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Intrapreneurship as an Engine of Corporate Renewal: Exploring the Intrapreneur and How Corporate Conditions Influence Intrapreneurial Behavior
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Business Studies. (Entreprenörskap)ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7915-9919
2021 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Description
Abstract [en]

The aim of this thesis is to explore the characteristics of the intrapreneur and subsequently probe the question of how various internal corporate conditions influence intrapreneurial behavior. Using an evolutionary framework as the overarching theoretical point of departure to understand the core phenomena, the questions are tested on a comprehensive dataset of employees in the private sector in Sweden. The analyses are conducted in four individual papers following a quantitative research design. 

The thesis expands the classic intrapreneur stereotype “a dreamer who does” by offering a more comprehensive perspective of an intrapreneur and showcasing various types of intrapreneurs such as resilient intrapreneurs, neglected intrapreneurs, and privileged intrapreneurs. Additionally, the findings reveal a set of corporate conditions that influence employees’ intentions to become engaged in intrapreneurial behavior. They also open up the relatively unexplored gender perspective on intrapreneurship, showing that some components of corporate culture can encourage intrapreneurship and that these components relate to existing gender roles within the corporation. Overall, these findings contribute to prior research on the intrapreneur and intrapreneurship in the Swedish context. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Uppsala: Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University , 2021. , p. 73
Series
Doctoral thesis / Företagsekonomiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet, ISSN 1103-8454 ; 207
Keywords [en]
Corporate entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, Intrapreneurial behavior, Intentions, Corporate conditions
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-455536ISBN: 978-91-506-2903-3 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-455536DiVA, id: diva2:1601375
Public defence
2021-11-25, Hörsal 2, Ekonomikum, Kyrkogårdsgatan 10C, Uppsala, 13:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2021-11-01 Created: 2021-10-07 Last updated: 2021-11-01
List of papers
1. Searching for the Intrapreneur – A Descriptive Study
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Searching for the Intrapreneur – A Descriptive Study
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
Abstract [en]

Corporate entrepreneurship literature has identified the overall phenomena of intrapreneurship, but there is much more to know about an individual intrapreneur. This paper investigates the individual intrapreneurial characteristics empirically and presents descriptive statistics of a sample with 4,011 respondents. The findings paint a picture of the characteristics of the average intrapreneur: a 42-year-old man with a university degree employed in his host corporation in the manufacturing industry for about 0–5 years and has a manager position in a large corporation of 50–249 employees. The results contribute to the corporate entrepreneurship literature by showing different descriptive statistics of what characterizes an average intrapreneur. Implications for management of the corporations are discussed in order to encourage employees to behave intrapreneurially. Thus, corporations that identify, retain, and support their intrapreneurs tend to perform better than others. 

Keywords
corporate entrepreneurship, intrapreneur, characteristics, descriptive statistics
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-455535 (URN)
Available from: 2021-10-07 Created: 2021-10-07 Last updated: 2021-10-07
2. How planned behavior drives employee intentions to pursue new product and service development
Open this publication in new window or tab >>How planned behavior drives employee intentions to pursue new product and service development
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This paper demonstrates the relevance of the theory of planned behavior to predict the drivers of employee intentions to become engaged in the development of new products and services. The results from a survey of 3,435 employees of Swedish companies, including small, medium-sized, and large firms, reveal a number of factors related to attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control that have either a positive or a negative influence on the presence of such intentions. We further show how the strength of the identified relationships varies with firm size. Overall, the findings suggest that firms may differ substantially, in terms of their ability to support employee initiatives that are critical for sustained introduction of new products and services. Our study contributes to the corporate entrepreneurship literature by explaining how organizational and individual conditions drive the introduction of new products and services. 

Keywords
corporate entrepreneurship, corporate conditions, intentions, new product and service development
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-455538 (URN)
Available from: 2021-10-07 Created: 2021-10-07 Last updated: 2021-10-07
3. A gender sensitive perspective of corporate culture and the spawning of intrapreneurs
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A gender sensitive perspective of corporate culture and the spawning of intrapreneurs
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

We reconcile the theory on corporate culture and gender to develop and test hypotheses predicting the spawning of intrapreneurs. The results from a representative, large scale survey of employees in Swedish private companies suggest a gender sensitive perspective on corporate culture, which relaxes the assumption of cultural homogeneity. Specifically, a competitive corporate culture is likely to spawn male intrapreneurs, whereas a corporate culture with intrapreneurial role models spawns both male and female intrapreneurs, but particularly female. Implications for management of the growing organizations with regard to corporate entrepreneurship, human resources, and gender equality are discussed.

Keywords
corporate culture, gender, competitive culture, (in)-visibility, intrapreneurship
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-455539 (URN)
Available from: 2021-10-07 Created: 2021-10-07 Last updated: 2021-10-07
4. Beyond the Stereotype of an Intrapreneur – An Exploratory Study of Different Intrapreneurs and Various Corporate Conditions
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Beyond the Stereotype of an Intrapreneur – An Exploratory Study of Different Intrapreneurs and Various Corporate Conditions
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The corporate entrepreneurship literature has identified the importance of intrapreneurs for maintaining growth, revitalization, and performance of corporations, but little is known about intrapreneurs and how they perceive their corporate working conditions. The working conditions in the corporation have an effect on employees’ behavior. This paper empirically investigates corporate conditions from the individual’s perspective as well as the types of intrapreneurs that exist. A cluster analysis of intrapreneurs suggests that there are three types of intrapreneurs: resilient intrapreneurs, neglected intrapreneurs, and privileged intrapreneurs. The findings indicate that there are various corporate conditions that make individuals feel either supported or inhibited from engaging in entrepreneurial behavior. 

Keywords
corporate entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, corporate conditions, cluster analysis
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Studies; Business Studies; Business Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-455540 (URN)
Available from: 2021-10-07 Created: 2021-10-07 Last updated: 2021-10-07

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