The moderating role of the top management decision making process on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance

Abstract

The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance has been researched and found to be contingent. One of the contingencies that required further investigation was how the top management team’s decision-making process impacted that relationship. Therefore, purpose of the study was to assess the moderation effect of top management decision making process on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance. A quantitative study was deployed with a total of 139 valid respondents. Multiple regression analysis was done to test the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and organizational performance (OP). While a moderated multiple regression analysis was done to test the moderating effect of top management decision making conflict on EO and OP. The findings of the study validated prior research on the positive correlation between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance highlighting importance of entrepreneurial orientation in companies. The second finding of the study conflicted with several studies as it found the moderation effect of the top management team conflict statistically insignificant. This finding raised questions on what other contextual factors may have been at play that impacted the outcome. It further highlighted the need for more studies into the top management team dynamics or introduction diverse data analysis methodology to provide richer data on these relationships.