Proposing and validating a five-dimensional scale for measuring entrepreneurial orientation : An empirical study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help enhance the scholarly conversation about the essential nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct, its dimensionality and measurement. The authors focus on how EO was defined and measured in various contexts, which is the basis for the proposed five-dimensional EO scale (FDEOS). Design/methodology/approach – Survey was conducted in design industry in China. A pilot test was conducted with 20 Chinese firms. Questionnaires were sent to 1,200 firms. A total of 408 complete and valid questionnaires were received. Findings – It was found that a behavior aspect of EO as a second-order reflective model had a greater degree of agreement among scholarly community. As a result, a new FDEOS was proposed from behavioral perspective. Data were collected from 408 firms of design industry in a big developing country. Originality/value – While five-dimensional EO construct is a well-recognized concept in the literature on entrepreneurship, little is known about its measurement. The research reported in this paper provides support for this assertion and develops a new scale, FDEOS, that designed to be neutral with regard to industry context and type of organization.