Rethinking Entrepreneurial Orientation in Emerging Economies: Dimension-Specific Effects on MSME Growth in Kenya

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this article is to investigate the influence of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on the growth of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya, which, despite their significant contribution to employment and GDP, continue to face persistent growth barriers and high failure rates. EO—defined by innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness— has been widely studied, but empirical evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa remains limited and context dependent. To address this gap, the study employed a sequential mixed-methods design, combining quantitative surveys of 284 MSMEs with qualitative interviews of 15 owners/managers. Correlation results indicated that proactiveness, risk-taking, and innovativeness were positively associated with growth, autonomy was negatively related, and competitive aggressiveness was weakly positive. Regression analysis confirmed proactiveness, innovativeness, and competitive aggressiveness as significant growth drivers, while autonomy exhibited a significant negative effect, and risk-taking was statistically non-significant. The overall model explained 60.2 per cent of the variance in MSME growth. Qualitative findings complemented these results by showing that risk-taking was often interpreted as survival-driven rather than strategic, and autonomy contributed to inefficiencies due to weak oversight. Conversely, innovativeness and proactiveness were consistently perceived as critical for survival and competitiveness. These findings highlight EO's heterogeneous and context-sensitive effects on MSME performance. The study contributes to theory by advancing a contextualised understanding of EO in emerging economies and provides practical insights for policy and management by recommending strategies to strengthen innovation, proactiveness, and structured autonomy among MSMEs.