Understanding and Measuring Entrepreneurial Leadership Style

Abstract

Although entrepreneurial leadership is embraced in the popular press and in classrooms, academic knowledge remains underdeveloped. We develop the construct of entrepreneurial leadership and argue that it involves influencing and directing the performance of group members toward achieving those organizational goals that involve recognizing and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. We discuss environmental, organizational, and follower‐specific contingencies that may influence the success of entrepreneurial leadership, and we test the reliability and validity of an empirical measure for this construct (the ENTRELEAD scale). Using this novel measurement tool, we find that entrepreneurial leadership is more prevalent among founder‐leaders than nonfounder leaders, which indicates construct validity.

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Performance, and Sustainability of Micro-Enterprises in Malaysia

“…From the stance of the related context, Greenberg et al [27] upheld that when an organization's future goals and environment reflect the past, it is time for entrepreneurial leaders to adopt analytical models in predicting and managing the situation. Finally, Renko et al [12] claimed that individual-level antecedents, for example, leader demographics and emotional intelligence, could be highly significant in developing effective entrepreneurial leadership.…”

“…As entrepreneurship among low-income or underprivileged entrepreneurs is the locus of this study, it, thus, focuses and builds on the traits or personalities that should be displayed by entrepreneurial leaders [25], instead of their actions [12], as entrepreneurship is exemplified by the traits exhibited by an entrepreneur [28], particularly among entrepreneurial organizations where entrepreneurs play the founding and dominant role for business progression [29]. Hence, based on the above, the selection of the following entrepreneurial leadership components has been conceptualized on empirical evidence that suggests one's personality plays a key role towards the origins of entrepreneurship [30].…”

“…Entrepreneurial leadership is parked at the intersection of leadership and entrepreneurship [12] wherein leadership translates the process of influencing [23] whereas entrepreneurship reflects both the entrepreneur and the intersection of an entrepreneur with his or her surrounding opportunities [12]. In reviewing the relevant literature with the objective of identifying the most significant dimensions that reflect entrepreneurial leadership, a list of essential attributes, including vision, opportunity-focused, influencing, planning, motivating, creativity, achievement-oriented, flexibility, persistence, patience, risk-taking, high ambiguity tolerance, tenacity, power-oriented, self-confidence, proactive behaviour, and internal locus of control [24,25], has been unraveled where the concepts of entrepreneurship and leadership converge.…”

“…From the stance of micro and small firms, enterprise performance is highly dependent on entrepreneurial characteristics and competencies, such as leadership capabilities, managerial and networking skills, technological abilities, and the education level of entrepreneurs [3,11]. Leadership, as an entrepreneurial behaviour, is important due to its potential in recognizing one's value in the entrepreneurial process; thus, it is considered vital in a variety of organizational-sustainability-related aspects, such as fostering innovation and adapting to changing environments [12]. Entrepreneurial leadership plays a significant role in determining the success of business ventures [13].…”

A review of entrepreneurial leadership learning: an exploration that draws on human, social and institutional capitals

“…Gupta et al (2004: 242) offer a useful definition: 'entrepreneurial leadership that creates visionary scenarios that are used to mobilise a supporting cast of participants who become committed by the vision to the discovery of exploitation of strategic value'. In a recent article, Renko et al (2015: 2) summarised a range of definitions; the essence of these is to suggest a relational influence process that focuses on vision and exploiting opportunities. They believe this phenomenon can occur in organisations of all sizes.…”