Title: Do organisations' aims affect entrepreneurial orientation and inter-organisational cooperation? A report on Polish cooperatives and for-profit enterprises

Authors: Rafał Kusa; Joanna Duda

Addresses: AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, Gramatyka 10, 30-067 Krakow, Poland ' AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, Gramatyka 10, 30-067 Krakow, Poland

Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine inter-organisational cooperation and the entrepreneurial orientation of an organisation in the context of its aims. This is shown with the example of cooperatives. Three hypotheses are tested; they pertain to the similarities and differences between cooperatives and for-profit enterprises in terms of entrepreneurial orientation, inter-organisational cooperation and internationalisation. The hypotheses are tested with a U-Mann-Whitney analysis on a sample of 28 cooperatives and 44 small and medium-sized enterprises operating within the region of Lesser Poland. The findings confirm that entrepreneurial orientation is a universal characteristic of an organisation (regardless of its aims) and plays an important role in the performance of cooperatives. Additionally, the findings show the similarity in terms of cooperation as well as the differences in terms of the degree of internationalisation between cooperatives and for-profit enterprises. With its findings, this paper contributes to entrepreneurship theory as well as social economy theory.

Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation; inter-organisational cooperation; internationalisation; cooperatives; social economy; emerging economy; innovativeness; risk-taking; proactiveness.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2024.138406

European Journal of International Management, 2024 Vol.23 No.1, pp.112 - 131

Received: 01 Aug 2019
Accepted: 01 Nov 2019
Published online: 03 May 2024 *

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