Investigation the Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Organizational Performance in a Turbulent Environment (the case of SMEs)

Nowadays, entrepreneurship at the organizational level and entrepreneurial attitude at the individual-level can be seen as a competitive advantage in the new era. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance of SMEs in the disturbance environment. While essentially an applied research, a questionnaire was employed to collect the data within a descriptive survey. To measure the dimensions of the organizational performance Vorhies and Morgan’s standard questionnaire, to measure entrepreneurial attitude, Covin and Lampkin’s standard questionnaire, to measure absorptive capacity, Janson’s standard questionnaire and to measure market turbulence, Jaworski and Kohli’s standard questionnaire were used. Senior executives of small and medium businesses, the member of small and medium industries Information Center were selected as the population of the investigation. Analyzing collected data by Structural equation modeling demonstrated that absorptive capacity strengthens the EO–performance relationship in turbulent markets. The findings help managers and company’s analysts to identify the market conditions and factors affecting the company's performance.