The Impact of Entrepreneurship Orientation on Performance of Firms and the Mediating Role of Innovational Orientation

Abstract

Entrepreneurship orientation is an important tool that facilitates Firm performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between entrepreneurship orientations on firm performance, Within SMEs sector. Entrepreneurship is an important for the support of small and medium enterprises. The problem of this study is exploring the impact of entrepreneurship orientation on firm Performance meditating role of innovation orientation. The inquiry to the problem will determine to what extent of entrepreneurship orientation relates to innovation orientation and how they relate to Firm performance. There are four main hypotheses in this study Objectives of the study to assess the effect of innovation orientation dimensions (namely; market based innovation, technology based innovation, organizational based innovation) on the relationship between entrepreneurship orientation variables and firm performance. Research Method The chosen scale items were translated from English into Arabic language to avoid translation errors and minimize loss or dilution of meaning. Further, owners, employees and managers with a good understanding of the aim of the study refined the construct measurements to suit with the SMEs context. A pilot questionnaire was administered to owners, employees and managers, to test the clarity and ambiguity. The outcome of this pre-test was revisions to three items. All questions were to be answered on a five-point Likert scale of agreement with statements containing the items, ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” findings shows that the three dimensions of the entrepreneurship orientation: pro-activeness, risk taking and competition aggressiveness affect firm performance . This study contributes to the rare empirical investigate of the entrepreneurship orientation and Firm Performance. The study provides detail discussion, Imitations and suggestions for future research. Keywords- Entrepreneurship orientation, Innovation orientation, Performance, SMEs