The impact of moral awareness on the entrepreneurial orientation- performance relationship in new technology based firms

Abstract

Prior studies have suggested the predominant role of the founder-manager´s moral awareness in the emergence and persistence of a strong entrepreneurial culture likely to shape the firm´s collective behavior. Although the strategic importance of founder-manager´s moral awareness on a general level is undisputed, one major shortcoming of prior studies has been to evaluate his influence in the firm. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the effect of technology founder-manager´s moral awareness on the entrepreneurial orientation-performance relationship in New Technology Based Firms. Not only do the results suggest that performance is positively influenced by its entrepreneurial orientation, but the findings also indicate that technology founder-manager´s moral awareness moderates the relationship. The entrepreneurial orientation-performance link is stronger for low levels of moral awareness. The study´s implications and future research directions are discussed.