Purpose Strategic entrepreneurship rejuvenates firms to achieve a competitive advantage in current markets. It is effective in forming corporate entrepreneurship and involves the simultaneous opportunity-seeking and advantage-seeking behaviors of firms. The aim of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of strategic entrepreneurship in the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance through the resource-based view. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a quantitative research method and structural equation modeling technique, structural models were developed to test the research hypotheses. To this end, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 103 financial technology companies in Iran. Findings The results support the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that corporate entrepreneurship and strategic entrepreneurship are positively related to firm performance. They also reveal the mediating effect of strategic entrepreneurship in the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. In the developing context of Iran, financial technology companies are more likely to employ corporate entrepreneurship and strategic entrepreneurship to achieve firm performance. Originality/value The current study contributes to the literature on strategic entrepreneurship by employing a resource-based view and exploring the relationship between firm capabilities (i.e. strategic entrepreneurship) and firm performance. Applying a resource-based view leads to a better understanding of strategic entrepreneurship. Finally, this study singles out and discusses the various features that characterize the implementation of strategic entrepreneurship by Iranian financial technology companies to reach a competitive advantage.
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