Entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, and firm performance

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a key ingredient for firm success. Nonetheless, an important message from past findings is that simply examining the direct effect of EO on firm performance provides an incomplete picture. Prior studies examined various internal and external factors that influence the EO-performance relationship. However, learning orientation (LO) has been a missing link in the examination of the relationship. Using data from 213 medium-to-large UK firms, this study finds that LO mediates the EO-performance relationship, and the EO-LO-performance link is stronger for prospectors than analyzers. The findings indicate that LO must be in place to maximize the effect of EO on performance, and that LO is an important dimension, along with EO, to distinguish prospectors from analyzers.