Purpose This study investigates how entrepreneurs’ resilience is associated with both the mobilisation of informational social capital and perceived small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth under relatively stable conditions. While resilience is widely recognised as important for supporting entrepreneurs during crises, little is known about its behavioural implications in low-turbulence contexts. The study also examines whether the relationship between resilience and external information search varies in ethnic family firms. In these firms, family-based and ethnic embeddedness may affect entrepreneurs’ engagement with external information. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on resilience and social capital theory, we test a moderated mediation model linking entrepreneur resilience, informational social capital, and perceived SME growth. The analysis uses survey data from 560 SMEs in the Metropolitan City of Milan. Hypotheses were assessed using standard partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping, supported by robustness checks, including alternative performance measures. Findings Entrepreneur resilience is positively associated with perceived SME growth but negatively associated with the mobilisation of informational social capital. Informational social capital positively influences perceived growth and partially mediates the resilience–growth relationship, revealing a competitive mediation mechanism. Moreover, the negative association between entrepreneur resilience and informational social capital is weaker in ethnic family firms. Originality/value The study refines understanding of entrepreneurs’ resilience by demonstrating that, under relatively stable conditions, resilience can both support growth and constrain external resource mobilisation. The study contributes to social capital theory by identifying a competitive mediation mechanism. The study also demonstrates that the resilience–resource mobilisation relationship varies according to the relational context in which entrepreneurs are embedded.
Purpose Many entrepreneurs aspire to create impact for society, yet translating these intentions into concrete actions remains complex and gradual. This study investigates how sustainability intentions lead to social actions among early-stage entrepreneurs and identifies perceptual moderators shaping this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory, the study examines how fear of failure, self-efficacy and knowing other entrepreneurs influence the (sustainability) intention–(social) action link. Using individual-level data from 22,008 early-stage entrepreneurs across 44 countries of the 2021 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, stepwise logistic regression analyses with interaction effects are conducted. Findings Sustainability intentions are associated with social actions. Further, perception mechanisms exist that influence the intention–action relationship in sustainable entrepreneurship. Self-efficacy and knowing other entrepreneurs strengthen this relationship, while fear of failure weakens it, acting as a barrier to action. Research limitations/implications The findings are based on data from 44 countries, offering broad applicability. Future research could explore specific national or regional contexts to improve contextual understanding. Also, additional perceptual factors, including motivations, beliefs and emotions, may influence the sustainability intention-action relationship and warrant further investigation. Practical implications The results suggest that an intention–action gap can exist in social or sustainable entrepreneurship. This gap can be reduced through training, networking and confidence-building initiatives. Addressing psychological barriers, particularly fear of failure, is essential. Policymakers could also reduce institutional constraints that may shift the focus of entrepreneurs away from impact towards purely survival-driven strategies. Social implications Sustainability intentions alone are insufficient; their realization depends on cognitive and social conditions. Positive perceptions and supportive networks can help reduce the intention–action gap and foster social entrepreneurship. Originality/value By integrating theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory as two theoretical frameworks, the study highlights the critical role of perceptual moderators in converting sustainability intentions into tangible social actions in early-stage entrepreneurship.
Purpose This study examines the relationship between gig work and entrepreneurial intention across different countries to determine when gig workers are most likely to be interested in starting their own businesses. It further explores the moderating effects of three country-level descriptive norms (i.e., cultural practices) that feature prominently in the entrepreneurship literature – institutional collectivism, performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance. Design/methodology/approach This study uses logistic regression and multi-level modelling on cross-sectional data from 30,923 individuals across 16 countries. Its unique combined dataset is drawn from the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey (GEM-APS), Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) study and 2018 World Bank Development Indicators. Findings The authors find that gig work participation positively predicts entrepreneurial intentions for individuals across different countries. This gig work-entrepreneurial intention relationship is further moderated by institutional collectivism. Practical implications This study offers practical insights to gig platform companies and policymakers interested in boosting entrepreneurship. It confirms that, globally, gig workers are motivated to start their own businesses. Furthermore, it identifies the types of institutional contexts where entrepreneurship training and broader policies that support gig workers could promote new venture creation. Originality/value This is the first multi-country, multi-level study examining the link between gig work and entrepreneurship, highlighting how informal institutional contexts shape the gig work-entrepreneurial intention relationship. Rather than viewing gig work as mere employment, it is framed as a career event that influences workers’ entrepreneurial cognition, which is further shaped by their institutional contexts.
Purpose This study examines the relationships among human sustainability, entrepreneurial orientation, and social sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates. It also proposes that entrepreneurial orientation mediates this relationship and that a formal sustainability strategy moderates these effects. Design/methodology/approach Evidence came from 305 informed responses. The primary test used Mode A composite path modeling with 10,000 BCa bootstrap resamples; HC3 regression and measurement, sample, distributional and predictive checks were used as supplements. Findings Human sustainability was strongly associated with entrepreneurial orientation and social sustainability. The entrepreneurial orientation second-stage, indirect pathway and strategy interaction were not supported by the prespecified BCa intervals, and alternative specifications also showed second-stage instability. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional, single-informant data, unverifiable organizational independence, weak common-factor fit, hospitality concentration and binary strategy measurement limit causal and firm-level interpretation. Practical implications The measured employee and social practices can serve as diagnostic indicators rather than evidence of intervention effects. Social implications Outward social practice is associated with employee-centered practice, but the causal sequence remains untested. Originality/value The contribution is narrowed to consistent human-sustainability associations. The unsupported indirect pathway and strategy interaction indicate that entrepreneurial orientation and strategy presence do not form a universal conversion process.
Purpose Job titles help individuals define and express their careers to themselves and others. However, women initiating entrepreneurial careers face gendered stereotypes when choosing job titles. This study explores how new women entrepreneurs negotiate identity claims, including navigating stereotypes, when choosing job titles. Prior research oversimplifies job-title choice by attributing it to isolated factors, thus neglecting the complexity of identity negotiation. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative, abductive approach, the study draws on in-depth interviews with 44 new women entrepreneurs in the United States across diverse industries. Through the iterative process of coding and analysis of the data, a process framework of job-title choice, utilizing identity negotiation theory, is developed. Findings Five distinct but interacting elements are used as women navigate job-title choice: identity, titles, context, motives and post-use. Gendered stereotypes influence both environment and job title, which highlights their pervasive nature. New women entrepreneurs are both strategic and agentic when negotiating entrepreneurial identity through job-title choice. Further, what is not viable for one woman is optimal for another, illustrating important nuances and the social situatedness of title choice and surfacing how the unexamined normalization of “entrepreneur” contributes to exclusionary boundaries that privilege stereotypically aligned identities. Originality/value The study responds to calls for deeper focus on contextual specificities of entrepreneurial identity. Using an identity negotiation theory lens, new insights emerge on how the identity work of job-title choice allows strategic and agentic navigation of entrepreneurship stereotypes, emphasizing the interaction of five elements. The research challenges perspectives that view job titles as static identity labels and cast gendered stereotypes as deterministically limiting. It further contests the assumption that stereotype-based identity threats yield only stereotype adherence or avoidance, demonstrating instead that women's responses reflect more nuanced processes of identity negotiation. In doing so, the study advances identity negotiation theory within entrepreneurship and reframes women entrepreneurs as strategic, agentic actors who actively navigate, reinterpret and reshape the meanings and uses of job titles, both as a continuous identity work process and in response to gendered entrepreneurial stereotypes.
