Middle managers perception of the internal environment and its relationship to entrepreneurial orientation in the South African coal mining industry

Abstract

Corporate entrepreneurship a proponent of the innovation imperative is a process which enables constant corporate innovation, allowing firms to remain dynamic and competitive in the competing world markets (Kuratko, Hornsby, & Covin, 2014). The aim of this research was to do a quantitative assessment of middle managers in the South African coal mining industry through the lenses of two prominent constructs of the corporate entrepreneurship process. These are the internal environment for corporate entrepreneurship (Kuratko et al., 2014) and entrepreneurial orientation (Covin and Wales, 2012). To measure these constructs the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI) and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) instruments were used respectively. Sequential multiple regression analysis was performed to analyse the relationship between the two constructs. The results confirmed that both the CEAI and EO instruments had a high degree of reliability and that the internal environment for corporate entrepreneurship contains three elements (management support, work discretion and rewards/reinforcement) which have a significant relationship with the entrepreneurial orientation composite measure. It was also found that middle managers in the South African coal mining industry do not perceive the internal environment for corporate entrepreneurship to be supportive even though they themselves have a high degree of entrepreneurial orientation. The research thus contributes to confirming the validity of existing measurement instruments and establishes a relationship between constructs to allow for strategic realignment.