Entrepreneurial orientation and its impact on firm growth amongst SMEs in South Africa

Autor: Brownhilder Ngek Neneh, Johan van Zyl
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Problems and Perspectives in Management, Vol 15, Iss 3, Pp 166-178 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1727-7051
1810-5467
DOI: 10.21511/ppm.15(3).2017.14
Popis: Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been widely touted as a fundamental ingredient for enhancing firm growth. Consequently, this aimed at examining the impact of EO and its dimensional variables (innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness) on SME growth (employment, sales, and asset growth). Using information from 285 SMEs, the results obtained indicated that while EO had a significant positive association with SME growth (employment and sales growth), most SMEs show a moderate level of EO. Also, following the EO dimensions, the findings established the emergence of proactive innovation (a combination of proactiveness and innovativeness) which showed a significant positive association on sales growth. Risk-taking was the only factor that showed a significant influence on employment and asset growth. This study also showed that controlling for the effect of firm age on growth significantly reduced the error of predicting sales growth by 2.3%. This study culminates with recommendations on enhancing EO amongst SMEs in South Africa.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals