IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v38y2014i1p11-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Considerations, Research Themes, Measurement Issues, and Future Research Directions

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey G. Covin
  • Danny Miller

Abstract

The amount of research conducted on the topic of international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) has grown exponentially in recent years, thus inviting an analysis of the scholarly conversations taking place. This paper is a review and commentary on how the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been leveraged within the international entrepreneurship literature. The possible distinctiveness of the EO and IEO constructs are considered, and the major themes of IEO research are summarized. Several measurement–related issues particularly pertinent to the assessment of EO as a generalizable/universalistic phenomenon are considered. The paper concludes with the identification of research foci whose pursuit promises to advance IEO knowledge along productive paths.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey G. Covin & Danny Miller, 2014. "International Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Considerations, Research Themes, Measurement Issues, and Future Research Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:38:y:2014:i:1:p:11-44
    DOI: 10.1111/etap.12027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/etap.12027
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/etap.12027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDougall, Patricia P., 1989. "International versus domestic entrepreneurship: New venture strategic behavior and industry structure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(6), pages 387-400, November.
    2. Zahra, Shaker A., 1993. "Environment, corporate entrepreneurship, and financial performance: A taxonomic approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 319-340, July.
    3. Andreas Rauch & Johan Wiklund & G.T. Lumpkin & Michael Frese, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance: An Assessment of past Research and Suggestions for the Future," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 761-787, May.
    4. Zahra, Shaker A., 1991. "Predictors and financial outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 259-285, July.
    5. Michael H Morris & Duane L Davis & Jeffrey W Allen, 1994. "Fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of the Importance of Individualism Versus Collectivism," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(1), pages 65-89, March.
    6. Louis Marino & Karen Strandholm & H. Kevin Steensma & K. Mark Weaver, 2002. "The Moderating Effect of National Culture on the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Strategic Alliance Portfolio Extensiveness," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(4), pages 145-160, July.
    7. Jeffrey G. Covin & G.T. Lumpkin, 2011. "Entrepreneurial Orientation Theory and Research: Reflections on a Needed Construct," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 855-872, September.
    8. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    9. Hagen, Birgit & Zucchella, Antonella & Cerchiello, Paola & De Giovanni, Nicolò, 2012. "International strategy and performance—Clustering strategic types of SMEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 369-382.
    10. Liu, Yi & Li, Yuan & Xue, Jiaqi, 2011. "Ownership, strategic orientation and internationalization in emerging markets," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 381-393, July.
    11. Gary A Knight & S Tamar Cavusgil, 2004. "Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(2), pages 124-141, March.
    12. Lee, Sang M. & Peterson, Suzanne J., 2000. "Culture, entrepreneurial orientation, and global competitiveness," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 401-416, January.
    13. Danny Miller & Peter H. Friesen, 1982. "Innovation in conservative and entrepreneurial firms: Two models of strategic momentum," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, January.
    14. Isabelle Le Breton-Miller & Danny Miller & Richard H. Lester, 2011. "Stewardship or Agency? A Social Embeddedness Reconciliation of Conduct and Performance in Public Family Businesses," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 704-721, June.
    15. Johan Frishammar & Svante Andersson, 2009. "The overestimated role of strategic orientations for international performance in smaller firms," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 57-77, March.
    16. Dennis P. Slevin & Siri A. Terjesen, 2011. "Entrepreneurial Orientation: Reviewing Three Papers and Implications for Further Theoretical and Methodological Development," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 973-987, September.
    17. Marian V Jones & Nicole E Coviello, 2005. "Internationalisation: conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(3), pages 284-303, May.
    18. Benjamin M. Oviatt & Patricia P. McDougall, 2005. "Defining International Entrepreneurship and Modeling the Speed of Internationalization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(5), pages 537-553, September.
    19. Pavlos Dimitratos & Ioanna Liouka & Duncan Ross & Stephen Young, 2009. "The multinational enterprise and subsidiary evolution: Scotland since 1945," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 401-425.
    20. Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung, 2003. "Agency Problems in Large Family Business Groups," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(4), pages 367-382, October.
    21. Tarun Khanna & Krishna Palepu, 2000. "Is Group Affiliation Profitable in Emerging Markets? An Analysis of Diversified Indian Business Groups," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 867-891, April.
    22. Weerawardena, Jay & Mort, Gillian Sullivan & Liesch, Peter W. & Knight, Gary, 2007. "Conceptualizing accelerated internationalization in the born global firm: A dynamic capabilities perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 294-306, September.
    23. Linda Mayoux, 2001. "Tackling the Down Side: Social Capital, Women’s Empowerment and Micro‐Finance in Cameroon," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 435-464, June.
    24. Jeffrey G. Covin & William J. Wales, 2012. "The Measurement of Entrepreneurial Orientation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(4), pages 677-702, July.
    25. Ari Jantunen & Kaisu Puumalainen & Sami Saarenketo & Kalevi Kyläheiko, 2005. "Entrepreneurial Orientation, Dynamic Capabilities and International Performance," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 223-243, September.
    26. McGrath, Rita Gunther & MacMillan, Ian C. & Scheinberg, Sari, 1992. "Elitists, risk-takers, and rugged individualists? An exploratory analysis of cultural differences between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 115-135, March.
    27. Jeffrey G. Covin & Dennis P. Slevin, 1989. "Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 75-87, January.
    28. Yuan Li & Zelong Wei & Yi Liu, 2010. "Strategic Orientations, Knowledge Acquisition, and Firm Performance: The Perspective of the Vendor in Cross‐Border Outsourcing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(8), pages 1457-1482, December.
    29. K. Mark Weaver & Pat H. Dickson & Brian Gibson & Andrew Turner, 2002. "Being Uncertain: The Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation And Environmental Uncertainty," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(02), pages 87-105.
    30. Yuan Li & Zelong Wei & Yi Liu, 2010. "Strategic Orientations, Knowledge Acquisition, and Firm Performance: The Perspective of the Vendor in Cross-Border Outsourcing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(s2), pages 1457-1482, December.
    31. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Lioukas, Spyros & Carter, Sara, 2004. "The relationship between entrepreneurship and international performance: the importance of domestic environment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 19-41, February.
    32. Danny Miller, 1983. "The Correlates of Entrepreneurship in Three Types of Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(7), pages 770-791, July.
    33. Morris, Michael H. & Paul, Gordon W., 1987. "The relationship between entrepreneurship and marketing in established firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 247-259.
    34. Gary A Knight & S Tamer Cavusgil, 2004. "Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(4), pages 334-334, July.
    35. Benjamin M Oviatt & Patricia P McDougall, 2005. "The internationalization of entrepreneurship," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(1), pages 2-8, January.
    36. Kuivalainen, Olli & Sundqvist, Sanna & Servais, Per, 2007. "Firms' degree of born-globalness, international entrepreneurial orientation and export performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 253-267, September.
    37. Birkinshaw, Julian & Hood, Neil & Young, Stephen, 2005. "Subsidiary entrepreneurship, internal and external competitive forces, and subsidiary performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 227-248, April.
    38. Williams, Christopher & Lee, Soo Hee, 2009. "Resource allocations, knowledge network characteristics and entrepreneurial orientation of multinational corporations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1376-1387, October.
    39. Man Zhang & Patriya Tansuhaj & James McCullough, 2009. "International entrepreneurial capability: The measurement and a comparison between born global firms and traditional exporters in China," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 292-322, December.
    40. Danny Miller & Jangwoo Lee & Sooduck Chang & Isabelle Le Breton-Miller, 2009. "Filling the institutional void: The social behavior and performance of family vs non-family technology firms in emerging markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(5), pages 802-817, June.
    41. Olivier Basso & Alain Fayolle & Véronique Bouchard, 2009. "Entrepreneurial orientation : the making of a concept," Post-Print hal-02312490, HAL.
    42. Tina C Ambos & Ulf Andersson & Julian Birkinshaw, 2010. "What are the consequences of initiative-taking in multinational subsidiaries?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(7), pages 1099-1118, September.
    43. Patrick M. Kreiser & Louis D. Marino & K. Mark Weaver, 2002. "Assessing the Psychometric Properties of the Entrepreneurial Orientation Scale: A Multi-Country Analysis," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(4), pages 71-93, July.
    44. Jeffrey G. Covin & Morgan P. Miles, 1999. "Corporate Entrepreneurship and the Pursuit of Competitive Advantage," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(3), pages 47-63, April.
    45. Lohrke, Franz T. & Kreiser, Patrick M. & Weaver, K. Mark, 2006. "The influence of current firm performance on future SME alliance formation intentions: A six-country study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 19-27, January.
    46. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella & Pitsoulaki, Antigoni & Tüselmann, Heinz Josef, 2010. "The global smaller firm in international entrepreneurship," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 589-606, December.
    47. William B. Gartner & Barbara J. Bird & Jennifer A. Starr, 1992. "Acting as If: Differentiating Entrepreneurial from Organizational Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 16(3), pages 13-32, April.
    48. Gleason, Kimberly C. & Wiggenhorn, Joan, 2007. "Born globals, the choice of globalization strategy, and the market's perception of performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 322-335, September.
    49. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Jones, Marian V., 2005. "Future directions for international entrepreneurship research," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 119-128, April.
    50. Jane W. Lu & Paul W. Beamish, 2001. "The internationalization and performance of SMEs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 565-586, June.
    51. James C. Hayton & Gerard George & Shaker A. Zahra, 2002. "National Culture and Entrepreneurship : A Review of Behavioral Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(4), pages 33-52, July.
    52. A. Fayolle & O. Basso & V. Bouchard, 2010. "Three Levels of Culture and Firms' Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Research Agenda," Post-Print halshs-00553097, HAL.
    53. Zhou, Lianxi, 2007. "The effects of entrepreneurial proclivity and foreign market knowledge on early internationalization," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 281-293, September.
    54. Bradley A. George & Louis Marino, 2011. "The Epistemology of Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Formation, Modeling, and Operationalization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 989-1024, September.
    55. Boojihawon, Dev Kumar & Dimitratos, Pavlos & Young, Stephen, 2007. "Characteristics and influences of multinational subsidiary entrepreneurial culture: The case of the advertising sector," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 549-572, October.
    56. Johan Wiklund & DEAN Shepherd, 2003. "Knowledge‐based resources, entrepreneurial orientation, and the performance of small and medium‐sized businesses," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(13), pages 1307-1314, December.
    57. Patrick M. Kreiser & Louis D. Marino & Pat Dickson & K. Mark Weaver, 2010. "Cultural Influences on Entrepreneurial Orientation: The Impact of National Culture on Risk Taking and Proactiveness in SMEs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(5), pages 959-984, September.
    58. Knight, Gary A., 2001. "Entrepreneurship and strategy in the international SME," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 155-171.
    59. Terrence E Brown & Per Davidsson & Johan Wiklund, 2001. "An operationalization of Stevenson's conceptualization of entrepreneurship as opportunity‐based firm behavior," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(10), pages 953-968, October.
    60. Danny Miller & Isabelle Le Breton–Miller, 2011. "Governance, Social Identity, and Entrepreneurial Orientation in Closely Held Public Companies," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 1051-1076, September.
    61. Zahra, Shaker A. & Garvis, Dennis M., 2000. "International corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance: The moderating effect of international environmental hostility," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 469-492.
    62. Danny Miller, 2011. "Miller (1983) Revisited: A Reflection on EO Research and Some Suggestions for the Future," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 873-894, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gupta, Rakesh & Pandey, Ritesh & Sebastian, V.J., 2021. "International Entrepreneurial Orientation (IEO): A bibliometric overview of scholarly research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 74-88.
    2. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    3. Martin, Silvia L. & Javalgi, Rajshekhar (Raj) G., 2016. "Entrepreneurial orientation, marketing capabilities and performance: The Moderating role of Competitive Intensity on Latin American International New Ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2040-2051.
    4. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "Performance determinants of early internationalizing firms: The role of international entrepreneurial orientation," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 389-424, September.
    5. Dennis P. Slevin & Siri A. Terjesen, 2011. "Entrepreneurial Orientation: Reviewing Three Papers and Implications for Further Theoretical and Methodological Development," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 973-987, September.
    6. Krzysztof Wach, 2015. "Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Internationalisation Process: The Theoretical Foundations of International Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 3(2), pages 9-24.
    7. Bradley A. George & Louis Marino, 2011. "The Epistemology of Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Formation, Modeling, and Operationalization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 989-1024, September.
    8. Jan Lampe & Priscilla Sarai Kraft & Andreas Bausch, 2020. "Mapping the Field of Research on Entrepreneurial Organizations (1937–2016): A Bibliometric Analysis and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(4), pages 784-816, July.
    9. Natasha Evers & Gabriela Gliga & Alex Rialp-Criado, 2019. "Strategic orientation pathways in international new ventures and born global firms—Towards a research agenda," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 287-304, September.
    10. Jörg Freiling & Christoph Lütke Schelhowe, 2014. "The Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Performance and Speed of Internationalization," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 10(4), pages 169-199.
    11. Mojtaba Hosseini & Hossein Dadfar & Staffan Brege, 2018. "Firm-level entrepreneurship and international performance: A simultaneous examination of orientation and action," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 338-368, September.
    12. Carina Lomberg & Diemo Urbig & Christoph Stöckmann & Louis D. Marino & Pat H. Dickson, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Orientation: The Dimensions’ Shared Effects in Explaining Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(6), pages 973-998, November.
    13. Anna Watson & Olufunmilola (Lola) Dada & Owen Wright & Rozenn Perrigot, 2019. "Entrepreneurial Orientation Rhetoric in Franchise Organizations: The Impact of National Culture," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(4), pages 751-772, July.
    14. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2021. "A review of methodological diversity within the domain of international entrepreneurship," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 256-299, June.
    15. Patrick Kreiser & Louis Marino & Donald Kuratko & K. Weaver, 2013. "Disaggregating entrepreneurial orientation: the non-linear impact of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking on SME performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 273-291, February.
    16. Buccieri, Dominic & Javalgi, Raj G. & Cavusgil, Erin, 2020. "International new venture performance: Role of international entrepreneurial culture, ambidextrous innovation, and dynamic marketing capabilities," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    17. Knight, Gary A. & Liesch, Peter W., 2016. "Internationalization: From incremental to born global," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 93-102.
    18. Byoungho Jin & Sojin Jung & So Won Jeong, 2018. "Dimensional effects of Korean SME’s entrepreneurial orientation on internationalization and performance: the mediating role of marketing capability," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 195-215, March.
    19. D’Angelo, Alfredo & Presutti, Manuela, 2019. "SMEs international growth: The moderating role of experience on entrepreneurial and learning orientations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 613-624.
    20. Felipe Hernández-Perlines & Manuel Alejandro Ibarra Cisneros, 2018. "The Role of Environment in Sustainable Entrepreneurial Orientation. The Case of Family Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:38:y:2014:i:1:p:11-44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.