Search results

The European Commission has published a general framework of entrepreneurship competence (EC), EntreComp, to create a shared definition and support its development. This study proposes and tests a scale to measure EC based on the EntreComp framework and examines its relation to start-up behaviour using data from seven European countries.

The data were gathered from seven European countries and consist of 1,128 answers from both secondary and higher education level students. The authors use explorative factor analysis (EFA), analysis of variance and logistic regression analysis as data analysis methods.

The results show that EC is related to start-up behaviour and sensitive to role models and prior experience of entrepreneurship but is not sensitive to gender or level of education. The results also show that although the framework proposes three distinct areas, EC is unidimensional.

The study tests the EntreComp framework and introduces a scale for measuring EC based on the framework. The results show that EC can be addressed as unidimensional construct and that it explains start-up behaviour and develops through enterprising activities. The study also shows the impact of role models on EC. No difference in EC between genders is observed, suggesting the gender differences in entrepreneurship arise from factors other than competence.

This paper aims to examine the growth rates of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over a three-year period, the relationship between firm size and firm growth in the context of SMEs, and the effect of marketing capability (MC) on firm growth and how it relates to firm size. The theoretical framework is based on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities.

Data were gathered from Finnish SMEs (n = 214) and analyzed with Latent growth curve modeling (structural equation modeling). Respondents were chief executive officers or company owners.

Results show that firm size is unrelated to the rate of change, and MC has a significant effect on both the intercept and slope parameters. Smaller SMEs have less MC than larger SMEs.

While the overall human resources level of the SME is not linked to the rate of growth, MC is. This is an important point for small business growth studies, for it shows what type of personnel is called for during rapid growth. SMEs could advance significantly and rapidly if they invest in versatile human capital, especially in the marketing area.

Majority of the MC research involves larger corporations. This study brings new insights from SME perspective. In addition, this study suggests that it is imperative to consider different types of growth separately. This study contributes to this need by demonstrating the connection between employee growth rate and MC in SMEs.

This study aims to contribute to entrepreneurial intention research by examining the theory of planned behavior model in a longitudinal follow-up of the same individuals from a point at which they were studying until six to eight years after graduation and the link between entrepreneurial intention and actual behavior. The objectives of the paper are as follows: to examine the development and temporal stability of entrepreneurial intention and to examine the link between entrepreneurial intention and actual start-up behavior in a longitudinal setting.

The data for this research originate in Finland and consist three data collection waves between years 2008 and 2018. In the second wave, 282 respondents were reached, and in the third wave, 89 respondents were reached. For examining the stability of entrepreneurial intention, latent growth curve modeling was used. In addition, a logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the link between intention and behavior.

The results suggest that entrepreneurial intention is a stable construct over time. High and low levels of entrepreneurial intention remain quite stable. Entrepreneurial intention measured during study time significantly explains entrepreneurial behavior both after one to three years (Exp (B) 2,069***) and after six to eight years (Exp (B) 1,830*). Gender and role models are significant factors in predicting entrepreneurial behavior.

This study provides new information on the stability of entrepreneurial intention in a rare longitudinal setting. The study verifies the value of intention measures in predicting entrepreneurial behavior in the long term.

This paper examines how digitalization can affect three aspects of firm growth. The specific objectives are as follows: (1) to increase understanding of how digitalization affects pre-factors for growth, (2) to examine how digitalization transforms the growth process, especially growth strategies and (3) to examine how digitalization is apparent in the outcome of growth.

We explore six Finnish growth companies in order to understand the relationship between digitalization and growth. We used qualitative data collection and the Digimat measurement test for analyzing patterns, themes and best practices to generate a deeper understanding of the impact of digital technologies on business growth and growth strategies in these companies.

We propose that business growth includes three aspects of growth: pre-factors of growth, growth as a process and growth as an outcome. Digitalization may affect all of these aspects and strategic flexibility can affect business growth. Digitalization and strategic flexibility are intertwined; strategic flexibility enables the application of new technology, and digitalization enables flexibility.

Building on the results of the case studies, this research identifies relationships between digitalization, business growth and strategic flexibility.

This paper contributes to the growing literature on digitalization, providing new insight into its relation to business growth.

The purpose is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ exit strategies and modes of entry. The topic of exit strategies in the context of approaching retirement warrants further attention.

We apply logistic regression to analyse 1,192 responses to an online survey of firms with entrepreneurs aged over 55.

Family successors are more likely to choose family succession and buyers to choose to sell, but the association between founding and exit mode cannot be confirmed. Firm size is also significant. Our findings suggest that entry and exit via a business transfer are linked. Entrepreneurs might be influenced by their form of entry when choosing their exit strategy.

The data were collected from a single European country, limiting generalisation. Future research should incorporate intervening variables not controlled for here, such as, entrepreneurial experience. Future studies should also seek to test the existence of imprinting directly, as it is implied rather than verified here.

If the entry mode has a lasting effect on the entrepreneur as our results suggest, thus influencing the exit strategy selected, entrepreneurs could benefit from greater awareness of the imprinting mechanism. Increasing awareness of imprinted biases could unlock the benefits of exit strategies previously overlooked.

The study is the first to consider sale, family succession and liquidation as exit strategies in relation to the original entry mode of ageing owners. It contributes to the understanding of exit strategies of ageing entrepreneurs and proposes using entrepreneurial learning and imprinting as lenses to clarify the phenomenon.

Entrepreneurial intentions have been extensively studied in student populations, with results suggesting that higher education does not promote formation of entrepreneurial intentions (e.g. Varamäki et al., 2013). However, the gap between intending to start a business and actually doing something to start one remains. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions with higher education students andto analyze the antecedents of actual behaviors related to start-ups with higher education students. The authors use theory of planned behavior (TPB) for both analyzing the intentions and analyzing the actual behaviors.

The authors apply Ajzen’s (1991) TPB to entrepreneurial intentions of higher education students and test their relevance as antecedents of actual behaviors. In addition to the basic elements of TPB (attitudes, subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC)) the authors test the impact of entrepreneurial characteristics (EC) (innovativeness, tolerance of ambiguity, creative problem solving and the ability to organize) of the student for intentions and for actual behaviors related to start-ups. Gender, entrepreneurial role models and basic education (upper secondary school vs vocational) are used as control variables. The data were collected in fall 2012 in seven different universities of applied sciences and consists of 3,754 responses, including 182 from respondents who were starting their own business at the time of the study.

For entrepreneurial intentions, the model explains 47 percent of the variance. The best antecedent of intentions seems to be attitude followed by PBC. EC and SN are significant but their role in the model is quite small. For actual behavior related to starting up a firm, the results are quite different. Gender explains behavior significantly and so does basic education. The most important independent variable is EC followed by PBC. Attitude toward entrepreneurship is not significant in explaining the actual start-up behavior, nor is SN.

From an empirical standpoint, the sample was limited to higher education students in one country. This limits the scope of generalization. Further studies, comparing antecedents of intentions and behavior in multiple contexts should be undertaken. Another limitation of the study is that the authors have been unable, due to the small number of students engaged in start-up activities, to examine the differences between study years.

The results raise interesting and difficult questions for entrepreneurship educators. Should entrepreneurship education aim at actual behaviors rather than intentions – or neither? What is vocational education doing “right” compared with upper secondary school or, indeed, higher education? Furthermore, if EC are this significant for actual behavior, what should or could be done to promote development of such characteristics in higher education?

The paper contrasts entrepreneurial intentions with actual behaviors related to starting up a firm and tests the utility of the TPB antecedents in this context. As the development of entrepreneurial intention has generally been studied in isolation from actual activities, the paper presents an interesting counterpoint to previous research.