Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Entrepreneurial Resilience and Creative Performance with the Mediating Role of Institutional Orientation: A Quantitative Investigation Using Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

As a result of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), thousands of small companies around the world have been severely disrupted. Many business professionals, particularly entrepreneurs, suffer from the unprecedented magnitude of the lockdown of social activities, which is combined with limits on individual mobility. This study investigates the resilience of entrepreneurs—which is characterized by hardiness, resourcefulness, and optimism—as well as the relationship between resilience and creative performance. Additionally, the mediating role of institutional orientation is investigated in order to highlight how contextual factors influence this relationship. Using a quantitative study approach and structural equation modeling data analysis technique, 390 entrepreneurs were investigated, and the analyzed data demonstrate that entrepreneurs’ ability to persevere in the face of adversity is strongly related to their ability to innovate, with institutional orientation serving as a partial mediating variable. Implications and future research opportunities are also explored in the paper.