ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Entrepreneurial orientation is one of the most important constructs perceived, as one of the most important elements having a significant impact on the position of enterprises in their business environment. This construct is a strategic orientation of the organisation, determining its strategic actions, management philosophy and entrepreneurial behaviour.The analysis of domestic and foreign literature indicated that despite the research on the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on the effectiveness of organisational performance and its success, and many attempts to find a relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and enterprise performance, this topic remains inexhaustible due to the fact that these relationships are determined or moderated by a wide variety of factors, including the size and nature of the enterprises operations.The main purpose of the article is to assess the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on economic performance in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises.In order to achieve the main objective and verification of the research hypothesis, in 2022, self-reported survey was conducted on a group of 200 small and medium-sized enterprises in lskie Voivodeship. Statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and Kendalls tau correlation coefficient, as a statistical method used for non-parametric variables. For the purposes of this article, a five-dimensional concept of entrepreneurial orientation has been adopted.The research carried out showed a correlation between the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and the economic performance of the surveyed enterprises.