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This paper aims to investigate the effect of decision-making, in terms of the effectuation and causation orientation of small business owners, on the growth of their small businesses in an uncertain environment: Burundi.

On the basis of primary data from a pre-study of 29 expert interviews, a questionnaire was developed and was filled in by 154 small business owners in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura. Subsequently, correlation analyses, a factor analysis and regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.

While, on the one hand, the findings show that small business owners who perceive the environment as uncertain are more effectuation-oriented than causation-oriented; on the other hand, the findings show that effectuation and causation orientations do not influence later small business growth. Therefore, other determinants for small business growth in an uncertain environment should be further explored.

This paper fills the research gap of decision-making in relation to small business growth from the entrepreneurs who are among the billion people who live in absolute poverty. On the basis of Western studies, effectuation might be more present in contexts of dealing with many uncertainties of future phenomena, and that it is often positively correlated with firm growth. In contrast, this paper shows that neither an effectuation orientation nor a causation orientation significantly affects small business growth in a context that can be assumed as highly uncertain.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of discovery and creation behaviour in opportunity identification on firm performance in a developing country context. By doing so, the study adds new knowledge and insights in researching the entrepreneurial behaviour types at the start-up phase and their eventual effects on firm performance.

The study was conducted amongst Ethiopian tour operators (n = 118), which are formally established small tourism firms. A survey questionnaire, which is the main data gathering tool in this study, was prepared based on a distinction between discovery and creation behaviour with regard to the seven entrepreneurial actions described by Alvarez and Barney (2007). Hence, 14 multiple-item measurement scales were derived to define the entrepreneurial behaviour types. Firm performance was measured using four indicators. A regression analysis was conducted to predict the effect of entrepreneurial behaviour at the start-up phase on firm performance.

The findings of this study provide consistent support for the hypothesis that tour-operating firms in Ethiopia founded through creation behaviour instead of discovery behaviour are performing better in terms of sales, employment, profit and asset size change.

The theoretical contribution of this study is two-fold. First, it provides a scale for measuring the extent to which discovery and/or creation opportunity identification played a role in the start-up phase of the business. Second, the study assesses the effects of discovery behaviour and creation behaviour in opportunity identification on firm performance in a developing country context.

The entrepreneurs' behaviour through which they identify and pursue new opportunities may have a considerable effect on the subsequent performance of their newly established firms. It is, therefore, important to understand effects, which result from differences in entrepreneurs' behaviour at the start-up phase, in terms of outcomes such as firm performance among small businesses. Nonetheless, there is little empirical research conducted in this regard, particularly in the context of developing countries. This study contributes to the literature of entrepreneurship by applying entrepreneurial behaviour types, i.e. discovery and creation, as determinants of small firms' performance in a developing country context. Furthermore, it is one of the few studies concentrating on formal instead of informal operations in an African context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of causation and effectuation behaviour of Ethiopian entrepreneurs on the eventual performance of their newly established small firms. It adds new knowledge and insights to advance the theory of effectuation by extending its scope into the domain of entrepreneurial behaviour and firm performance and by testing one of the operationalized scales in an African context.

This empirical research is conducted amongst Ethiopian tour operators (n=118) based on primary data from the field. The scales are based on Chandler et al. (2011), which are adapted to fit to the tourism sector and validated in an African context using a two-stage exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Hierarchical multiple regression is used to assess the ability of entrepreneurs’ behaviour (i.e. causation and effectuation) at the startup phase to predict the eventual performance of their newly established firms (self-reported changes in employment size, sales, profit and assets) over three years (January 2012-2015).

The findings reveal a varied effect of causation and effectuation on financial and non-financial measures. Causation is positively related to an increase in employment size, whereas the overall effect of effectuation is positively related to financial performance measures, although its dimensions vary in their effects on sales, profit and assets increase. The paper concludes that causation and effectuation have varied implications on firm performance. In other words, unlike the findings of other research in Western contexts, a strong empirical support is not found to claim that effectuation is superior to causation in outcomes such as firm performance in Ethiopian context.

While this paper provides a new data set for entrepreneurship literature, its findings may lack generalisability. Not only it is industry specific (tourism sector), but also it is conducted in a single African country (Ethiopia). Despite its limitations, the paper adds new knowledge and insights for empirical studies in entrepreneurship field on the effects of entrepreneurs’ behaviour, such as causation and effectuation; on firm performance. Future research should focus on other economic sectors and in different African countries before making generalisations about the effect of causation and effectuation behaviour of African entrepreneurs on firm performance.

The findings of this paper can be used in other hospitality and tourism sectors like hotels and souvenir shops since tour operating business includes a broad range of service activities such as sightseeing, accommodation, transportation, recreational activities and shopping. Besides, these results have practical implications to prepare and provide business and management training tools to enhance entrepreneurial and managerial skills of owners of small tourism firms in Ethiopia. The findings of the study can also be applied in other African countries with similar culture and business environments to promote tourism development and success in Africa.

There have been hardly any empirical studies that are undertaken on the implications of entrepreneurial behaviour such as causation and effectuation on the performance of small tourism firms, particularly in an African context. The paper addresses this research gap in entrepreneurship literature in drawing on empirical evidence from small tourism firms (tour operators) in Ethiopia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ personal values and corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientations among small- and medium-sized enterprises in a developing country, Zambia.

Data were collected through questionnaires. Two linear regression models were used to test the hypotheses.

Self-transcendence values have a significant positive influence on socially oriented CSR but do not influence environmentally oriented CSR. Self-enhancement values do not affect social and environmental CSR orientations. Conservation values have a marginally positive influence on environmentally oriented CSR but no influence on socially oriented CSR. Finally, openness to change has a significant positive influence on environmentally orientated CSR but no influence on socially oriented CSR.

The limitations of this study relates to the sector from which the sample was drawn, other predictors of CSR orientations, use of cross-sectional data, and the replication of this study to validate its findings.

The findings inform policy-makers, scholars, educators, and regulators on the importance of aligning personal values with environmental and social concerns, thereby influencing entrepreneurs’ CSR orientations for the well-being of society and the natural environment.

This paper shows the influence of personal values on CSR orientations among entrepreneurs in a hardly researched Sub-Saharan Africa country.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which performance and environmental sustainability orientations (ESOs) are developed, as well as their association, in a typical impoverished community: the informal economy of an African least developed country (LDC).

Based on a literature review and a pre-study on the spot, a questionnaire was developed before being completed by 140 informal food vendors – that is, “subsistence entrepreneurs” – in Tanzania. t-Tests, correlation analyses and regression analyses were carried out to approach the formulated hypotheses.

The results showed that a significant distinction can be made between basic and advanced performance. In addition, the respondents showed significantly higher levels of awareness of ESO practices that are intangible and are not fully within their control than the so-called personal tangible ESO practices. However, performance was minimally affected by ESOs.

While firm performance and environmental sustainability have been shortlisted on agendas outside academia (e.g. international development organisations) as a means to develop LDCs, the scientific community is lagging behind with regard to these two. This paper is one step forward in unravelling how performance and ESOs occur in LDCs.