THE MEDIATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFROMANCE

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of Organizational Culture on the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Performance (A study of business firms in Sudan). The study conducted a cross-sectional survey with a convenient sample, and a sample size of 200 business firms, where 200 questionnaires were distributed among business firms in Khartoum. The answers to 150 questionnaires were valid to be statistically analyzed through the SPSS program. Validity and Reliability tests were used for goodness of measure, Factor Analysis for validity, Cronbach's Alpha for reliability, and Multiple Regression Analysis was used for testing the study hypotheses. Based on the statistical findings, the study has shown that Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Culture were positively related to Organizational Performance, and that Organizational Culture was found to mediate the relationship between Entrepreneurial orientation and Organizational Performance. Our study has contributed to the literature by explaining how Entrepreneurial Orientation can enhance Firm Performance in the context of developing countries. It also contributed by clarifying the mediating role of Organizational Culture on the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Performance. XIII The results of our study claim to be useful to managers, owners and business practitioners in making them aware of the importance of entrepreneurial activities to their business growth. They also claim to be useful for organizations by granting them a better understanding of the effects of their culture in enhancing business performance. The study calls for future studies regarding the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Performance to be conducted in developing countries, especially in Africa. While Innovativeness, Pro-activeness, and Risk-taking are the dimensions of Entrepreneurial Orientation which have been used in many previous studies, the need for their development by future studies is confirmed by this study.