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Entrepreneurial passion lies at the foundation of the business development process, yet the available evidence is ambiguous regarding its effects on firm performance. In this study, we examine the entrepreneurial passion puzzle by looking into decision-making mechanisms underlying its potential to increase business performance outcomes. Based on the literature on passion and effectuation theory, we link harmonious passion to firm performance through effectual behavioral logic.

To empirically test the theoretical model, we performed bootstrapping-based mediation, ordinary least squares moderated regression and moderated mediation analysis based on survey data collected from 105 executives of US firms.

We found that harmonious passion indirectly increases firm performance through effectuation. The direct link between harmonious passion and firm performance is insignificant. Moreover, the proposed mediation model is strengthened when the executives attain high levels of entrepreneurial experience.

This study is not without limitations. First, a cross-sectional data set was adopted as the empirical setting of our research. Hence, further studies could benefit from applying longitudinal research designs. Second, a self-reported survey was utilized to measure firm performance. Although such operationalization is widely accepted in management and entrepreneurship studies, objective measures can produce additional insights into focal relationships.

This study provides practical implications for educators, consultants and managers. First, educators should encourage harmonious passion and teach effectual decision-making through various educational programs. Consultants and business practitioners should take similar orientations when organizing training for employees and executives. Finally, managers need to comprehend the motivational types of their employees and promote harmonious passion through appraisal systems and organizational culture.

This research uncovers a mechanism and a boundary condition on the relationship between harmonious passion and performance. The results show the critical moderating role of human capital and the mediating role of effectual decision-making on the passion and performance relationship. The current study contributes to the passion literature by providing a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics between entrepreneurial passion and firm performance.

The growing popularity of gig and sharing economy changes not only consumption models but also employment patterns. This study aims to analyze the potential entrepreneurial nature of gig and sharing economy initiatives. As such, the authors compare the entrepreneurial intentions of gig and sharing economy workers to the general population. Further, the authors consider commonalities and differences in terms of the driving forces of both intentions to start-up and participation in gig and sharing economy, treating them as connected phenomena. Finally, the authors look into gig and sharing economy experience as a direct antecedent to entrepreneurial intentions formation.

The empirical settings for this study are derived from the sample of 1,257 individuals who participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey 2018 in Russia. Methodologically, the authors rely on analysis of variance-test and binary logistic regression analysis to test the study hypotheses.

The results indicate that entrepreneurial intentions of gig and sharing economy workers are significantly higher when compared to the general population. In terms of antecedents to gig and sharing economy participation and startup intentions, similar effects of age, entrepreneurial social capital, prior entrepreneurial exit and intrapreneurial experience were revealed, while perceived self-efficacy was associated only with engagement into digital platforms. Finally, gig and sharing economy experience showed significant and positive effect on entrepreneurial intentions formation.

This study represents a first substantive effort to systematize antecedents to gig and sharing economy participation through an entrepreneurship perspective. Beyond that, this research adds to the contextualization of entrepreneurship literature stream, further defining the mechanism of entrepreneurial intentions formation in empirical settings of an emerging market with a relatively low propensity of population to develop intentions to start-up.

Enterprising individuals are frequently portrayed as rational agents who maximize their own interests. At the same time, an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use social responsibility strategies, incorporating collective interests into their business agenda. This study aims to analyze the interplay between the rational and emotional aspects of the entrepreneurial personal identity and address its implications for the socially responsible behavior of businesses by drawing on the literature on entrepreneurial identity, the objectivism (rational egoism) philosophical perspective and the concept of entrepreneurial passion.

A sample of 333 Russian SMEs is used to test the research hypotheses. The study follows the quantitative research strategy, wherein the main assumptions are examined based on mediation testing techniques.

The results suggest that entrepreneurs whose personal identities are rooted in objectivism values are less likely to foster culture of social responsibility within their firms. At the same time, their entrepreneurial passion mitigates the negative effect of objectivism on social responsiveness of the venture.

This research enhances the understanding of entrepreneurial personality and can help policymakers promote social responsibility in small and medium businesses, showing that they need to communicate effectively with SMEs’ leaders and align their policies with entrepreneurial values and beliefs.

Exploration and exploitation have long been documented as prominent approaches to business management and organizational adaptation to external environment. Maintaining balance between these activities is a key to survival and prosperity. However, there is little direct evidence of the effect of such combined usage of both approaches on firm performance in times of crisis, especially within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper is to reveal the role of balanced ambidexterity in shaping firm performance during COVID-19 recession.

Based on a survey of 333 Russian SMEs, the authors test the proposed theoretical framework linking innovative ambidexterity to firm performance level and variability taking into account technological uncertainty.

The results show that innovative ambidexterity tends to increase level and decrease variability of performance outcomes, whereas technological uncertainty acts as a positive contingency for this impact.

The results provide an improved understanding of ambidexterity and organizational literatures by clarifying the contingent nature of the ambidexterity–firm performance relationship during COVID-19 recession.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance across different levels of environmental hostility and market growth. The contingency approach of two-way interactions of EO with each environmental variable is contrasted with the configurational approach of three-way interactions of EO simultaneously with different levels of both environmental variables.

Hierarchical regression analysis is applied for the pooled data set of 163 Finnish and Russian small- and medium-sized enterprises, and supplemented with post hoc analysis of the differences in regression slopes across environmental configurations.

Results show that EO is directly and positively associated with firm performance. However, the strength and direction of this relationship varies by configurations of the external environment variables. Firms achieve superior performance when adopting EO in environments with high levels of both hostility and market growth. In contrast, in favorable environments with low hostility and high market growth, EO adoption leads to lower firm performance.

The study contributes to the EO literature by demonstrating different effects of EO on firm performance across various environmental configurations. It uses cross-sectional data from two countries. Replication studies using different samples may further corroborate the results.

In order to take advantage of opportunities and achieve better performance, managers of firms should analyze multiple elements of the environment concurrently and align EO to those conditions.

The configurations of environmental hostility and market growth, representing both favorable and unfavorable elements of business context, have not been previously investigated together in one model of the EO-performance relationship.