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Recognizing novel entrepreneurial opportunities arising from a crisis is of paramount importance for firms. Hence, understanding the pivotal factors that facilitate firms in this endeavor holds significant value. This study delves into such factors within a representative empirical context impacted by a crisis, drawing insights from existing literature on opportunity recognition during such tumultuous periods.

The authors conducted a qualitative inspection of 14 Italian firms during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The authors collected a rich body of multi-source qualitative data, including 34 interviews (with senior managers and entrepreneurs) and secondary data (press releases, videos, web interviews, newspapers, reports and academic articles) in two phases (March–August 2020 and September–December 2020).

The results suggest the existence of a process model of opportunity recognition during crises based on five entrepreneurial influencing factors (entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial proclivity, entrepreneurial personality and entrepreneurial purpose).

Various scholars have highlighted that, in times of crises, it is not easy and indeed very challenging for entrepreneurs to identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities. However, recent research has shown that crises can also positively impact entrepreneurs and their capacity to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities. Given these findings, not much research has analyzed the process by which entrepreneurs identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities during crises. This study shows that some entrepreneurial influencing factors are very important to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities during crises.

Although earlier research suggests a positive relationship exists between engaging in entrepreneurial marketing activities and firm performance, there may be contingent issues that impact the association. This investigation unpacks the relationship between entrepreneurial marketing behaviour and firm performance under the moderating role of coopetition, in an immediate post-COVID-19 period.

A resource-based theoretical lens, alongside an outside-in perspective, underpins this study. Following 20 field interviews, survey responses via an online survey were obtained from 306 small, passive exporting wine producers with a domestic market focus in the United States. The data passed all major robustness checks.

The statistical findings indicated that entrepreneurial marketing activities positively and significantly influenced firm performance, while coopetition provided a non-significant moderation effect. Field interviews suggested that entrepreneurs’ attemps to scale up from passive to more active export activities in an immediate post-pandemic period helped explain the findings. Owner-managers rejoined trustworthy and complementary pre-pandemic coopetition partners in the immediate aftermath of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for domestic market activities. In contrast, they had to minimise risks from dark-side/opportunistic behaviour when joining coopetition networks with partners while attempting to scale up export market activities.

Unique insights emerge to unpack the entrepreneurial marketing–performance relationship via the moderation effect of coopetition, namely, with the temporal setting of an immediate post-COVID-19 period. Firstly, new support arises regarding the likely performance-enhancing impact of owner-managers’ engagement in entrepreneurial marketing practices. Secondly, novel findings emerge in respect of the contrasting role of coopetition in both domestic and export market activities. Thirdly, new evidence arises in relation to a resource-based theoretical lens alongside an outside-in perspective, whereby, strategic flexibility in pivoting facets of a firm’s business model needs effective management following a crisis.

Knowledge sharing enables a firm’s absorptive capacity to reconfigure its dynamic capabilities to sense, track and recognise embryonic business opportunities. Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition triggers entrepreneurs to invest in and upgrade their knowledge practices to improve entrepreneurial performance. This study aims to examine the relationship between knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity on entrepreneurial orientation as well as the moderating effect of opportunity recognition and the mediating effect of absorptive capacity.

A quantitative cross-sectional research design was applied to data from Algerian small and medium-sized enterprise managers in middle- to top-management positions. The final analysis using smart PLS included 246 respondents.

Knowledge sharing positively influenced entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity. In addition, the findings reveal that entrepreneurial orientation positively influences entrepreneurial performance, and opportunity recognition strengthens the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial performance. Entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity have partial mediating effects.

This study focuses on how firms create and share developed knowledge to enable absorptive capacity to fit a level of entrepreneurial orientation. This study validates the vital impact of opportunity recognition as a leading motivation for entrepreneurial orientation. The results highlight an important area of research and suggest that firms should focus on knowledge sharing to boost entrepreneurial outcomes.

The notions of entrepreneurship, absorptive capacity and knowledge sharing are extended by building on dynamic capability theory. Knowledge sharing increases absorptive capacity, which drives superior entrepreneurial orientation outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial passion for founding firms (EPFF) and persistence in venture start-ups and to examine the mediating role of searching and scanning alertness, association and connection alertness and evaluation and judgment alertness (i.e. entrepreneurial alertness).

Using a three-way parallel mediation involving searching and scanning alertness, association and connection alertness and evaluation and judgment alertness, on data from 342 serial entrepreneurs from Nigeria, the authors examined the influence of EPFF on persistence in venture start-ups, through a parallel mediation involving searching and scanning alertness, association and connection alertness and evaluation and judgment alertness.

The authors find that EPFF was not significantly related (positive) to persistence in venture start-ups, but that searching and scanning alertness, association and connection alertness and evaluation and judgment alertness mediated the path through which EPFF impacts persistence in venture start-ups. Thus, entrepreneurial alertness is relevant in explaining the relationship between EPFF and persistence in venture start-ups in Nigeria.

The findings of this study highlight the relevance of EPFF and alertness in explaining persistence in venture start-ups in Nigeria.

This study aims to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial leadership on service innovation in the hospitality industry and examine the mediating effects of market-sensing capability and knowledge acquisition. Additionally, the study explores the moderating role of competitive intensity in the relationships between market-sensing capability, knowledge acquisition and service innovation, drawing on the dynamic capability theory and resource dependence theory.

The data for this study were obtained from 322 employees and 137 leaders working in 103 hotels in Vietnam, using a time-lagged approach. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in SPSS Amos 28.

The results of this study reveal a significant positive association between entrepreneurial leadership and service innovation, with mediation effects observed through both knowledge acquisition and market-sensing capability. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that competitive intensity moderates the association between knowledge acquisition and service innovation.

The results of this study provide implications for hospitality firms to cultivate entrepreneurial leadership through leadership training and development programs and enhance their dynamic capabilities (i.e. market-sensing capability and knowledge acquisition) to allow them to survive and develop in a competitive market.

This study advances entrepreneurial leadership research in the hospitality context by identifying mediating and moderating mechanisms that translate entrepreneurial leadership into hospitality firms’ service innovation.

This study aims to empirically assess entrepreneurial leadership skills’ role in Corporate Sustainable Development (CSD) and firm performance (FP). This study considers five specific entrepreneurial traits: innovativeness, creativity, analytical thinking, emotional intelligence and passion and motivation. The motivation for this investigation stems from concerns over micro-firms vulnerabilities and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lacking proper leadership skills. This study is guided by the resource-based view theory and conducted during the pandemic, offering insights into firms operating under constrained conditions.

Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), were used on survey responses from 321 Bahraini firms. This study’s data collection occurred under environmental uncertainties due to the pandemic and provides a unique context for understanding CSD and entrepreneurial leadership skills under high business/environmental uncertainty.

The findings reveal that entrepreneurial leadership skills positively impact CSD and firm performance through creativity, passion and motivation. However, innovativeness negatively affects CSD and FP. Furthermore, CSD positively influences firm performance.

Theoretical and practical implications, plus limitations, are also discussed in this study.

Understanding entrepreneurial leadership skills effect on CSD and firm performance in SMEs is important as SEMs are prone to fail in the early years. This study’s findings and its implications help guide SME leaders in furthering their entrepreneurial leadership skills to foster CSD and firm performance.

This study contributes to comprehending the crucial role of entrepreneurial skills, during uncertain times of the pandemic, for SMEs’ survival. It provides valuable insights for firms operating in competitive environments, offering a unique perspective on the required entrepreneurial skills and their effect on CSD and firm performance.

This study examines the relationship between strategic entrepreneurial behaviors (SEBs) and the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging market context. The authors expand upon prior work in this area by building and testing a model that assesses the moderating effect of CEOs’ narcissism and Machiavellianism on the relationship between SEBs and SME performance.

To test the authors’ theoretical model, the authors use the results of a larger data collection project in Russia to create a national random sample of 372 Russian SMEs that were approached between August and November 2019.

The authors found support for the positive relationship between SEBs and SME performance. Additionally, the authors found that CEO narcissism and Machiavellianism strengthen the relationship between SEBs and firm performance.

This study is an important step toward enriching the understanding of the role of CEO personality traits in shaping the efficiency of entrepreneurial behavior at the firm level. Extending previous research, the authors show that SEBs have a positive effect on firm performance in an emerging market context. Additionally, the authors contribute insight about how personality characteristics of CEOs, specifically narcissism and Machiavellianism, influence the relationship between entrepreneurial behavior and firm performance. Finally, the authors’ research contributes to the development of strategic leadership theory: the results offer insight to scholars regarding the potentially beneficial attributes of otherwise “dark” leaders.

The focus of this study is on how online-only retailers, known as pure-play e-retailers, leverage e-commerce platforms to identify and pursue market opportunities. Through the perspective of entrepreneurial marketing, this study aims to explore the influence of e-commerce technologies on the decision-making process of entrepreneurial marketing. This exploration is conducted via a case study of pure-play e-retailers based in China.

This study utilised a qualitative case study methodology to examine the complex processes of entrepreneurial marketing in an online environment. The study gathered detailed insights from both owner-managers and staff members of eight pure-play e-retail businesses. Additionally, the research involved a careful review of the firms' webpages and social media pages. This holistic approach facilitated a comprehensive understanding of their marketing strategies and practices.

The case study findings indicate that while many core aspects of entrepreneurial marketing remain important, there are distinct factors influencing the entrepreneurial marketing decision-making in the online marketplace. The online EM framework can be visualised as follows: (1) trend-orientated as well as innovative-orientated (2) data-orientated and entrepreneur-orientated (3) innovative-driven customer stimulation (4) orientated towards both platforms and proactiveness.

The paper provides an initial understanding of how digitalisation is enabling and transforming entrepreneurship in companies with high level digitalisation but low level digital development. Building on current entrepreneurial marketing literature, this paper develops an online entrepreneurial marketing framework to enhance understanding of the interaction between e-commerce technology and entrepreneurial marketing decision making.

The developing field of entrepreneurial marketing reflects input from both marketing and entrepreneurship. Since the early 1980s, it has evolved heterogeneously, without a coherent theory, leading to complex scholarly views. Therefore, this literature review aims to shed light on the recent developments, reveal various research perspectives related to entrepreneurial marketing and derive future research avenues.

To account for recent scientific contributions and establish a more transparent view of divergent insights, the systematic literature review reported herein covers 207 peer-reviewed journal articles published after the “Charleston Summit” over 12 years (2010–2021) and details their contributions based on descriptive and inductive thematic analysis.

First, a descriptive analysis illustrates recent scientific developments indicating that entrepreneurial marketing is a vibrant research field with a continuous increase in publications worldwide and a wide range of research methods applied. Second, the thematic analysis suggests a three-part classification into entrepreneur, business and market perspectives. The authors present the most frequent themes and subthemes within this literature domain, as well as offering a critical assessment of the field that reveals key directions for expanding existing research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive review systematically examining entrepreneurial marketing literature while conducting an in-depth thematic analysis. It enhances current knowledge of the field by extending previous narrative and bibliographic reviews and discussing research directions. Aside from specific research questions, an alternative way to narrow down the multiple research objects is elaborated by critically debating the perspectives.

Leveraging signalling theory and institutional environment theory, this study aims to examine how the entrepreneurial orientation of emerging market firms impacts initial public offering (IPO) performance.

The authors conduct regression analysis based on archival data from 312 firms’ IPOs in India.

The results in the Indian context suggest it differs from IPO performance in developed markets. In an emerging market context, the findings suggest that only competitive aggressiveness is valued by investors in IPOs. The findings further show that proactiveness and autonomy negatively influence IPO underpricing.

The research propositions imply that, owing to institutional voids in emerging markets, investors’ risk propensity and, hence, rewarding a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation differ from those in developed markets.

Extant literature has given limited attention to the dynamics of entrepreneurial orientation and the effect of each dimension of entrepreneurial orientation on IPO performance in emerging markets.