Entrepreneurial orientation and performance: mediating effects of technology and marketing action across industry types

Abstract

We contribute to the debate on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance. We theorise, firstly, that the relationship between EO and performance is mediated by the firm’s technology and marketing action and secondly, that these mediating effects will differ by industry. We test the model on 489 Korean SMEs. Results indicate both technology and marketing action mediate the effect of EO on performance. As expected, technology action has a stronger mediating effect than marketing action in manufacturing industries, while marketing action has a stronger mediating effect in service industries. We discuss implications for managers and policy-makers.

Keywords:

• Entrepreneurial orientation
• technology action
• marketing action
• firm performance
• SMEs
• Korea