Impact of Entrepreneurial OrientationonSustainable Competitive Advantage: The Moderating Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, this study aimed to examine the moderating effect of proactive and reactive corporate social responsibility on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable competitive advantage. To achieve the research objectives, this study adopted the descriptive design. The survey was used to collect the data from a convenience sample of (175) among Sudanese service firms. This study employed structural equation modeling using Smart PLS 3.0 software to analyze (126) valid cases obtained from the study population. The path coefficient analysiswas used to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings revealed that only two components of EO more precisely, innovativeness and proactiveness have a significant positive influence on SCA, whereas three components of EO, namely risk-taking, autonomy and competitive aggressiveness havea negative influence on SCA. The results also indicated that proactive and reactive CSR have a significant positive effect on the relationship between three components of EO (i.e., innovativeness, risk-taking and autonomy) and SCA. Whilst proactive and reactive CSR have a negative influence on the relationship between the remaining two components of EO (i.e., proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness). Jointly, the findings can be summarized in that EO has a positive influence on SCA. As well as proactive and reactive CSR have a positive effect on the relationship between EO and SCA. These findings were discussed in the light of previous literature. As a conclusion, the results offered useful implications to theory and practice. Additionally, this study acknowledged several limitations and presented insightful suggestions for future research.