Article author:
Bojan Morić Milovanović
Year the article was released:
2023
Edition in this Year:
1
Article abstract:
INVESTIGATING THE MODERATING ROLE OF GENDER, EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AMONG CROATIAN ENTREPRENEURS
Abstract: Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) represents one of the most robust scientific
constructs explored by academics in management and entrepreneurship literature,
where research mostly focuses on exploring EO as a firm-level or as an individual-level
construct. Even though numerous studies found gender differences in EO, there is
still a need to further explore differences in gender, experience and education on each
of the EO dimensions separately. Therefore, the aim of this study is to further test these
effects in a small open economy context such as Croatia. More specifically, by using
the linear regression analysis this study will explore direct and moderating effects
gender, experience and education have on EO and EO’s dimensions within the context
of Croatian SMEs. Results of this study have confirmed that male entrepreneurs are
more entrepreneurially oriented and are more proactive than their female counterparts.
On the other hand, results indicated no significant gender differences in the level
of innovation and risk taking. Furthermore, results demonstrated that gender has a
significant and direct effect on EO, and on risk taking as a dimension of EO, however,
there are no significant effects of gender on innovativeness and proactiveness. Results
also confirmed moderation effects gender has on the relationships between the level
of education and EO, innovativeness and proactiveness, where these relationships are
moderated as such that the relationships are stronger for women than for men. These
findings are very interesting since they place significance on the importance education
has on the success of female entrepreneurs. Therefore, findings of this study provide
more evidence on how important tailor-made educational programs are for the development
of successful female entrepreneurs.
constructs explored by academics in management and entrepreneurship literature,
where research mostly focuses on exploring EO as a firm-level or as an individual-level
construct. Even though numerous studies found gender differences in EO, there is
still a need to further explore differences in gender, experience and education on each
of the EO dimensions separately. Therefore, the aim of this study is to further test these
effects in a small open economy context such as Croatia. More specifically, by using
the linear regression analysis this study will explore direct and moderating effects
gender, experience and education have on EO and EO’s dimensions within the context
of Croatian SMEs. Results of this study have confirmed that male entrepreneurs are
more entrepreneurially oriented and are more proactive than their female counterparts.
On the other hand, results indicated no significant gender differences in the level
of innovation and risk taking. Furthermore, results demonstrated that gender has a
significant and direct effect on EO, and on risk taking as a dimension of EO, however,
there are no significant effects of gender on innovativeness and proactiveness. Results
also confirmed moderation effects gender has on the relationships between the level
of education and EO, innovativeness and proactiveness, where these relationships are
moderated as such that the relationships are stronger for women than for men. These
findings are very interesting since they place significance on the importance education
has on the success of female entrepreneurs. Therefore, findings of this study provide
more evidence on how important tailor-made educational programs are for the development
of successful female entrepreneurs.
Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, female entrepreneurship, gender, education,
Croatia
Croatia