An exploratory analysis of employees’/volunteers’ entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in public and third sector organisations

• Main Author: Rogowska, Anna
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Centre for Enterprise Development & Regional Economy; Iceland
• Online Access: https://repository.wit.ie/3193/; https://repository.wit.ie/3193/1/Anna%20R%20Masters%20Bill%20Final.pdf

Given the prolonged recession, rigid austerity programmes and growing pressures to innovate, organisations are increasingly obliged to harness the entrepreneurial potential of their employees/volunteers. This is particularly the case for public sector, voluntary sector, and community and enterprise organisations. Therefore, interest in stimulating and supporting more entrepreneurial behaviour has significantly grown in public and not-for-profit sector literature. However, literature specifically pertaining to this issue is relevantly scarce (Kraus, 2013). Prior research concerned with entrepreneurial practices in public and voluntary sectors was mostly focused on organisational characteristics and the holistic view on being more entrepreneurial, as opposed to examining entrepreneurial orientation at employee and volunteer levels. This study is to some extent unique, as it delves into variables that were rarely studied in the past. It comprises of respondents’ past entrepreneurial experiences and the extent to which they can be entrepreneurial within their respective organisations. Thus, by adopting a different level of analysis and exploring employees’/volunteers’ entrepreneurial orientation (EO) this research offers a magnitude for richer understating of how employees/volunteers can contribute to the EO of public sector, voluntary sector, and community and enterprise organisations. The research involved administering an online survey to employees and/or volunteers working in public sector, voluntary, and social enterprise organisation in six regions/countries Bulgaria, Greece, Iceland, (South-East) Ireland, Portugal, and Sicily. A total of 450 people completed and returned the survey, representing 216 organisations. The methodology was a quantitative analysis using manual techniques. A major finding from this research is that there appears to be a link between (i) employees/volunteers that have entrepreneurial experience (external to the organisation in which they are currently working/volunteering), (ii) the ...