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Building on the upper echelons theory and sustainability orientation (SO) literature, this paper aims to examine the possibility that the relationship between chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) SO and venture growth might be mediated by levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation.

The authors used data obtained from 211 new ventures operating in Ghana. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The authors found that CSR implementation mediates the relationship between SO and venture growth. In addition, the authors found that, at higher levels of financial slack, the effect of SO on CSR implementation is attenuated. However, the results show that, at higher levels of CEO power, the influence of SO on CSR implementation is amplified.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to examine the mediating role of CSR implementation in the relationship between SO and venture growth and also examines two internal contingency factors (i.e. CEO power and financial slack) on this association.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the joint effects of regulatory focus, entrepreneurial persistence and institutional support on new venture performance.

This paper uses a random survey approach to sample 204 new ventures from Ghana. The moderated mediation method was used to analyse the survey data.

The findings from this paper show that entrepreneurs' promotion focus positively relates to persistence while prevent focus negatively influences persistence. In addition, persistence mediates the link between regulatory focus (promotion and prevention focus) and new venture performance. These relationships are positively moderated by perceived institutional support.

Using data from only the manufacturing sector in Ghana limits the generalisability of this paper. In addition, persistence is not observed or measured directly in this paper but is only used as self-reporting variable that captures an individual's tendency to persist.

The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, this paper contributes to regulatory focus literature by enhancing our knowledge on how self-regulation could help explain entrepreneurial decision-making. Second, this paper broadens self-regulation literature by adding institutional context as a moderating variable. Third, this paper helps clarify the potential role of persistence in entrepreneurship.

Using arguments from the regulatory focus and upper echelons theories, this paper aims to examine the impact of a chief executive officer’s (CEO’s) regulatory foci (i.e. promotion and prevention focus) on small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) level of innovativeness and how these relationships are jointly moderated by intense competition.

The empirical analysis draws on survey data gathered from 257 SMEs in Ghana.

The study findings indicate that a CEO’s level of promotion focus positively affects the firm’s engagement in innovation, while a CEO’s prevention focus is negatively associated with the firm’s innovativeness. The positive association between a CEO’s promotion focus and a firm’s innovativeness is enhanced under conditions of intense competition. Additionally, the negative relationship between prevention focus and firm-level innovativeness is attenuated under intense competition.

This study relied on a single informant and also used subjective measures for the dependent variable. As such, individual respondents might have biased perspectives on firm-level product innovativeness. Future studies may use multiple informants to examine the causal links of the variables.

The study’s findings provide managers with a deeper understanding of how to achieve superior firm-level product innovation. The understanding of this issue can promote the development and maintenance of further entrepreneurial ventures in emerging economies.

The paper has a strong theoretical value as it pioneers research on the effect of CEOs’ regulatory foci on firm-level innovativeness in competitive environments.

Previous scholarly studies have concluded that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) positively relates to firm performance and that relationship is dependent on several contingencies. The purpose of this paper is to show how managers’ passion for work and the external environment (i.e. environmental dynamism) within which firms operate interactively impact on EO-firm performance relationship.

This theoretically derived research model is empirically validated using survey data from 250 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Ghana.

The study’s empirical findings indicate that passion for work strengthens the EO-performance relationship in dynamic market environments.

The cross-sectional design of the study does not permit causal inferences to be made regarding the variables examined. Future studies may use longitudinal design to examine the causal links of the variables.

The study’s findings provide managers with a deeper understanding of how to achieve superior product firm performance, especially when firms are entrepreneurially oriented. The understanding of this issue can promote the development and maintenance of further entrepreneurial ventures in developing economies.

The paper has a strong theoretical value because to the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the moderating role of passion for work on the relationship between EO and firm performance in dynamic environments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effects of cognitive style dimensions on the relationship between entrepreneurs’ optimism and persistence.

This theoretically derived research model is empirically validated using survey data from 198 small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana.

The study’s empirical findings are that the relationship between entrepreneurs’ optimism and entrepreneurial persistence is enhanced at higher levels of cognitive planning and creating styles. Somewhat interestingly, cognitive knowing style negatively moderates the relationship between optimism and entrepreneurial persistence.

The cross-sectional design of the study does not permit causal inferences to be made regarding the variables examined. Future studies may use longitudinal design to examine the causal links of the variables.

The results of this paper can assist entrepreneurs and policy-makers in understanding the dynamics and processes involved in entrepreneurial decision making. The understanding of this issue can promote the development and maintenance of entrepreneurial ventures.

The paper has a strong theoretical value as it relies on cognitive explanations of human behaviour, and seeks to advance the theoretical field by demonstrating the value of cognitive style within the domain of entrepreneurship.

Research on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has concluded a positive link between EO and firm performance and that relationship depends on several contingencies. The purpose of this paper is to derive insights from the absorptive capacity and contingency perspectives to introduce extra-organizational advice as a moderator of the relationship between EO and firm performance in a dynamic environment.

Using survey data from 340 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, the study examines the moderating influence of extra-organizational advice on the EO-firm performance relationship in dynamic environments.

The study’s empirical findings suggest that extra-organizational advice amplifies the EO-performance relationship in dynamic environments.

The cross-sectional design of the study does not permit causal inferences to be made regarding the variables examined. Future studies may use longitudinal design to examine the causal links of the variables. Limitations aside, the study helps to answer how extra-organizational advice translates EO into improved performance in an environment characterized by constant flux.

The results of this paper can assist entrepreneurs and policy makers in understanding the dynamics and processes involved in implementing a strategic orientation to achieve higher performance. For SME managers, firm performance is determined by high levels of EO and extra-organizational advice in dynamic environments. The understanding of this issue can promote the development and maintenance of entrepreneurial ventures.

The paper examines an important, but under-researched issue – the moderating effect of extra-organizational advice on the EO-performance relationship in dynamic environments. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study pioneers research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the capital structure literature by examining the determinants of capital structure from the context of South Africa and to provide evidence of the effects of the 2007/2008 global financial crisis on firm-level determinants of debt-equity choice.

This paper begins by embarking on an extensive review of literature on extant empirical research on capital structure. The panel econometric technique is further adopted to examine firm-level determinants of capital structure and also the impact of 2007/2008 financial crisis.

The findings of the paper suggest that theories of capital structure underpinning debt-equity choice of firms in developed economies are also applicable in the South African context. The authors also find a strong evidence of the effects of the financial crisis on the capital structure of firms in South Africa.

This paper serves as springboard on which further research can be grounded and also highlights the interaction between the South African economy and the global economy.

The paper provides a fresh evidence on the determinants of capital structure from the Sub-Saharan African context and to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that examines the effects of the 2007/2008 financial crisis on capital structure of firms in South Africa.

Previous scholarly studies on institutions tend to create a sombre picture of institutions by ignoring to examine the antecedents of formal and informal institutions. The purpose of this paper is to overcome this limitation by proposing a conceptual framework of the antecedents of formal and informal institutions of entrepreneurial climate in a less developed market setting.

This study builds on a comprehensive survey of the literature on institutions by using a synthesis thematic methodology to identified key scholarly studies which have been published in previous theoretical and empirical studies and proposes a conceptual framework of the role of formal and informal institutions in defining entrepreneurial climate in a developing economy’s context.

The findings of the paper suggest that political factors and economic factors define formal institutions whilst socio-cultural factors define informal institutions. These factors rooted in political, economic and socio-cultural factors have a major influence on the rate and nature of entrepreneurial activity in a developing country setting.

This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and intuitional theory by focusing on the antecedents of formal and informal institutional factors that shape entrepreneurial climate in Ghana.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first review that explores the nature of entrepreneurial climate and proposes a conceptual framework of the role of formal and informal institutions in defining entrepreneurial climate in Ghana.

Regulatory environment, environmental dynamism, and political ties are typically modelled as separate antecedents of firm performance. However, the boundary conditions for such models are less examined in a developing country context where regulatory environments have been argued to be weak. Accordingly, drawing on institutional and social capital theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelationship between regulatory environment, political ties, environmental dynamism, and firm performance.

The study uses primary data gathered from 372 entrepreneurial firms in Nigeria, a Sub-Saharan African country.

The findings of the paper suggest that that regulatory environment is negatively related to firm performance. However, political ties and environmental dynamism moderate the regulatory environment-firm performance relationship such that such relationship is positive and significant.

First, the study provides important insights on how weak and underdeveloped regulatory environment negatively affect the performance of firms. In other words, the study represents a response to call for the development of better regulatory environment since regulatory environment plays significant role in firm performance. Second, this study also demonstrates the importance of political ties and environment dynamism on firm performance in an emerging economy such as Nigeria where regulatory environment is weak.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study from the perspective of Sub-Saharan Africa that examine the moderating role of political ties and environmental dynamism on regulatory environment-firm performance relationship.