Katharina Fellnhofer

Entrepreneurial orientation and performance – are sexes equal?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the different perceptions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of females compared to those of their male counterparts. EO and its links to performance are examined at the level of both the individual and the firm. Design/methodology/approach – Multiple linear regression analyses of a data set with 301 employees in different industries reveal significant differences between genders. Findings – EO has a positive impact on performance at both individual and firm levels of analysis. Females tend to perceive their individual EO as lower than males, but their self-evaluated work performance is higher than that of males. The firm’s EO is also perceived differently by men and by women, but the perceptions of firm’s performance are similar. Research limitations/implications – The results draw attention to the differences between individuals when they evaluate firm-level constructs like EO. While the sample is based on a small number of firms, the findings sug...

Drivers of entrepreneurial intentions in sustainable entrepreneurship

Purpose The role of entrepreneurship has changed to include issues beyond economic growth. This has turned attention toward the drivers of entrepreneurial intentions across entrepreneurship types, particularly in sustainable entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of entrepreneurial intentions in sustainable entrepreneurship. In particular, the paper aims to extend the existing intention models to include work values and attitudes toward sustainability, thereby bringing the model into the context of sustainable entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach Using a quantitative research design, data were collected in three European countries through anonymous questionnaires. The data consist of responses from 393 university students. Findings The results show that attitude toward sustainability and perceived entrepreneurial desirability enhance sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, adding sustainability into the regression equation adds explanation power, hence suggesting that the theory of planned behavior needs to be adapted when applied to sustainable entrepreneurship. Attitudes toward sustainability are positively impacted by altruism, while perceived entrepreneurial desirability is driven by intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on one particular type of entrepreneurship and one particular age group. Originality/value The paper contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by applying the entrepreneurial intention model to sustainable entrepreneurship. The results imply that it may be the time to consider the variance in entrepreneurial opportunities in intention models as well as the need to address the conflict between work values. The results show that sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial intentions are driven by attitudes toward sustainability and perceived entrepreneurial desirability. These two attitudes are driven by altruism and extrinsic rewards, and, especially, extrinsic reward plays an opposite role in both drivers of sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial intentions.

The organizational pervasiveness of entrepreneurial orientation across hierarchical levels

This contribution dedicated to entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is centered on the homogeneity of EO across hierarchical levels within organizations. According to the resource-based view of the firm, a path analysis through multiple regression models aims at highlighting significant differences between the perceptions of two hierarchical groups—work group leaders and work group members. Through reports from 301 individuals in four companies, the attention is drawn to the organizational homogeneity of EO, which has not so far been empirically tested. Contrasting the perceived EO and the multiple relationships between two different hierarchical levels reveals no significant differences between work group leaders and work group members. Thus, we can continue to rely on the organizational homogenous pervasiveness of EO. However, as one of the first studies in this sphere, this contribution has its limitations.

Facilitating entrepreneurial discovery in smart specialisation via stakeholder participation within online mechanisms for knowledge-based policy advice

Abstract The European Commission expends much effort toward the facilitation of smart specialisation strategies for smart, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth in Europe. In this framework, stakeholder engagement has received growing attention but is often neglected by the academic community, possibly due to the complexity of a multi-stakeholder approach in knowledge-based policy advice. In this regard, platforms with online mechanisms particularly show promising potential to engage a diverse set of stakeholders, so-called quadruple helix stakeholders, throughout the development of smart specialisation strategies. This report discusses a conceptional approach for promoting stakeholder engagement using online mechanisms for knowledge-based policy advice. This paper recommends seven propositions for future empirical testing of hypotheses to provide a robust fundament for future research. Because of this scope of policy advice via stakeholders, this contribution is particularly relevant for policy-makers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and the society at large interested in cultivating a knowledge-based economy via online mechanisms for exchanging policy advice.

The impact of pre–startup planning on the strength of planning assumptions and the mode of processing

While many researches have argued that founders should apply a continuous planning and learning approach, no one has examined the consequences of pre–startup planning on the dynamic capabilities to do so. In this study, we analyse if pre–startup planning has a negative impact on the cognitive dynamic capabilities of the founder. Using cross–sectional data from 102 nascent entrepreneurs, we examine the strength of planning assumptions and its impact on the information–processing mode of the founder. The results show that pre–startup planning progress correlates with both accessibility and knowledge of planning assumptions, which in turn increases the certainty by which founders hold their planning assumptions. Findings further indicate that higher certainty and knowledge of planning assumptions foster the achievement of the sufficiency threshold, indicating that founders maintain their planning assumptions with enough confidence to guide heuristic decision–making during the founding stage. These results imply that pre–startup planning affects the cognitive dynamic capabilities of the founder because strong planning assumptions influence their perceptions and prevent them from systematic information–processing and unbiased decision–making.

Narratives Boost Entrepreneurial Attitudes: Making an Entrepreneurial Career Attractive?.

Abstract This article analyses the impact of narratives on entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions. To this end, a quasi‐experiment was conducted to evaluate web‐based entrepreneurial narratives. The paired‐sample tests and regression analysis use a sample of 466 people from Austria, Finland, and Greece and indicate that individuals’ perceptions of the desirability of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention are significantly different before and after exposure to entrepreneurial narratives. Furthermore, the findings indicate that perceptions of the feasibility of entrepreneurship are more strongly affected by videos than by cases. From a policy perspective, this study raises awareness that entrepreneurship is an attractive career path.

Financing entrepreneurship by risk capital - evidence revisited

This paper summarises the large body of literature dedicated to risk capital within entrepreneurship. This work attempts to advance this field of research and identifies crucial research prospects by examining and evaluating the current body of literature by means of a literature review using a qualitative and quantitative approach. Multi-level comparisons of previous discussions and studies on the perspectives of different market participants reveal gaps that warrant further critical debate. Having synthesised the existing body of literature, the paper concludes by proposing three essential directions for the future while calling for stronger (theoretical) ties between the finance and entrepreneurship literature.

Socially-oriented entrepreneurial goals and intentions: the role of values and knowledge

Despite the notion that entrepreneurial intentions and opportunities are at the core of entrepreneurship, only limited attention has been paid to intention formation in social entrepreneurship. The goal of this paper is to examine which factors shape social entrepreneurial goals and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, we compare factors that drive both socially-oriented and general entrepreneurial intentions. Our results suggest that socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions are driven by work values and knowledge that differ from those driving general entrepreneurial intentions, hence implying a need to include entrepreneurial opportunities in entrepreneurial intention models. The findings contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by providing empirical evidence about the differences in key drivers between socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions and general entrepreneurial intentions.

Smart Specialisation Strategies: An Online Platform for Strategy Design and Assessment

Regions in the European Union (EU) are called to design and implement Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3), as a prerequisite to receive funding for research and innovation from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). To facilitate and streamline this process, the European Commission (EC) has published a Guide to RIS3 and a handbook for implementing Smart Specialisation, providing a set of methodological steps on how to design a RIS3 strategy. Although these publications provide valuable resources to facilitate RIS3 design and implementation, their inputs are focused mostly on the methodological framework, without pointing out any operational directions that could support an undertaking of the proposed methodological tasks in a streamlined and user-friendly way. The Online-S3 project, funded under the Horizon 2020, tries to address this challenge, by developing an online platform for policy advice. This study explores the information links amongst a set of methodologies, across the six phases of RIS3 design process, highlighting underlying relationships in a logical manner, based on the information flows that are detected. The results reveal parts of the overall mechanism for RIS3 policy making processes, providing guidance to regional authorities and encouraging them to use additional methods throughout their RIS3 strategy-design process, that could be managed and delivered through online platforms and applications. This prepares the grounds for future, empirical investigations of this currently under-researched topic, which appears to be crucial for policy-makers.

Strategic planning and firm performance: a comparison across countries and sectors

The level of uncertainty and pace of change in business environments is posing challenges for firms. The developed economies have transformed from the industrial era to the knowledge and service era, while emerging economies thrive with industrial growth. This poses the question of what the key drivers of corporate success are and how far they are different from the old earnings logic. We will focus on one special value-creating resource or capability, namely strategic planning. We empirically examine the performance consequences of strategic planning to determine in what contexts it pays off particularly well. We use data from a large-scale survey of about 2,500 organisations from developed and emerging countries. The survey responses represent a variety of industries from manufacturing to services. The analysis is based on general linear models, and the findings show significant performance differences across countries, industries, and firm size - with strategic planning explaining performance much better than any contextual characteristics.