International Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Considerations, Research Themes, Measurement Issues, and Future Research Directions

Abstract

The amount of research conducted on the topic of international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) has grown exponentially in recent years, thus inviting an analysis of the scholarly conversations taking place. This paper is a review and commentary on how the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been leveraged within the international entrepreneurship literature. The possible distinctiveness of the EO and IEO constructs are considered, and the major themes of IEO research are summarized. Several measurement–related issues particularly pertinent to the assessment of EO as a generalizable/universalistic phenomenon are considered. The paper concludes with the identification of research foci whose pursuit promises to advance IEO knowledge along productive paths.

International entrepreneurial orientation and regional expansion

“…Researchers interested in the field of international entrepreneurship have also given attention to international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) as a potential driver of international expansion (Coviello et al, 2011;Covin & Miller, 2014;Dai et al, 2014), regional development (Butler & Hansen, 1991;Benneworth, 2004), and improvement of economic growth (Laukkanen, 2000;Huggins & Williams, 2011;Valliere & Peterson, 2009). …”

“…International scope is defined as the process of seeking new market opportunity across multiple foreign markets. Thus, expansion to foreign markets is an essential outcome of entrepreneurial proclivity (Covin & Miller, 2014).…”

“…While scholars have recently called for additional research to examine both how behavioral IEO elements predict variations in firms' international scope, and how this relationship is contingent upon environment conditions (Covin & Miller, 2014;Coviello et al, 2011), little attention has been given to how and when IEOs influence firms' tendencies to expand to foreign markets. Although traditional internationalization theory points to regional expansion as an antecedent to global expansion (e.g., Dunning, 1993;Johanson & Vahlne, 1977), scholars argue that a combination of high informal exporting activity levels, rising liberalization of regional economies, regional economic blocs, and emerging middle class consumption in many regional markets has created opportunity for firms to internationalize to regional markets (e.g., Ibeh et al, 2012;Rolfe et al, 2015).…”

Learning From Success and Failure in Corporate Entrepreneurship and Organizational Change: A Multi-Case Study of Chinese Companies

“…Corporate entrepreneurship is the lifeline of any firm that seeks to stay ahead of the competition in this fast-faced world (Covin and Miles, 2013). There are various definitions of corporate entrepreneurship and we adopted the definition from Ireland et al, (2009), a strategy of a vision-directed, organization-wide reliance on entrepreneurial behavior that purposefully and continuously rejuvenates the organization and shapes the scope of its operations through the recognition and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunity.…”

“…Thus, how to achieve sustainability of corporate entrepreneurship becomes an critical question for the Chinese companies. Literature in corporate entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities for the company growth and strategic renewal (Ireland, Covin and Kuratko, 2009;Covin and Miles, 2013). Two distinct but related forms of corporate entrepreneurship are identified: corporate venturing and strategic entrepreneurship.…”