Jeffrey E. McGee

Venture Creation and the Enterprising Individual: A Review and Synthesis

Venture creation is at the heart of entrepreneurship. Enterprising individuals or groups start new ventures and, thus, we must understand the role of individuals if we are to understand venture creation. In this article, we review and critique the venture creation literature that has examined the role of the individual, with an eye toward identifying under-researched topics and improving research designs. We then highlight individual judgment as a particularly important future direction for research on the role of enterprising individuals in venture creation. We also discuss techniques for accessing entrepreneurs and for evaluating entrepreneurial judgments.

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy: Refining the Measure

A growing number of studies on entrepreneurial motivation, intentions, and behavior include entrepreneurial self–efficacy (ESE) as an explanatory variable. While there is broad consensus among researchers on the importance of including ESE in an intentionality model, there remain inconsistencies in the definition, dimensionality, and measurement of ESE. This study takes an important step toward refinement and standardization of ESE measurement. Within a new venture creation process framework, a multi–dimensional ESE instrument is developed and tested on a diverse sample that includes nascent entrepreneurs. Implications for entrepreneurship theory and entrepreneurship education are discussed.

The Influence Of Social Ties And Self-Efficacy In Forming Entrepreneurial Intentions And Motivating Nascent Behavior

Theoretical models of entrepreneurship suggest that an individuals intention to start an enterprise is a strong predictor of eventual entrepreneurial action. Less understood are factors that influence the likelihood of entrepreneurial intentions and nascent behavior. In this study, we develop and test several hypotheses about how social network ties and self-efficacy affect entrepreneurial intentions and nascent behavior. We found that a personal network of supportive strong ties coupled with high entrepreneurial self-efficacy increases the likelihood of entrepreneurial intentions and nascent behavior. A personal network of weak ties with practical business knowledge and experience also increases the likelihood of entrepreneurial nascent behavior but not entrepreneurial intentions. In contrast, a personal network of strong ties with practical business knowledge and experience has little effect on either intentions or nascent behavior and may, in fact, suppress both. The contribution of this study to nascent entrepreneurship research and implications for future research are discussed.

Uncertainty and Information Search Activities: A Study of Owner–Managers of Small High-Technology Manufacturing Firms

This study examines the relationship among perceived strategic uncertainty (PSU), environmental scanning, and the information sources used by owner–managers of a sample of 153 small high‐technology manufacturing firms. The results suggest that increased scanning activities are associated with high levels of PSU. Perhaps most importantly, the results also suggest that owner–managers of younger firms respond to uncertainty differently than their counterparts in more mature firms. Specifically, owner–managers of younger firms appear to respond to higher PSU by relying more heavily on personal and external information sources. Owner–managers of older firms, on the other hand, rely more heavily on internal and impersonal information sources to address environmental uncertainty.

Perceived Environmental Dynamism and Managerial Risk Aversion as Antecedents of Manufacturing Outsourcing: The Moderating Effects of Firm Maturity

This study investigates how perceived environmental dynamism and managerial risk aversion influence a firms manufacturing outsourcing activities. Based on a survey of 86 small manufacturing firms, the study found that higher levels of perceived environmental dynamism and managerial risk aversion are associated with increased outsourcing activity. These relationships are moderated by firm maturity such that newer firms engage in more manufacturing outsourcing than their mature counterparts when the environment is perceived to be more dynamic. Mature firms were found to outsource more than newer firms when their top‐management teams were relatively more risk averse.

Perceived Uncertainty and Firm Performance in SMEs: The Role of Personal Networking Activities

In this article we propose and test a model of the effects of perceived environmental uncertainty on personal networking activities and firm performance, utilizing a sample of owner-managers from 153 small firms in the high technology sector. We predicted that as the level of uncertainty perceived in the environment by decision makers increased, they would engage in increased external and internal networking activities. This increased networking in response to perceived uncertainty would then result in improved financial performance for their firms. The data provide support for the effects of perceived uncertainty on internal networking and firm performance. We found that as the level of perceived uncertainty in the environment increased, so did the frequency of internal networking. Increased internal networking in response to increased perceived uncertainty resulted in better firm performance. The data, however, do not provide support for our predictions related to external networking and firm performance.

Survivors of “W‐day”: an assessment of the impact of Wal‐Mart’s invasion of small town retailing communities

A mail survey of 428 Nebraska and Kansas businesses from five towns in which Wal‐Mart opened stores between 1989‐1994 resulted in 191 returns regarding retailer response and subsequent performance impact. Less than one third of the businesses with

The Relationship Between Intellectual Capital And New Venture Performance: An Empirical Investigation Of The Moderating Role Of The Environment

1 million or more in sales reported a negative impact. In contrast, nearly one half of the businesses with less than

Deliverity a graduate course in cross‐cultural management in Portugal: observations, experiences, and academic axioms

1 million in sales reported a negative impact, with the effect most felt among those retailers located in the central business district. An inverse relationship was observed between changes in retail strategy and store performance.

Entrepreneurial alertness as a pathway to strategic decisions and organizational performance

Many organizations today view intellectual capital (IC) as their most valuable asset. New ventures, in particular, can leverage their IC to attain and sustain a competitive advantage. This study investigates whether IC has a direct impact on venture performance. We also seek to determine if this relationship is moderated by environmental dimensions. Our findings suggest that human capital is the most critical component of IC when predicting operating performance of high-tech ventures, while intellectual property is the crucial component when predicting market-based performance. Our findings also suggest that the relationship between IC and venture performance is influenced by the environment.