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Creativity, self-efficacy, and small-firm performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation

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Abstract

Determinants of small-firm performance represent a central topic in the entrepreneurship literature. Addressing associations among personal traits, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and small-firm performance, we develop a model to examine how an entrepreneur’s creativity, self-efficacy, and EO affect small-firm performance. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 256 French small-firm owners. The findings show that self-efficacy and EO are positively and directly associated with firm performance, whereas creativity and firm performance are fully mediated by EO. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications.

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Notes

  1. See European Commission (2003).

  2. See INSEE (2012).

  3. According to Chin (1998), Dillon-Goldstein’s rho (ρ) is considered a better indicator than Cronbach’s alpha (α). Indeed, Cronbach assumes the so-called tau equivalence (or parallelity) of the manifest variables, i.e., each manifest variable is assumed to be equally important in defining the latent variable. Dillon–Goldstein’s rho does not make this assumption because it is based on the results from the model (i.e., the loadings) rather than on the correlations observed between the manifest variables in the dataset (Vinzi et al. 2010). For further details about reliability, see Table 3.

  4. The nonsignificant direct relationship between CREA and PERF means that there is an indirect effect of CREA on PERF mediated by EO.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the insurance group Malakoff Médéric and the French National Research Agency through the program “Investments for the future” (Grant No ANR-10-LabX-11-01).

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Correspondence to Anis Khedhaouria.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 8.

Table 8 t test: two-sample assuming unequal variance

Appendix 2

See Table 9.

Table 9 Item measures

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Khedhaouria, A., Gurău, C. & Torrès, O. Creativity, self-efficacy, and small-firm performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation. Small Bus Econ 44, 485–504 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-014-9608-y

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