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There is no empirical evidence, particularly in relation to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), to support the concept of cultural barriers and how they relate to open‐mindedness (OM). Some of these cultural barriers can be linked to outdated knowledge, which can impede the adoption of new configurations. The purpose of this paper therefore is to test the role of cultural barriers in the relationship between OM and organizational innovation.

These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 133 SMEs.

The results show that the relationship between OM and organizational innovation is likely to suffer if a firm does not overcome previously its cultural barriers. An explanation for this could be thatoutdated knowledge can impede the adoption of new configurations. Therefore, it is important for organizations to provide an appropriate environment for overcoming cultural barriers. Otherwise new knowledge will not be acted on or incorporated into new products and services.

The authors point out the importance for organizations of taking this perspective into account when they are seeking to respond proactively to the challenges thrown up by the external environment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically whether economic freedom affects entrepreneurial activity in three groups of countries, classified according to economic development.

Data on the index of entrepreneurial activity cover the period between 2002 and 2009, and are taken from the annual GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) reports and from the Index of Economic Freedom published by The Heritage Foundation from 1995 to 2009. The same analysis is carried out, grouping the countries by development level, following the classification included in the Global Competitiveness Report 2009‐2010. A Ridge regression analysis is performed to measure the model's goodness‐of‐fit and to determine equations that can be used for future predictions.

The results obtained in the correlation analysis show that economic freedom is closely related to entrepreneurial activity. The results suggest that TEA rates, opportunity‐TEA rates and necessity‐TEA rates decrease when there is an increase in economic freedom in a country, as just two of the areas analyzed – i.e. “government size” and “fiscal freedom” – appear to foster the emergence of new entrepreneurs. When countries are grouped by level of economic development, the results for countries belonging to the “Innovation‐Driven Economies” group show that the opportunity‐TEA rates increase as the economic freedom index grows.

The study indicates that entrepreneurship by opportunity increases in the group of Innovation‐Driven Economies with smaller “government size” and more “fiscal freedom”.

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of institutions on entrepreneurship in groups of countries classified according to their economic development.

Data used come from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Economic Freedom in the World Index; and from the Global Competitiveness Report.

The results provide useful information for the public and private sectors as evidence that some institutional variables that influence business creation depend on the development stage and report critical aspects to progress in each type of country in order to foster entrepreneurship. In developing nations the “size of the business sector” and “health and primary education” are critical variables, while for transition economies they stack the “integrity of the legal system” and “fulfilling contracts” and for developed economies the “size of the government” and “credit available to the private sector”.

This study constitutes an unusual approach because the literature on the impact of institutions on entrepreneurship is very scarce.

The purpose of this paper is to add new theoretical insights on the employee‐organization relationship (EOR) in the context of corporate entrepreneurship (CE), specifically in collective entrepreneurship.

The paper presents a brief overview of the content of each of the articles included in this special issue.

In the last decades, the study of the EOR has become an integral part of the literature as an approach aimed to provide the theoretical foundations to understanding the employee and employer perspectives to the exchange. Also, the greater complex environment and the higher level of innovativeness have pushed firms to become more entrepreneurial in order to identify new opportunities for sustained superior performance. In this context, emerges CE and involves not only formal activities to enhance product innovation, risk taking and a proactive response to environmental forces, but also organizational learning, driven by collaboration, and commitment. Specifically, different EORs and specific human resources management practices are required in the light of collective entrepreneurship, understood as work among entrepreneurial teams within the organizations and collaboration among employees.

The paper provides an overview of the EOR in collective entrepreneurship.

This study aims to explore the nature of the relationship between market orientation and business performance in the Portuguese hotel industry and to evaluate the mediating role of service quality in this relationship.

A literature analysis on market orientation, service quality and hotel business performance was conducted. The structural model was developed, and the measurement scales’ items were generated. Working data were obtained by sending a survey to Portuguese hotel managers. A purification process was conducted, and the convergent and discriminant validity, as well the reliability, of the measurement models were assessed. The structural model was tested by conducting a path analysis, as well by evaluating the coefficient of determination (R2) and the predictive relevance indicator (Q2).

Research results show that market orientation has a positive direct effect on business performance. Moreover, results indicate that market orientation effects on business performance are mediated throughout the hotels’ ability to provide service quality.

Despite the large amount of research on market orientation, research on the hospitality sector has been conducted mainly using tools developed for the manufacturing and consumer goods sectors. On the other hand, little has been done to explore the nature of the mediating effect of service quality on the relationship between market orientation and business performance in the hotel industry. Moreover, despite the contribution of the tourism industry to the Portuguese gross domestic product, research on the hotel industry is scarce.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the innovation process of organizations representing the main sectors of Brazilian economic activity.

The literature review focuses on analyzing the innovation process characteristics regarding the innovation types. The authors carried out interviews with executives and managers in charge of innovation at the leading large companies in the respective sectors analyzed. The data analysis of this qualitative research was structured in three steps. The first step is the analysis of data collected for encoding, the second step, the summarization of the common points presented by the companies in each sector and, finally, the interpretation of these data, aided by triangulation from secondary data that support the analysis of the collected primary data.

The main contribution of this study is to characterize the innovation process of organizations representing the main sectors of the Brazilian economy, with a classification regarding the sectoral innovation standard.

The authors’ intent is that the paper can contribute with a comparative analysis among companies of the same sector and, subsequently, among companies of the different surveyed sectors. Thus, the characterization aims to present the companies’ innovation process and the comparative analysis aims to verify the innovation sectoral patterns. In addition, as implications for management practice, some strategies for better knowledge management in the organization are suggested for each type of innovation.

The main theoretical contribution focuses on the development of a conceptual model that structures the analyzed variables of the constructs “innovation process” and “innovation sectoral patterns”, allowing not only the characterization but also the comparative analysis of the representative organizations present in the sample.

The objective of this paper is to measure the level of organizational wisdom of firms and verify its influence on the value they produce.

This study seeks to establish linkage between organizational wisdom and value creation with the development of a new model based on the contributions of North's wisdom matrix and the Jordan and Jones model. The proposed model, using primary data from the Portuguese textile sector, is tested through recourse to a structural equation model.

The results point to the conclusion that companies with high organizational wisdom do manage to improve their efficiency and effectiveness but this proves insufficient for actually increasing the level of value created when taking into account the industry's prevailing environment.

Firms may apply this model to ascertain their level of organizational wisdom. This model may also be deployed to determine this organizational wisdom level for a set of companies (a company cluster) or even a sector.

The main contribution of this paper stems from the explanatory value of the proposed model as it enables the measurement of a firm's organizational wisdom and its influence on the final value produced.

The purpose of this study is to analyse Peruvian cuisine in the context of visitors’ overall experience, focusing on the loyalty of tourists in terms of gastronomy, their satisfaction with the destination, and the overall image.

Data were obtained from tourists who visited Lima (Peru). Structural equation modeling was used to verify the hypothesized relationships.

The results obtained confirm that satisfaction and appreciation, such as quality, have a positive influence on tourists’ loyalty and, therefore, they recommend and express their desire to come back to this destination. The traditional gastronomy of Lima stands out as a prominent factor on overall experience.

This paper helps the managers of cities in their decisions to improve the satisfaction and seek loyalty of those who visit a city, emphasizes the role of gastronomy.

The results obtained in this research can be used for the establishment of new strategies for the promotion of the destination in terms of tourism and traditional food.

The gastronomy in Lima, (Peru) is recognized worldwide, as well as a stimulus for tourism because it increases the number of visits to the destination. Several studies carried out in these types of destinations have shown the existence of a relationship between gastronomy, overall experience, satisfaction and loyalty. However, there are no previous studies carried out in Lima that sustain this relationship. This work makes a contribution that completes the academic literature on the study of the emotional bonds between Peruvian gastronomy and the tourist who visits it and its behaviour.

Conserving appropriately the culture and heritage of a city through sustainable tourism is a key element for its economic development. Heritage cities generate economic, social and environmental benefits through tourism management. This study aims to intend, in the context of economic sustainability of the territory and promotion, to improve the understanding of the relationship between the sources of information of tourists and their motivations, with satisfaction and future behaviour intentions. For this, a study has been carried out in the Old Town of Cáceres (Spain), a city recognised as a world heritage property by UNESCO.

This study applies a descriptive analysis, based on frequencies. For data collection, a structured questionnaire has been used to identify the opinion of tourists during their visit to the heritage city of Cáceres.

This study demonstrates the existence of a positive relationship between the sources of information and the tourist experience with their future behavioural intentions and satisfaction of their visit. All this in the global context of the destination for sustainable economy and the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that the motivations of tourists are the most important factor in explaining the overall experience and loyalty of tourists to a city.

A limitation of this study is the data set used. The results must be contextualised at the time and place when the questionnaire was conducted.

The proposed model makes it possible to advance future heritage tourism strategies, in terms of planning and communication of the heritage resources of a destination. Tourism heritage institutions should increasingly invest in communication improvements based on new technologies and social media. At the same time, integrated planning with special policies for the sustainable protection of heritage can make important progress in the tourist and cultural development of the destination.

This article tests for the first time within the context of heritage cities in Spain and in the context of a sustainable economy and cultural heritage for destination, the relationship between different sources of site promotion information and future tourist behaviour intentions. It provides original evidence of the value of applying the underlying theory of the proposed model in a world heritage tourist destination.