Entrepreneurial behavior in a large traditional organization: Exploring nature, drivers, and performance implications

More and more large traditional corporations are striving to become “entrepreneurial”. While literature has traditionally focused on “grand entrepreneurship”—aimed at new venture creation or new product/market development, this dissertation emphasizes “day-to-day entrepreneurship”—entrepreneurial ways of getting things done. I conceive entrepreneurial behavior as opportunity driven activities based on innovative use of resources.; My research centers on 220 middle managers of a large well-established financial services company (ABN Amro). I combined qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to address (1) how these managers acted entrepreneurially, (2) why in the same organizational context some acted entrepreneurially and others did not, and (3)  what happens when they acted entrepreneurially.; The findings suggest that entrepreneurial behavior in well-established firms is complex. It consists of various sets of activities involving both cooperative and autonomous elements. Entrepreneurial managers need to continuously balance “exploring” new resource combinations with “exploiting” organizational capabilities. In sum, enacting entrepreneurial behavior requires managers to “juggle” different roles and activities.; My analysis furthermore suggests that the managers' subjective interpretation of their behavioral context is vital to induce entrepreneurial behavior, and that these perceptions are critically shaped by the managers' ability to regulate their thoughts and emotions. The findings also reveal that entrepreneurial self-efficacy beliefs—managers' perceived capability to perform entrepreneurial tasks—are a powerful predictor of entrepreneurial behavior. They are essential for translating perceptions of context and individual characters into behavior, and represent an important cognitive and motivational device to steer and regulate entrepreneurial behavior.; Last but not least, I found that the entrepreneurial behavior of middle managers positively affects profitable growth in their business units. However, analyzing the impact on performance over three years, no significant links to other aspects of performance, such as customer, or subordinate satisfaction could be established.; The dissertation builds on and adds to literatures in strategic management, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and social cognitive theory, and provides valuable insights for managerial practice.