Mediating and moderating effects of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and absorptive capacity on the relationship among cognitive factors, strategic orientation and firm performance of small and medium scale hotel and restaurant industry in Sri Lanka

The low performance of small and medium scale enterprises deprives their multiple contributions to the economies in their mobility towards the development. Though the issue has attracted the attention of many researchers, even today it is compelling due to the emerging global competition in the context of developing countries. The previous findings on the understanding of the complex relationships among factors influencing firm performance remain fragmented and unexplained. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test a research model for investigating the effect of cognitive factors and strategic orientation on firm performance. The research model incorporated achievement motivation, personal goal setting, and mastery experience as cognitive variables while entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and learning orientation were configured as strategic orientation. The mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating effect of absorptive capacity were also examined. The survey questionnaire translated into the native language was administered to a sample of 800 owner managers in the small and medium scale hotel and restaurant industry in Sri Lanka resulting in 350 usable responses. The stratified random sampling was the method used for the selection of the respondents to the sample. Data analysis was carried out by applying the structural equation modeling method. The findings widened the knowledge of the complex relationships among variables concerned indicating that the synergetic effect of cognitive variables and strategic orientation on firm performance is indispensable. Self-efficacy was found to be a significant mediating mechanism in the relationship between cognitive dispositions and firm performance. Strategic orientation of the organizations with higher level of absorptive capacity was found to be strongly related to firm performance. The results also extended the contextual validation of the research model in the developing countries

Geographical distance of innovation collaborations

This paper explores the geographical distance of innovation collaborations in high tech small firms. We test if absorptive capacity is a key determinant. Drawing on survey data from a sample of 316 Dutch high-tech small firms, engaging in 1.245 collaborations, we find most partners to be ‘local’. However, controlling for a variety of potential influences, higher R&D expenditure is positively related to collaboration with more distant organisations.  

Entrepreneurship and Role Models

In the media role models are increasingly being acknowledged as an influential factor in explaining the reasons for the choice of occupation and career. Various conceptual studies have proposed links between role models and entrepreneurial intentions. However, empirical research aimed at establishing the importance of role models for (nascent) entrepreneurs is scarce. Knowledge of the presence of entrepreneurial role models, their specific functions and characteristics is therefore limited. Our explorative empirical study is a first step towards filling this gap. Our study is based on the outcomes of a questionnaire completed by a representative sample of 292 entrepreneurs in three major Dutch cities - entrepreneurs who have recently started up a business in the retail, hotel and restaurant sectors, business services and other services. We provide indications of the presence and importance of entrepreneurial role models, the function of these role models, the similarity between the entrepreneur and the role model, and the strength of their relationship.

A dynamic human capital perspective on corporate opportunity identification

Hughes, Ucbasaran and Lewis observe that, despite a plethora of prior studies, little systematic and careful attention has been given to internal variables in studying corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Rather, most research has focused on external variables, such as the environment. Given the paucity of research on internal variables, the authors focus on the role of human capital in promoting CE. In conceptualizing CE, Hughes et al. emphasize corporate opportunity identification—an issue that has not been well studied in the literature. They propose that companies with better skilled human capital would be better positioned to identify more opportunities than companies with lower quality human capital. Hughes et al. make a distinction between two types of human capital: firm-specific and entrepreneurial-specific. They further observe that the relationship with opportunity identification will be higher (stronger) for firm-specific and entrepreneurial-specific human capital. Moreover, they advance that the relationship between human capital and opportunity identification will be moderated by the firm’s systems and processes. Next, they propose that increases in corporate opportunity recognition can lead to increased and higher skilled human capital, thereby recognizing the importance of CE as an important mechanism for employee engagement that enhances firm capabilities

The influence of entrepreneur's learning ability on enterprise innovation performance

All activities of an enterprise are directly or indirectly related to entrepreneur's individual capabilities. Entrepreneur's learning ability is the basis for enterprises to conduct organizational learning and innovation activities (Wu, Gao, and Wei (2007). Scholars and business practices alike have addressed the importance of entrepreneur's learning ability and its effect on innovation performance. This essential characteristic of entrepreneurs promotes resource integration and resource creation ultimately benefiting innovation performance. The main objective of this thesis is to study the influence of entrepreneur's learning ability on innovation performance and the mechanisms that may accelerate this effect, namely the mediating role of absorptive capacity and the moderating effect of market orientation and policy support. Based on comprehensive literature review a conceptual model was designed and six hypotheses are proposed. A pilot questionnaire was administered to 100 respondents to finetune the questions and the scales, and then distributed to 450 participants. After screening, 278 valid questionnaires were obtained. Regression analysis was then employed to test the path of entrepreneur’s learning ability, absorptive ability and innovation performance and the bootstrap method was used to test the mediation and moderation effects. Results show that entrepreneur's learning ability positively affects innovation performance which is consistent with Wu, Gao, and Wei (2007) and Nonaka, Toyama, and Nagata (2000). Meanwhile, absorptive capacity positively mediates the relationship between entrepreneur’s learning ability and innovation performance. Market orientation negatively moderates the relationship of entrepreneur's learning ability and innovation performance, which is consistent with Bennett and Cooper (1981). In addition, results show that policy support negatively moderates the relationship under study, indicating that this construct inhibits the positive impact of entrepreneur's learning ability on innovation performance.Todas as atividades de uma empresa estão direta ou indiretamente relacionadas com as capacidades individuais do empreendedor, incluindo a capacidade de aprender, que é a base da aprendizagem organizacional e da inovação (Wu, Gao, and Wei (2007). Esta característica essencial dos empreendedores promove não só a integração de recursos, mas também a sua criação beneficiando o desempenho da inovação. Esta tese tem como objetivo principal estudar a influência da capacidade de aprendizagem do empreendedor no desempenho da inovação e os mecanismos que podem acelerar esta relação, designadamente o papel mediador do construto “capacidade de absorção” e o efeito moderador da “orientação para o mercado” e de “políticas de apoio”. Com base numa extensa revisão de literatura, elaborou-se um modelo conceptual e propuseram-se seis hipóteses. Para recolha de dados foi primeiro administrado um questionário piloto a 100 respondentes, na sua maioria empreendedores, para tornar as perguntas e as escalas não só mais entendíveis como mais adequadas. O questionário foi depois enviado a 450 participantes e obtiveram-se 278 respostas válidas. Os dados obtidos foram sujeitos a análise de regressão para testar as relações dos contrutos "capacidade de aprendizagem do empreendedor", "capacidade de absorção" e "desempenho da inovação". Para testar os efeitos de mediação e moderação propostos nas hipóteses foi utilizado o método de inicialização (bootstrap). Os resultados mostram que a capacidade de aprendizagem do empreendedor afeta positivamente o desempenho da inovação o que é consistente com resultados anteriores (e.g. Wu, Gao, and Wei (2007) Nonaka, Toyama, and Nagata (2000) e que a capacidade de absorção tem um efeito mediador entre a capacidade de aprendizagem do empreendedor e a capacidade de inovação. Os dados da amostra estudada mostraram ainda que a orientação para o mercado modera negativamente esta relação o que é consistente com os resultados obtidos por Bennett and Cooper (1981). O mesmo acontece com o efeito moderador do construto "políticas de apoio" indicando que ele exerce um efeito inibidor no desempenho da inovação

The impact of information technology resources on SMEs' innovation performance

This work aims to develop a research framework to examine the impact of information technology resources on the innovation performance of Saudi small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs innovation capability influences growth and technological progress (Bruque & Moyano, 2007). However, many developing countries exhibit moderate or even low innovation performance. For instance, Saudi Arabia is ranked 54th by the Global Innovation Index (GII 2011). Innovation systems studies focus on the alignment between the interactions of innovation actors with their constantly changing environment toward better innovation performance (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000). The dynamic capabilities of organisations have been highlighted as a crucial characteristic that helps to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Teece et al., 1997). The indirect impact IT resources on innovation performance represents an attractive research area (Benitez-Amado et al., 2010). Therefore, we argue that a closer look at Saudi SMEs information technology resources and their impact on the firm dynamic capabilities and innovation performance would make a significant contribution to existing knowledge. Areas such as the organisation strategies of developing countries, innovation management, dynamic capabilities, open innovation and strategic information systems are few examples of areas that might benefit from this work