IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i8p3100-d344715.html

Entrepreneurial Leadership and Sustainable Performance of Manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia: The Contingent Role of Entrepreneurial Bricolage

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan Nor-Aishah

    (Universiti Sains Malaysia and Malaysia Productivity Corporation, Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya 46200, Malaysia)

  • Noor Hazlina Ahmad

    (School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang 11800, Malaysia)

  • Ramayah Thurasamy

    (School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang 11800, Malaysia
    Internet Innovation Research Center, Newhuadu Business School, Minjiang University, Fuzhou 365000, China
    Faculty of Accounting and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Sungai Long Campus, Cheras 43000, Malaysia)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to delve into the effect of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) on the economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainable performance; the research also focuses on the contingency role of entrepreneurial bricolage (EB). The increasing concern focused on the triple bottom line (TBL) issues has triggered enthusiasm and inspiration in the field of sustainable entrepreneurship, especially amongst the small medium enterprise (SME) owners or leaders who are directly responsible for organizational sustainable performance. This research examines the relationships between EL and economically sustainable performance (ECSPF), environmentally sustainable performance (ENSPF), and social sustainable performance (SOSPF); these relationships are contingent upon EB through the lens of Upper Echelons Theory (UET) and Effectuation Theory (ET). A total of 146 responses from a cross-sectional survey from Malaysian manufacturing SMEs were investigated using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that EL has significant effects on ENSPF and SOSPF, but has an insignificant effect on ECSPF. Meanwhile, EB does not play the contingent role in strengthening the relationships between EL and ECSPF, EL and ENSPF, and EL and SOSPF. This research highlights the importance of EL and shows that SME owners or leaders should embrace and develop their skills as a crucial step towards achieving sustainable performance for their companies. The implications and limitations of the research are discussed and recommendations for future research are also presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan Nor-Aishah & Noor Hazlina Ahmad & Ramayah Thurasamy, 2020. "Entrepreneurial Leadership and Sustainable Performance of Manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia: The Contingent Role of Entrepreneurial Bricolage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:8:p:3100-:d:344715
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3100/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3100/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Sascha Kraus & Janina Burtscher & Thomas Niemand & Norat Roig-Tierno & Pasi Syrjä, 2017. "Configurational Paths to Social Performance in SMEs: The Interplay of Innovation, Sustainability, Resources and Achievement Motivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Marcus Wagner, 2005. "How to reconcile environmental and economic performance to improve corporate sustainability: corporate environmental strategies in the European paper industry," Post-Print hal-00279158, HAL.
    4. Pedro Soto-Acosta & Diana-Maria Cismaru & Elena-Mădălina Vătămănescu & Raluca Silvia Ciochină, 2016. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship in SMEs: A Business Performance Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-12, April.
    5. Ben Youssef, Adel & Boubaker, Sabri & Omri, Anis, 2018. "Entrepreneurship and sustainability: The need for innovative and institutional solutions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 232-241.
    6. Zailani, Suhaiza & Jeyaraman, K. & Vengadasan, G. & Premkumar, R., 2012. "Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in Malaysia: A survey," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 330-340.
    7. Newman, Alexander & Tse, Herman H.M. & Schwarz, Gary & Nielsen, Ingrid, 2018. "The effects of employees' creative self-efficacy on innovative behavior: The role of entrepreneurial leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-9.
    8. Johan Jansson & Jonas Nilsson & Frida Modig & Gabriella Hed Vall, 2017. "Commitment to Sustainability in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: The Influence of Strategic Orientations and Management Values," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 69-83, January.
    9. Gupta, Vipin & MacMillan, Ian C. & Surie, Gita, 2004. "Entrepreneurial leadership: developing and measuring a cross-cultural construct," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 241-260, March.
    10. Ho Chea Hooi & Noor Hazlina Ahmad & Azlan Amran & Syed Abidur Rahman, 2016. "The functional role of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage in ensuring sustainable entrepreneurship," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(12), pages 1616-1638, December.
    11. Johanna Gast & Katherine Gundolf & Beate Cesinger, 2017. "Doing business in a green way: A systematic review of the ecological sustainability entrepreneurship literature and future research directions," Post-Print hal-02008555, HAL.
    12. Gholamhossein Hosseininia & Ali Ramezani, 2016. "Factors Influencing Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Iran: A Case Study of Food Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-20, October.
    13. Shmueli, Galit & Ray, Soumya & Velasquez Estrada, Juan Manuel & Chatla, Suneel Babu, 2016. "The elephant in the room: Predictive performance of PLS models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4552-4564.
    14. repec:eco:journ2:2017-04-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Eugen Nicolăescu & Cristina Alpopi & Constantin Zaharia, 2015. "Measuring Corporate Sustainability Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, January.
    16. Ana Criado-Gomis & Amparo Cervera-Taulet & Maria-Angeles Iniesta-Bonillo, 2017. "Sustainable Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Business Strategic Approach for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Baker, Ted & Miner, Anne S. & Eesley, Dale T., 2003. "Improvising firms: bricolage, account giving and improvisational competencies in the founding process," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 255-276, February.
    18. Robert D. Klassen & Curtis P. McLaughlin, 1996. "The Impact of Environmental Management on Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(8), pages 1199-1214, August.
    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. Hazem Ali & Ting Chen & Yunhong Hao, 2021. "Sustainable Manufacturing Practices, Competitive Capabilities, and Sustainable Performance: Moderating Role of Environmental Regulations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Matthias Filser & Sascha Kraus & Norat Roig-Tierno & Norbert Kailer & Ulrike Fischer, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as Catalyst for Sustainable Development: Opening the Black Box," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Thomas Neumann, 2021. "The impact of entrepreneurship on economic, social and environmental welfare and its determinants: a systematic review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 553-584, July.
    4. Agnieszka Konys, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship Holistic Construct," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-33, November.
    5. Hafiz Muhammad Usman Khizar & Muhammad Jawad Iqbal & Muhammad Imran Rasheed, 2021. "Business orientation and sustainable development: A systematic review of sustainability orientation literature and future research avenues," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 1001-1017, September.
    6. Ameer, Farah & Khan, Naveed R., 2023. "Green entrepreneurial orientation and corporate environmental performance: A systematic literature review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 755-778.
    7. Sascha Kraus & Janina Burtscher & Christine Vallaster & Martin Angerer, 2018. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Reflection on Status-Quo Research on Factors Facilitating Responsible Managerial Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    8. repec:ehu:cuader:55437 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Paula Bajdor & Ilona Pawełoszek & Helena Fidlerova, 2021. "Analysis and Assessment of Sustainable Entrepreneurship Practices in Polish Small and Medium Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-28, March.
    10. Baira Faulks & Yinghua Song & Moses Waiganjo & Bojan Obrenovic & Danijela Godinic, 2021. "Impact of Empowering Leadership, Innovative Work, and Organizational Learning Readiness on Sustainable Economic Performance: An Empirical Study of Companies in Russia during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-27, November.
    11. Eduard-Gabriel Ceptureanu & Sebastian-Ion Ceptureanu & Mihai Cristian Orzan & Ovidiu Niculae Bordean & Violeta Radulescu, 2017. "Empirical Study on Sustainable Opportunities Recognition. A Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Joinery Industry Analysis Using Augmented Sustainable Development Process Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-36, September.
    12. Presley K. Wesseh & Boqiang Lin & Yixuan Zhang & Preslyn Sharon Wesseh, 2024. "Sustainable entrepreneurship: When does environmental compliance improve corporate performance?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3203-3221, May.
    13. Aleksandra Andjelković & Vesna Janković Milić & Marija Radosavljević & Saša Petković & Ditjona Kule & Stojan Debarliev, 2025. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Western Balkan Countries: Key Constraints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.
    14. David Bruce Audretsch & Maksim Belitski & Georg Maximilian Eichler & Erich Schwarz, 2024. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems, institutional quality, and the unexpected role of the sustainability orientation of entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 503-522, February.
    15. Régis Y. Chenavaz & Alexandra Couston & Stéphanie Heichelbech & Isabelle Pignatel & Stanko Dimitrov, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-30, May.
    16. Yousif Munadhil Ibrahim & Norsiah Hami & Susan Sabah Abdulameer, 2020. "Assessing Sustainable Manufacturing Practices and Sustainability Performance Among Oil and Gas Industry in Iraq," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 60-67.
    17. Hidemichi Fujii & Kimbara Tatsuo, 2012. "Environmental Management Mechanisms in U.S. and Japanese Manufacturing Firms," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(6), pages 13-24, November.
    18. Yongan Zhang & Umair Khan & Seoyeon Lee & Madiha Salik, 2019. "The Influence of Management Innovation and Technological Innovation on Organization Performance. A Mediating Role of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    19. Mahabubur Rahman & Saqib Aziz & Mathew Hughes, 2020. "The product‐market performance benefits of environmental policy: Why customer awareness and firm innovativeness matter," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2001-2018, July.
    20. Hemantha S. B. Herath & Tejaswini C. Herath & Paul Dunn, 2019. "Profit-Driven Corporate Social Responsibility as a Bayesian Real Option in Green Computing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 387-402, August.
    21. Usman Khizar, Hafiz Muhammad & Iqbal, Muhammad Jawad & Khalid, Junaid & Adomako, Samuel, 2022. "Addressing the conceptualization and measurement challenges of sustainability orientation: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 718-743.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:8:p:3100-:d:344715. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.