Leading and innovating entrepreneurial performance: the role of organisational culture and work values ethic
Creators: name: Choudhary, Ali Iftikhar
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 350105
subject: Management accounting

description: Global recessions, internationalisation, and intense competition have forced entrepreneurial SME ventures in developed and developing countries to rethink their approaches to innovation strategies. Entrepreneurial SME ventures are defined as SMEs which emphasise the entrepreneurial function, thereby giving them high potential for significant innovation, change, and growth. These ventures require leaders who can anticipate, create, and sustain innovative design solutions to achieve sustainable organisational performance. There is a dearth of research on whether organisational culture and work values ethic explicitly shape or design leadership as more than a tool of productivity. In addition, further investigation is needed to identify whether 'design leaders' create a conducive working environment which leads to sustainable organisational performance. Underpinned by resource-based view (RBV) theory, this thesis investigates and compares the impact of organisational culture and work values ethics on organisational performance using 'design leadership' and 'workplace innovation' as mediators. A research framework and five hypotheses were developed and tested in entrepreneurial SME ventures operating in Australia and Pakistan. The sample was from these countries because they both belong to the Asia-Pacific region, are experiencing rapid economic growth, and their SMEs experience common entrepreneurial issues, mainly related to innovation and sustainability. However, Pakistan has Islamic ethical values and an Eastern culture, while Australia has Anglo-Saxon ethical values and a Western culture.  In this comparative study, a total of 753 useable questionnaires were returned, with 360 from Australia and 393 from Pakistan, from executives working in entrepreneurial SME ventures. The data was collected to examine and compare the relationships between internal resource capabilities such as work values ethic, organisational culture, design leadership, workplace innovation, and organisational performance of entrepreneurial SME ventures operating in Australia and Pakistan. A pre-test and pilot-test were conducted in each country to ensure the reliability and validity of the scales. A ballot-type box was used for hard-copy surveys and no tracers were used for online surveys, to ensure data integrity. The survey comprised five existing measurement scales, with more than 0.7 Cronbach's alpha score, showing consistent reliability. The structural equation modelling (SEM) results of the main study revealed that organisational culture has a significant positive relationship with design leadership in both Australia and Pakistan. On the other hand, work values ethic showed a positive relationship with design leadership in Australia. One significant finding was that leaders of entrepreneurial SME ventures conducting business in a developing country do not support a conducive work environment where they cultivate innovation for sustainable organisational performance. Another significant finding was that design leadership and workplace innovation mediate the relationship between organisational culture, work values ethic, and organisational performance in Australia. On the other hand, they do not mediate the relationship between work values ethic and organisational performance in Pakistan, showing a significant difference between entrepreneurial SME ventures in a developed and a developing country. This study explores the serial mediation of design leadership and workplace innovation in entrepreneurial SME ventures across a developed and a developing country. Another significant finding is that organisational culture is an antecedent of leadership behaviour, aligning with the concepts of structural interpretivism. The Australian data fully supported the five hypotheses, but only partially supported by the Pakistani data. Further to the analysis of the hypotheses presented, this thesis developed a new key concept, DesignOpreneur. This significant novel concept is not limited to design leaders who become entrepreneurs, but refers to all those entrepreneurs who focus on the ethical aspects of design and strategy for the cultivation of innovation. DesignOpreneurs are those entrepreneurs who develop innovative workplaces by focusing on design and strategic aspects of their business, based on a shared culture and ethics. <br><br>
The practical significance of this thesis is to provide insights for entrepreneurs, CEOs, and managers on developing sustainable entrepreneurial SME ventures. In addition, this thesis will assist leaders in entrepreneurial SME ventures in developing countries to focus on ethical, strategic, and design thinking to cultivate innovation that improves individual and organisational performance. Theoretically, this thesis significantly enriches the literature on leadership, workplace innovation, work values ethic, and resource-based view (RBV) theory with an in-depth discussion of an organisation's internal resource capabilities to achieve sustainable organisational performance.