Effect of Corporate Entrepreneurship on Firm Perfor mance in Iranian ASMEs: The Mediation Role of Knowledge Crea tion and Learning Orientation

Abstract

The Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) of firms and en terprises is the subject of current research in the fields of management and business. However, analyses on this subject in agricultural firms are lacking. The purpose of this research was to study the relationships between corporate entrepreneurship and firm perform ance in Agricultural Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ASMEs) in Iran. Specifica lly, the authors aimed to analyze how knowledge creation and learning orientation as a mediator influence the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm perform ance. A conceptual model was designed and hypotheses were constructed. The sampl es in this study were owners and/or top managers of ASMEs. Data for the study were coll ected using a questionnaire survey administrated during 2015. In order to test the hyp otheses, data were collected from ASME and analyzed using the structural equation mod el by AMOS20 graphic software. The results reveal that corporate entrepreneurship significantly influences learning orientation, knowledge creation and firm performanc e in ASMEs. The most notable outcome of these findings is that knowledge creatio n and learning orientation performs a mediating role in the relationships between corpora te entrepreneurship and performance in ASMEs. Keywords: Agricultural SMEs, AMOS 20 graphic software , Corporate entrepreneurship, Knowledge creation, Small and medium-sized enterpri ses.