I can see the opportunity that you cannot! A nexus between individual entrepreneurial orientation, alertness, and access to finance
ISSN: 0955-534X
Article publication date: 12 April 2022
Issue publication date: 1 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how alertness enable small and medium scale enterprise (SME) owners to leverage their individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) such as risk-taking, pro-activity, innovation, passion and perseverance in a better way to recognize opportunities for financial resources as compared to their counterparts who are not alert. Moreover, it elaborates on the mediating role of opportunity recognition of financial resources between IEO and SMEs’ access to finance (AF).
Design/methodology/approach
A three-wave time-lagged survey from a stratified sample of 271 small and medium scale business owners in Pakistan was conducted and the data were analysed using PROCESS models 1 and 4.
Findings
The findings grounded in the theory of Action Regulation, signify that the IEO of small and medium scale business owners helps them attain financial resources through opportunity recognition capacity which is an action characteristic. Moreover, the IEO of SME owners, coupled with entrepreneurial alertness (EA; a cognitive pre-action state), amplifies their ability to recognize opportunities for financial resource availability.
Originality/value
This is one of the initial studies to test the IEO scale, including passion and perseverance. Moreover, it has added to the individual-level antecedents of AF in small and medium scale businesses through the role of EA and opportunity recognition.
Keywords
Citation
Bilal, A.R., Fatima, T., Iqbal, S. and Imran, M.K. (2022), "I can see the opportunity that you cannot! A nexus between individual entrepreneurial orientation, alertness, and access to finance", European Business Review, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 556-577. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-08-2021-0186
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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