Entrepreneurial Performance: Determinants of Performance in Stimulus-Oriented Granting

Abstract Local governments consistently face challenges of economic depression and the unexpected events that precipitate them, such as COVID-19. The depressions leave governments taxed for resources, infrastructure, and time. These depressions are often helped by large infusions of federal grant dollars, otherwise known as stimulus-oriented granting. Key variables in determining success in spending these stimulus dollars include government structure and different forms of capacity. These are traditionally tested characteristics that governments already possess. What we know less about is how governments take advantage of these spending opportunities without regard to the resources that are under their control. This is referred to as entrepreneurial orientation. Using the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), this study tests the effect of entrepreneurial orientation, form of government, and capacity on local government spending of federal grant dollars, specifically in stimulus-oriented granting. This study has implications for other stimulus-oriented granting, such as the COVID-19-motivated, Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES).