Organisational configurations explaining the entrepreneurial orientation–performance–environment relationship: a focus on bricolage capability, organisational identity and absorptive capacity

Abstract

Wide-spread research demonstrates that firms which promote entrepreneurship are dynamic, flexible organisations which tend to realise greater innovation. The entrepreneurial orientation (EO)–firm performance relationship and its contingency factors remain an unresolved area of research in the literature. Recognising the centrality of knowledge and resource-based rationales within EO–performance theorising, we investigate the role of resources and capabilities in terms of bricolage capability, absorptive capacity, and organisational identity as potential moderators to the EO–performance–environment relationship. Primary data are sourced from firms in the South African construction and materials industry sector. After establishing validity and reliability through confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to test the hypotheses. Results reveal that in the context of environmental hostility, the EO–performance relationship is positively moderated by the bricolage capability–organisational identity interaction. Moreover, absorptive capacity is positively moderated by organisational identity. Managers need to appreciate how various internal resources and capabilities could be orchestrated for optimum performance and how these could be complementary and consistent with EO–performance outcomes. The study findings provide novel research implications by increasing the theoretical and empirical reach of bricolage capability, absorptive capacity, and organisational identity as moderators in the EO–performance–environment relationship.