An empirical investigation of entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, entrepreneurial motivation and value creation: the mediating role of entrepreneurial intention

In the present world, SMEs mostly face trouble meeting the challenges of today's globally competitive marketplace as they lack sufficient versatility, technology, entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial intention throughout the business life cycle. This paper proposes a theoretical and practical framework based on a literature review and primary data analysis to understand and develop an entrepreneurial culture in Pakistani SMEs. The aim is to clarify the concept of entrepreneurial intention (EI) through a conceptual model developed by proposing antecedents of entrepreneurial intention (EI) in an integrated framework examining their impact on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to boost organisational value creation. This research paper contributes to TPB by proposing thoughtful hypotheses based on empirical results. Using PLS-SEM, our theoretical model is tested on a sample of 301 entrepreneurs in the Sports and Textile sector of Pakistani SMEs. Data is collected from the managers/owners of those entrepreneurial firms already existing in the market to gain better insights into the development of organisational value creation through EI. The results revealed that the best predictors for EI are antecedents like entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and entrepreneurial motivation that impact attitudes, subjective norms and PBC, respectively, of TPB to enhance EI. In addition, results confirmed that EI mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and entrepreneurial motivation for improving organisational value creation. In conclusion, the factors identified in this research study can act as a prime variable for management implications to achieve SMEs' longevity. The study also discussed theoretical and practical implications and research limitations.