Exploring the Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation, CEO Dual Values, and SME Performance in State-Owned vs. Nonstate-Owned Enterprises in China

Most entrepreneurial orientation (EO)-performance research focuses on identifying organizational-level contingent factors in developed countries. In this study, we advance EO research by examining how CEO self-enhancing and self-transcending values shape the relationship between EO and performance, differentially, in Chinese state-owned enterprises vs. nonstate-owned enterprises. Supporting self-concern and other-orientation theory, our sample of 148 manufacturing firms in the chemical industry in Eastern China indicates that the EO-performance relationship is stronger for high self-enhancing CEOs in state-owned enterprises, whereas the focal link is stronger for low self-enhancing CEOs in nonstate-owned enterprises.