches to understanding small business growth, by exploring the use of non-positivist methods (e.g. critical realism) to analyse how owners’ innate dispositions shape growth in practice. Design/methodology/approach In 2014, a telephone survey was used to inform two focus groups and 29 in-depth interviews with small business owners throughout England, covering attitudes towards growth, the use of particular strategies and perceived barriers. Discourse analysis was used to develop a multi-layered explanatory model incorporating key ideas from critical realism and the work of Bourdieu. Findings Bourdieusian analysis reveals the existence of orientations among small business owners towards or against business growth. Such attitudes tend to impact upon their response to perceived barriers. Growth-inclined owners were willing to strategise for long-term benefit, in return for lower returns in the short term. Growth-resistant owners were more likely to view obstacles as absolute, stating that they cannot grow their firms as a result. Practical implications Removing or reducing obstacles may not encourage growth if motivations and attitudes of owners do not change to embrace more growth-oriented positions. Banks’ lending practices, for example, were seen by many as problematic, but growth-oriented owners were more willing to seek and use alternatives to raise funds for growth. Originality/value The authors suggest that entrepreneurship researchers should look beyond positivist research to epistemologies that provide more multi-layered modes of explanation.

The Bigger the Better? Business Size and Small-Business Owners’ Subjective Well-Being

“…Previous research has shown that some small-business owners are hesitant to increase their business. For instance, a lack of ownership control, increased financial risks and a heavier workload have been perceived as negative consequences with business growth (Davidsson 1989;Braidford et al 2017). Previous research also shows that high job demands are prevalent among small-business owners' and that high demands may be especially pronounced among individuals who owns larger businesses (Nordenmark et al 2012;Warr 2018).…”

Effect of entrepreneur, firm, and institutional characteristics on small-scale firm performance in Ghana

“…Wide variety of factors that potentially influence firm growth range from entrepreneur's characteristics, firm characteristics (Abdul Wahab & Al-Damen, 2015) to issues related to the institutional localities in which the business functions (Isaga, 2018). However, findings on these factors have generally been inconclusive (Isaga, 2018) probably because operations of small businesses particularly for developing economies are complicated by variety of factors, and as a result, no extensive surveys are conducted that comprehensively explain all the variables (Braidford, Drummond, & Stone, 2017). Perhaps, it may also suggest, as we propose, that the dominant use of non-financial proxies such as customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, happiness, personal development, cultural, and social network (see Mohamad Radzi et al, 2017) to proxy firm performance or growth is fairly limited.…”

Exploring the impact of innovation intensity on the growth of female-led entrepreneurial firms

“…, 2008; Mas-Tur and Ribeiro Soriano, 2014; Romero and Martínez-Román, 2012). In fact, the characteristics of the entrepreneur are a key element for the success of a firm, especially in its start-up phase (Braidford et al. , 2017; Del Bosco et al.…”