Employee perceptions of risks and rewards in terms of corporate entrepreneurship participation

Abstract

Orientation: Early studies recognise how important corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is to achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Research purpose: With the scope of CE widening, organisations that lack prior entrepreneurial recognition are adopting CE in order to survive and succeed in increasingly competitive and financially constrained environments. Motivation for the study: By using conjoint analysis, the study is able to determine empirically which criteria organisations use, when they decide to participate in CE activities, are significant. Research design, approach and method: The authors used conjoint analysis. It simulates real life situations where it presents and tests various scenarios in terms of combinations of attributes and levels of intensity that influence decisions to participate in CE. Main findings: The results show that the most important attribute that influences the decision to participate in CE is the probability of venture success. Financial reward follows closely. As expected, job risk, pay risk and exerted effort are deterrents to CE participation. Practical/managerial implications: The study provides guidance to managers and leaders interested in motivating their employees to undertake CE activities. The results give direction to employees by offering them different scenarios of incentives and commensurate risks when they participate in CE. Contribution/value-add: This is one of the first studies to test empirically the likelihood of CE participation in terms of conjoint analysis. It provides managers with a dashboard of possible attributes, according to which they can devise optimal incentive strategies. © 2013. The Authors.