The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance of SMEs in Malaysia. A total of 391 owner/managers participated in this research. The owner/managers were sent a package of questionnaires which comprised the...

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Main Author: Roslan, Abdul Aziz
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
eng
Published: 2010
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Online Access:https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/1/Roslan_Abdul_Aziz.pdf
https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/2/1.Roslan_Abdul_Aziz.pdf
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spelling my-uum-etd.23052019-11-12T01:34:28Z The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia 2010 Roslan, Abdul Aziz Mahmood, Rosli College of Business (COB) College of Business HD28-70 Management. Industrial Management The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance of SMEs in Malaysia. A total of 391 owner/managers participated in this research. The owner/managers were sent a package of questionnaires which comprised the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire MLQ 5X (Bass & Avolio, 1995, 2000, 2004), the Entrepreneurial Orientation Questionnaire EOQ (Covin & Slevin, 1991), the Business Performance BP (Dess & Robinson, 1984; Allen & Helms, 2002; Choi & Lee, 2003; O'Regan, Ghobadian & Sims, 2005) questionnaire and the demographic questionnaire. Out of 391 questionnaires answered only 371 questionnaires were usable for this research. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. This study found that there were significant positive relationships between i) transformational leadership and business performance, ii) transactional leadership and business performance, iii) transformational leadership and entrepreneurial orientation, iv) transactional leadership and entrepreneurial orientation, and v) entrepreneurial orientation and business performance. This study also found that passive-avoidant leadership was negatively correlated with either business performance or entrepreneurial orientation. Although entrepreneurial orientation was supposed to be fully mediating the relationship between leadership styles and business performance, the results showed that the mediating effect was only partial. The findings can be generalized as follows: (i) the study found that transformational and transactional leadership styles were the dominant form of leaderships displayed by the owner/managers of the SMEs and (ii) the direct effect relationships between leadership styles and business performance were more significant than the effect of using the entrepreneurial orientation as a mediator. The findings demonstrated that SMEs owner/managers need to upgrade their leadership skills and improved the company's entrepreneurial orientation in order for them to survive the competitive market environment. The owner/managers must be willing to be more innovative, pro-active and able to take higher risk. In ensuring that SMEs will continue to contribute to the national economy, the government is urged to develop higher level training programs that will help the owner/managers to upgrade their leadership skills. This study also provides an opportunity to expand the research on other industries such as manufacturing, constructions, agricultures and telecommunications. Future researchers perhaps may want to investigate the effect of leadership styles and entrepreneurial orientation on Malaysian SMEs going abroad, as international expansion offers a potential way for these firms to increase growth and improve performance. 2010 Thesis https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/ https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/1/Roslan_Abdul_Aziz.pdf application/pdf eng validuser https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/2/1.Roslan_Abdul_Aziz.pdf application/pdf eng public http://sierra.uum.edu.my/record=b1222269~S1 dba dba Universiti Utara Malaysia
institution Universiti Utara Malaysia
collection UUM ETD
language eng
eng
advisor Mahmood, Rosli
topic HD28-70 Management
Industrial Management
spellingShingle HD28-70 Management
Industrial Management
Roslan, Abdul Aziz
The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia
description The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance of SMEs in Malaysia. A total of 391 owner/managers participated in this research. The owner/managers were sent a package of questionnaires which comprised the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire MLQ 5X (Bass & Avolio, 1995, 2000, 2004), the Entrepreneurial Orientation Questionnaire EOQ (Covin & Slevin, 1991), the Business Performance BP (Dess & Robinson, 1984; Allen & Helms, 2002; Choi & Lee, 2003; O'Regan, Ghobadian & Sims, 2005) questionnaire and the demographic questionnaire. Out of 391 questionnaires answered only 371 questionnaires were usable for this research. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. This study found that there were significant positive relationships between i) transformational leadership and business performance, ii) transactional leadership and business performance, iii) transformational leadership and entrepreneurial orientation, iv) transactional leadership and entrepreneurial orientation, and v) entrepreneurial orientation and business performance. This study also found that passive-avoidant leadership was negatively correlated with either business performance or entrepreneurial orientation. Although entrepreneurial orientation was supposed to be fully mediating the relationship between leadership styles and business performance, the results showed that the mediating effect was only partial. The findings can be generalized as follows: (i) the study found that transformational and transactional leadership styles were the dominant form of leaderships displayed by the owner/managers of the SMEs and (ii) the direct effect relationships between leadership styles and business performance were more significant than the effect of using the entrepreneurial orientation as a mediator. The findings demonstrated that SMEs owner/managers need to upgrade their leadership skills and improved the company's entrepreneurial orientation in order for them to survive the competitive market environment. The owner/managers must be willing to be more innovative, pro-active and able to take higher risk. In ensuring that SMEs will continue to contribute to the national economy, the government is urged to develop higher level training programs that will help the owner/managers to upgrade their leadership skills. This study also provides an opportunity to expand the research on other industries such as manufacturing, constructions, agricultures and telecommunications. Future researchers perhaps may want to investigate the effect of leadership styles and entrepreneurial orientation on Malaysian SMEs going abroad, as international expansion offers a potential way for these firms to increase growth and improve performance.
format Thesis
qualification_name Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
qualification_level Doctorate
author Roslan, Abdul Aziz
author_facet Roslan, Abdul Aziz
author_sort Roslan, Abdul Aziz
title The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia
title_short The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia
title_full The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia
title_fullStr The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed The mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of SMEs in Malaysia
title_sort mediating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between leadership styles and performance of smes in malaysia
granting_institution Universiti Utara Malaysia
granting_department College of Business (COB)
publishDate 2010
url https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/1/Roslan_Abdul_Aziz.pdf
https://etd.uum.edu.my/2305/2/1.Roslan_Abdul_Aziz.pdf
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