Entrepreneurial orientation: The necessity of a multilevel conceptualization

William John Wales · Jeffrey G. Covin · Erik Willard Monsen

338 citations0/0 files storedStrategic Entrepreneurship Journal

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences Business Strategies and Innovation Innovation and Knowledge Management

Abstract

Abstract Research Summary An original and clarifying conceptualization of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is advanced based upon three fundamental ways in which entrepreneurship can be manifest as an organizational attribute: as top management style, organizational configuration, and new entry initiatives. We leverage this conceptualization to examine the presumed state of irreconcilable differences between the Miller (1983)/Covin and Slevin (1989) and Lumpkin and Dess (1996) conceptualizations of EO. This research proposes that these conceptualizations are reconcilable when the problem is reframed to consider how EO is manifest as an organizational attribute at and across multiple levels of analysis. Like the blind men and the elephant, these works have drawn attention to different aspects of a broader phenomenon. How EO as a multifaceted organizational attribute shapes future scholarly dialogue is discussed. Managerial Summary The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been proposed as a way of envisioning what it means for organizations to “be entrepreneurial.” There is more than one answer to this question. This paper describes three principal ways entrepreneurship‐as‐an‐organizational attribute has been discussed, including illustrative examples from real‐world businesses. One perspective recognizes the entrepreneurial aspect of organizations by considering top management style; a second perspective recognizes that organizations manifest entrepreneurship through a configuration of key organizational elements; and a third perspective looks to evidence of the organization's entry into new offerings and domains of operation as indicative of entrepreneurship. All three manifestations of “being entrepreneurial” are part of the current conversation on EO. This paper recognizes the conceptual legitimacy and practical interdependence of these distinct perspectives.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 338 citations exist upstream.

References

1993Organizational culture and leadership 1969The social psychology of organizing 1984Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers 1996Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance 1984Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers 1978Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process 1969Social Theory and Social Structure.1989Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments

Cited by

2020Individual and team entrepreneurial orientation: Scale development and configurations for success 2020The status quo of research on entrepreneurial orientation: Conversational landmarks and theoretical scaffolding 2020Digitalization in the financial industry: A contingency approach of entrepreneurial orientation and strategic vision on digitalization 2021Entrepreneurial mindset: Dispositional beliefs, opportunity beliefs, and entrepreneurial behavior 2021Explaining SME performance with fsQCA: The role of entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneur motivation, and opportunity perception

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.