The study combines the research domains of strategic management and corporate innovation by examining the impact of strategic management practices on entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Recognising the importance of internal business processes that enable firm entrepreneurial behaviour, it is hypothesised that higher levels of EO are positively associated with the strategic management practices of (1) locus of planning, (2) scanning intensity, (3) planning flexibility, (4) planning horizon, and (5) strategy and financial control attributes. Empirical testing takes place in an under-researched emerging market context on a sample of 219 financial and business services firms. The results provide support for the positive impact that the different strategic management practices have on EO. A practical consideration is for managers to leverage the strategic management practices so that the firm's position on the conservative-entrepreneurial continuum is increased by its propensity to be innovative, proactive, and be willing to take risks when confronted by uncertainty.

The paper discussed motivations of sustainable entrepreneurship in Gauteng Province, South Africa, and estimated relationships between these motivations and enterprise performance.Despite the growing field of sustainable entrepreneurship, most of the available literature has been mainly theoretical and qualitative or has focused on developed countries. This paper contributes to addressing this gap through empirical analysis based on primary survey data from 91 sustainable entrepreneurs. Reliability of the performance and motivation scales were subjected to the Cronbach's alpha coefficient test, and the results were acceptable. The exploratory factor analysis indicated that the motivations of sustainable entrepreneurship factored into 4 dimensions: extrinsic, intrinsic, income security and financial independence, and necessity motivations. Regression analysis revealed that extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are important determinants of enterprise performance. These motivations can be targeted to promote sustainable entrepreneurship in addition to complementary support such as improving business management skills and competencies of sustainable entrepreneurs.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country with a high agricultural productivity potential; however, the agribusiness sector remains unattractive to youths. This study examined the extent to which perceived social norms and psychological capital affect youths’ intentions to pursue agribusiness opportunities in the Eastern DRC. Data was collected on a sample of 600 youths. We applied Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS−SEM) in order to examine the relationship between the variables. The findings indicated that most of the youths did not select agribusiness as their top career choice. The intention to engage in agribusiness activities was significantly higher among the youths who perceived that agribusiness was socially valued and supported. Psychological capital significantly and positively affects youths’ agripreneurial intention. The findings contribute to the underlying Theory of Planned Behavior by supporting a positive mediation role of psychological capital—and the moderating roles of educational level, gender, access to land, and location—on the relationship between perceived social norms and agripreneurial intention. The paper concludes that the provision of funds is not enough to promote youth agripreneurship in an environment in which agricultural-related social norms, youths’ psychological capital, gender, access to land, educational level, and location (rural versus urban) are not thoroughly considered.

The proponents of the entrepreneurial motivation dichotomy have argued that opportunity-driven entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed and sustain in entrepreneurship, unlike people who start-up businesses out of necessity. However, disagreement still exists on why and under which conditions the former might outperform the latter. This research contributes to this debate by examining the mediation role of psychological capital in the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and business success among youths. This study relied on a random sample of 295 young entrepreneurs surveyed from Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We applied partial least squares to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Evidence for the positive effect of opportunity-led motivation on psychological capital was found, but the findings did not support any direct effect of entrepreneurial motivation on business success. Instead, psychological capital positively and significantly mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and business success. This paper makes a distinctive new contribution to the understanding of the intriguing and controversial entrepreneurial motivation dichotomy—a business success relationship. To this end, we have found out that opportunity entrepreneurs have 3% more chance of succeeding in businesses compared to necessity entrepreneurs, because the former outperform the latter by 4% in the dimensions of psychological capital. This paper has new policy implications, as it reveals the great importance of psychological capital in promoting business success, thus reducing unemployment among youths, and offers tips from which psychological capital can be built or improved.

Purpose As good as existing measurements of entrepreneurial potential (EP) may appear in the literature, they are fragmented, suffer from the lack of theory integration and clarity, are inadequately specified and assessed and the dimensions are unordered by importance. These limitations of EP metrics have hindered entrepreneurial practice and theory advancement. There is a risk of atomistic evolution of the topic among “siloed” scholars and room for repetitions without real progress. The purpose of this paper was to take stock of existing measurements from which the authors developed a new instrument that is brief and inclusive. Design/methodology/approach The authors followed several steps to develop and validate the new instrument, including construct domain name specification, literature review, structured interviews with entrepreneurs, face validation by experts, semantic validation and statistical validation after two waves of data collected on employee and entrepreneur samples. Findings A clear operational definition of EP is proposed and serves as a starting point towards a unified EP theory. The new EP instrument is made up of 34 items classified into seven dimensions, which in order of importance are proactive innovativeness, management skill, calculated risk-taking, social skill, financial literacy, entrepreneurial competencies prone to cognitive and heuristic biases and bricolage. The authors provide evidence for reliability and validity of the new instrument. Research limitations/implications Although a model is not the model, the authors discuss several ways in which the new measurement model can be used by different stakeholders to promote entrepreneurship. Originality/value The authors discuss the domain representativeness of the new scale and argue that the literature can meaningfully benefit from a non-fuzzy approach to what makes the EP of an individual. By developing a new EP instrument, the authors set an important pre-condition for advancing entrepreneurial theory and practice.

Purpose As a consequence of global changes, the landscape of immigration is changing. This brings opportunities for researching more nuanced aspects related to immigrant entrepreneurship in new contexts. The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which Africa-to-African immigrants leverage their social capital and human capital towards improving the success of their entrepreneurial ventures. Design/methodology/approach First-generation immigrant entrepreneurs within the Johannesburg area in South Africa were surveyed (n = 230). Instrument validity and reliability was first established, and then the hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analyses. Findings Hypotheses are supported insofar African immigrant entrepreneurs in South Africa rely on their structural and resource-related dimensions of social capital to achieve entrepreneurial success. Furthermore, human capital in terms of both work experience and entrepreneurial experience was found to be a significant predictor of entrepreneurial success. Research limitations/implications There is value in developing policies that promote African immigrant entrepreneurs with higher levels of human and social capital. These African immigrants have the potential to increase the national skills base and knowledge required for successful entrepreneurship development in South Africa. Originality/value While both human capital and social capital have been associated significantly with the generic entrepreneurship literature, this paper provides an empirical contribution by focusing on the relevance of these constructs in the context of immigrant entrepreneurship from an African emerging market perspective.

No abstract

No abstract