Search Results (1,831)

This study examines entrepreneurs’ awareness and preventive activities regarding the environment and employees as key elements of the Quality 5.0 concept. Quantitative research was conducted among 380 manufacturing companies in Greater Poland that had not implemented or certified a quality management system. Data were collected using CATI interviews using an original questionnaire assessing the importance and implementation of 24 preventive management factors, with a detailed analysis of 10 factors. The findings identify maintaining good relations with the environment (K2), careful supplier selection and continuous evaluation (K3), improving employee qualifications and skills (K7), and ensuring occupational safety and ergonomics (K8) as the most important preventive management factors. The combined IPA and paired analyses identify K7—improving employee qualifications and skills—as the clearest improvement priority: it was the only factor in the “concentrate here” quadrant, had the largest importance–implementation gap (0.34), and the largest rank-biserial effect (r_rb = 0.639). K2—maintaining good relations with the environment—and K8—ensuring occupational safety and ergonomics—combined high importance with high implementation and should therefore be maintained, while K5—selection of employees based on their competencies—also warrants attention due to its gap of 0.28. Paired Wilcoxon tests showed statistically significant implementation shortfalls for all ten factors after Holm correction, indicating that the gap between perceived importance and implementation is systematic. Participatory management (K6) received the lowest importance and implementation ratings, although its large paired effect suggests that its relatively low IPA priority should not be interpreted as evidence of low relevance. Associations with company size and years in operation were generally weak and factor-specific. The results contribute to understanding preventive management as a basis for sustainable, human-centered, and proactive Quality 5.0 practices. They suggest that managerial priorities should consider both the relative IPA position and the magnitude of importance–implementation gaps, with particular attention to employee competence development and participatory management. The results emphasize the role of preventive management practices in supporting the Quality 5.0 concept and provide practical guidance for organizations seeking to strengthen sustainable, employee-oriented, and proactive management approaches. Full article

Sustainable growth has become an increasingly important strategic objective for entrepreneurial firms facing resource constraints, technological change, and growing environmental and social pressures. Although previous studies have established a positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance, relatively limited attention has been paid to the economic resource allocation perspective through which entrepreneurial orientation contributes to sustainable growth. In particular, the role of efficient resource allocation as a mediating mechanism remains insufficiently examined. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable growth and examines whether resource allocation efficiency mediates this relationship. Entrepreneurial orientation is conceptualized in terms of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking, while resource allocation efficiency reflects the effective allocation and utilization of financial, human, and operational resources. Sustainable growth is considered from an integrated perspective encompassing economic, environmental, and social dimensions. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea using purposive sampling. Data were collected from 1 June to 30 June 2026. A total of 375 questionnaires were distributed, of which 360 were returned. After excluding 10 questionnaires that did not meet the predefined data-quality criteria, 350 valid responses were retained for the final analysis. The response rate was 96.00%, and the valid response rate based on the distributed questionnaires was 93.33%. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap-based mediation analysis were employed to examine the proposed relationships among Entrepreneurial Orientation, Resource Allocation Efficiency, and Sustainable Growth. The measurement model was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using the Fornell–Larcker criterion and heterotrait–monotrait ratio. Structural equation modeling was subsequently employed to test the hypothesized relationships, and the mediating effect was examined using bootstrapping procedures. The results indicate that entrepreneurial orientation has a significant positive effect on resource allocation efficiency and that resource allocation efficiency has a significant positive effect on sustainable growth. Entrepreneurial orientation also has a significant direct positive effect on sustainable growth. Furthermore, resource allocation efficiency significantly mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable growth, indicating a partial mediation effect. These findings suggest that entrepreneurial orientation contributes to sustainable growth not only by encouraging innovation, proactive market behavior, and calculated risk-taking, but also by improving how scarce organizational resources are selected, prioritized, and allocated. This study contributes to the entrepreneurship and sustainability literature by integrating an economic resource allocation perspective into the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable growth. The findings suggest that entrepreneurial orientation should not be considered solely as a strategic posture for opportunity exploration; rather, its contribution to sustainability depends partly on the firm’s ability to allocate scarce resources efficiently. The study also provides practical implications for entrepreneurs, SME managers, and policymakers seeking to enhance sustainable growth through entrepreneurial activities and efficient resource utilization. Full article

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing kombucha purchase intention among online consumers in Northern Thailand by addressing the “perception–execution gap” between consumer preferences and entrepreneurial logistics and green supply chain practices in the rapidly growing functional beverage market in Southeast Asia. This study integrates an adapted Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) perspective with the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework. A quantitative research design was employed, collecting primary data from 400 online consumers from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Lamphun provinces in Northern Thailand, complemented by qualitative insights from five local kombucha entrepreneurs. The study conceptualizes consumer belief, subjective norm, lifestyle, and last-mile delivery as external stimuli influencing consumer attitude, which is subsequently associated with purchase intention. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that consumer attitude serves as a significant mediating mechanism linking external stimuli to purchase intention. Among the antecedents, lifestyle and last-mile delivery emerged as important factors associated with positive consumer attitudes. Additionally, health consciousness significantly moderates the relationship between consumer belief and purchase intention, with the negative interaction indicating that this relationship becomes weaker as health consciousness increases. From an entrepreneurial perspective, the findings highlight the importance of last-mile accessibility, while the qualitative interviews additionally identify cold-chain management as a relevant operational consideration for maintaining product quality. This study contributes to the literature by offering an integrated theoretical framework that combines an adapted TPB perspective with the S-O-R framework to explain psychological and logistical determinants of consumer behavior in the functional beverage context. It provides a dual-perspective roadmap that bridges consumer psychology and entrepreneurial practice, delivering actionable insights for kombucha businesses to align distribution strategies with the needs of health-conscious consumers in Northern Thailand. Full article

Eco-innovation has played a transformative role in developing the quality and value of eco-services, allowing firms to gain more consumer advocacy in addressing environmental conservation. However, its role in promoting consumer advocacy in eco-friendly hotels remains narrowly studied. Hence, this research proposes an Eco-innovation Mechanism Enhancing Brand Advocacy Framework, aiming to examine how eco-innovation influences service quality, perceived value, consumer trust, eco-brand love, and brand advocacy in eco-friendly hotels. This research was contextualized in Malaysia, where 440 guests from different eco-friendly hotels were invited to answer the questionnaires. The results were analyzed via the CB-SEM method. Results demonstrated that incorporating eco-innovation significantly promoted service quality, perceived value, and consumer trust. Next, service quality was associated with perceived value and consumer trust. Moreover, perceived value was associated with consumer trust and eco-brand love. Finally, consumer trust significantly influenced eco-brand love and brand advocacy, while eco-brand love further influenced brand advocacy in the eco-friendly hotels. With the support of these findings, all related entrepreneurs in eco-friendly hotels can apply this research framework to advance their eco-friendly services to gain higher guest advocacy in their eco-friendly hotels. Full article

A provenance-audited load transfer and structural screening workflow is presented for a 28 g, 25 Hz hummingbird-inspired mechanism. A saved unsteady vortex lattice case is linked to Autodesk Inventor load curves and motion load-informed static studies. The Curve_Example_90 record describes a 90 mm semi-span wing under prescribed 25 Hz kinematics. Its cycle 3–4 phasewise vector RMS difference is 0.0466 N (53.1% of the final-cycle vector RMS), so the latest complete cycle supports deterministic export rather than aerodynamic convergence. Positive-span panel forces were summed, transformed into Inventor axes, and interpolated without amplitude scaling; the maximum exported resultant is 0.17599 N. A normalized 16-position index map is declared between saved aerodynamic time and Inventor report time, but the retained files do not prove an encoder-defined absolute stroke-phase origin. All 96 intended component–phase records are identity-qualified. The aluminium 6061 maxima are 14.82 MPa for the force bar, 6.98 MPa for the wing-link bar, and 0.0134 MPa for the motion bar. Corrected PLA properties are serialized in the latest force bar link and wing bar reports, while the rotation pin report retains obsolete material metadata. Solution timestamps, displacements, and safety factors further show that the polymer export mixes refreshed and cached states, so polymer capacity is withheld. The common three-pass adaptive mesh setting improves within-study refinement but is not an independent mesh convergence study. The study is an empirical-to-numerical hypothesis check and design fault screen, not an aerodynamic or structural optimisation campaign; mesh-converged capacity, synchronized force/deformation validation, and print-calibrated material claims remain outside its evidence boundary. Full article

Women’s entrepreneurship is embedded in family, community, and gender relations in marginalized contexts. This convergent mixed-methods study examined predefined business persistence and development status, subjective business success, and relational support among Bedouin women entrepreneurs. The quantitative component included 175 matched woman–man dyads who independently evaluated the businesses. The qualitative component included 24 linked dyads, with women’s and men’s interviews analyzed separately and then compared. Unadjusted comparisons showed higher subjective business-success ratings among both women and men associated with continuing/developed businesses; after demographic adjustment, the group difference remained significant for women’s ratings but not for men’s ratings. Women in the continuing/developed group also reported greater entrepreneurial empowerment, socioeconomic benefits, and immediate family support after adjustment, whereas the unadjusted group difference in men’s positive attitudes toward women’s entrepreneurship did not persist. Stronger endorsement of the importance of husband support was positively associated with subjective success among continuing/developed businesses, whereas the corresponding association was absent or reversed among early-closed businesses. Qualitative accounts portrayed family and male support as providing assistance, legitimacy, and resources while also operating through conditional approval, supervision, and restrictions on autonomy. Active-business accounts emphasized interconnected family, community, professional, and institutional resources, whereas closed-business accounts emphasized accumulating personal, familial, market, and structural vulnerabilities. Participants’ accounts portrayed support as more enabling when it expanded women’s autonomy and capacity to act, and as potentially constraining when tied to permission, monitoring, or conditional access to resources. Full article

In Mexico, women entrepreneurs represent a significant portion of the population that contributes economically to the country. Few studies describe the challenges they face in creating and maintaining businesses, such as access to resources and the motivations that influence their intention and commitment to entrepreneurship, given that it is considered a predominantly male activity. To describe this behavioral intention that precedes entrepreneurship, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is used as a theoretical framework. However, unlike previous applications of TRA in entrepreneurship research—which predominantly treat intention as a static predictor of the decision to start a business—we broaden the framework by conceptualizing behavioral intention as a continuous motivational force that sustains entrepreneurial passion and deepens organizational commitment in the entrepreneurial process. In doing so, the study addresses a gap in the literature: TRA has been criticized for neglecting the psychological mechanisms that underpin entrepreneurial behavior once the business has been launched. Based on in-depth interviews with ten women entrepreneurs in Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico), the findings show that entrepreneurial intention does not dissolve once the business is created: it re-emerges as entrepreneurial passion during the uncertain early stages of the venture and, as the business incorporates employees and customers, crystallizes into organizational commitment, which in turn feeds back into and reinforces entrepreneurial passion. These findings are synthesized into an integrative, sequential model—intention, behavior, passion, and commitment—that offers a novel processual account of women’s entrepreneurship beyond the moment of business creation. Full article

This study aims to identify and analyze potential tourism clusters in Romania, focusing on their geographical, cultural, and gastronomic characteristics, to highlight opportunities for sustainable regional development through integrated tourism. In conducting this research, we consulted a variety of sources, including government reports, research studies, academic articles, and information provided by local and regional authorities, which were subsequently analyzed and synthesized. The results show that, in Romania, due to its natural, cultural, and historical richness, numerous regions and areas can be considered potential tourism clusters. We identified four potential clusters: the Danube Delta Tourism Cluster, the Transylvania Tourism Cluster, the Romanian Seaside Tourism Cluster, and the Bucovina-Maramureș Tourism Cluster. Moreover, we found that each potential cluster could also be distinguished by its unique gastronomic identity. The study emphasizes the need for a strategically integrated approach to tourism development, where the gastronomic component is leveraged as a differentiating and appealing element, both on the national and international markets. The research results may serve as a helpful starting point for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and tourism specialists interested in the sustainable and competitive development of Romania’s tourism regions. Full article

Research on social commerce, influencer marketing, consumer–brand engagement, and CEO social media communication has rapidly expanded. However, less is known regarding how entrepreneurial leaders’ personal short-video accounts operate as platformized interfaces that organize consumer interaction. This study examines how CEO short-video communication produces an observable, collectively sustained commercial persona and connects executive visibility with fan labor, consumer–brand engagement, and consumption imagination. Using the Douyin account of a leading Chinese technology entrepreneur as a case, this study analyzes 372 short videos posted up to 15 August 2024, and 185,561 valid first-level comments. It combines structured content analysis, intercoder reliability testing, BERTopic-assisted topic location, manual thematic validation, and text-based emotional intensity analysis. Work footage, scenes of everyday life, casual presentations, and product props translate entrepreneurial authority into an approachable, platformized commercial persona. In comment sections, users perform informational, relational, affective, memetic, mobilizing, and defensive labor through product requests, familiar address, emotional identification, memes, consumption mobilization, and brand defense. These practices stabilize CEO personas, circulate product meanings, and create consumption imagination, understood as public projections of saving for, ordering, using, or affiliating with products rather than evidence of actual purchases. Emotional identification, consumption mobilization, and brand defense display higher observable emotional intensity than product requests. This study contributes a case-derived conceptual framework demonstrating how CEO identity capital, platform affordances, fan labor, and product-centered imagination are assembled in short-video social commerce. Full article

Financial crises severely constrain entrepreneurs’ access to traditional financing, increasing the need for alternative funding mechanisms. Venture capital (VC) represents one such financing alternative and may also provide strategic and managerial support. However, evidence concerning how entrepreneurs perceive VC financing in crisis-affected economies remains limited. This study examines the associations between perceptions of equity-based VC financing, entrepreneurs’ willingness to launch new ventures, and perceived firm financial performance while assessing the moderating roles of risk aversion and perceived VC coaching and mentoring. This study draws on cross-sectional survey data from 392 Lebanese entrepreneurs and entrepreneurially oriented individuals. The findings indicate that perceptions of equity-based VC financing are positively associated with entrepreneurs’ willingness to launch new ventures, with this association becoming stronger at higher levels of respondent risk aversion. Perceptions of equity-based VC financing are also positively associated with perceived firm financial performance, with this association being stronger at higher levels of perceived VC coaching and mentoring. These findings represent perception-based associations and should not be interpreted as evidence of causal effects, temporal progression, or objectively measured financial performance. Full article

Access to finance remains a significant challenge for women entrepreneurs, even as new financial alternatives and technologies have emerged. This study examines how research on women’s entrepreneurial finance evolved between 2006 and 2026. Using Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny, 327 articles retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science were analyzed in terms of scientific development, intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and international collaboration, including network centrality, density, and comparisons across economic-development groups. The results show that the field has moved from a primary focus on gender and access to capital toward a broader agenda in which financial inclusion, crowdfunding, microfinance, and digitalization have gained prominence. At the same time, traditional research streams on gender and finance coexist with research on alternative mechanisms for accessing capital. Three complementary intellectual foundations were identified: gender-related mechanisms in financing decisions, crowdfunding and alternative entrepreneurial finance, and structural and institutional conditions shaping access to financial resources. International collaboration also differs across economic contexts, with high-income economies showing denser and more internationally connected research networks. The findings reveal an expanding field in which new financial opportunities coexist with persistent gender inequalities and provide an integrated basis for future research on AI-enabled financing, cross-context institutional differences, and green and sustainable finance. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly acknowledged as a strategic asset for enhancing innovation and competitiveness among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Nevertheless, limited research has focused on the experiences of women entrepreneurs regarding AI adoption within established SMEs, particularly in emerging economies. This study investigates the knowledge, attitudes, skills, perceived barriers, and business-process applications associated with AI adoption among women entrepreneurs in Chile. Employing an exploratory multiple-case study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen women leading established SMEs across various industries. The cross-case analysis indicates that resilient leadership, social intelligence, and managerial knowledge were frequently mentioned characteristics alongside diverse patterns of AI adoption. The findings reveal that participants identified strategic-planning and management-control knowledge, resilient leadership attitudes, and social intelligence skills as recurring competencies associated with AI adoption into business activities. Participants reported utilising AI primarily to support customer relationship management (CRM), while also describing limited AI readiness as a constraint associated with learning needs and experiences of AI adoption. To distinguish between AI adoption and broader digitalisation and automation, the study defines the following adoption profiles: non-adopter, AI experimenter, substantive AI adopter, and integrated AI adopter. Further cross-case analysis suggests that participants experienced knowledge, attitudes, and skills as mutually reinforcing during AI adoption rather than as isolated competencies. This study contributes to the literature by providing an empirically grounded understanding of how a group of established women entrepreneurs perceive and experience AI adoption in their SMEs. Instead of identifying causal determinants of successful adoption, the findings highlight recurring patterns and relationships that may inform future theory development and comparative research on AI adoption in entrepreneurial contexts. The study also offers practical insights for policymakers, educators, and SME support organisations aiming to enhance AI capabilities among women-led businesses. Full article

This study examines how distinct dimensions of financial literacy relate to the business performance of rural female micro-entrepreneurs in a transition economy. Drawing on the Resource-Based View, Human Capital Theory, and Entrepreneurial Capability Theory, financial literacy is conceptualized as four separable capabilities: financial education, cash forecasting, bookkeeping practice, and financial self-efficacy. Survey data were collected from 200 women micro-entrepreneurs sampled at random in Shovot District, Khorezm region, Uzbekistan, and 173 usable responses were analysed with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). After validation and refinement of the measurement model, the results show that bookkeeping practice (β = 0.407) and financial education (β = 0.294) are positively and significantly associated with business performance, as is financial self-efficacy (β = 0.155), whereas cash forecasting shows no significant unique association. The findings are robust to alternative construct and outcome specifications and to endogeneity checks, and they suggest that, where formal financial infrastructure is thin, record-keeping and foundational financial knowledge appear to be the capabilities most closely associated with micro-enterprise performance; because the measurement model was refined on these data, these associations are exploratory and await confirmation on independent samples. Full article

Rural entrepreneurship is increasingly recognised as a critical driver of economic resilience and regional development, particularly in developing regions such as the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This exploratory study examines how entrepreneurial activities stimulate local economic growth, job creation, innovation, and community empowerment in Mnquma Local Municipality, where persistent unemployment and poverty remain significant challenges. Adopting an exploratory research design underpinned by a positivist philosophy, this study synthesises existing literature on the relationships among employment generation, economic contribution, innovation promotion, economic diversification, community engagement, and local supply chain development. Data were collected from 349 respondents drawn from a population of 3750 formally registered rural entrepreneurs. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, reliability and validity tests, correlation analysis, and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SPSS and SmartPLS, to examine the relationships among employment generation, economic contribution, innovation promotion, economic diversification, community engagement, supply chain development, and economic resilience. The findings suggest that strong rural entrepreneurship enhances local adaptability and supports sustainable economic performance in the face of external shocks. The study emphasises the importance of inclusive, evidence-based policies that promote rural enterprise development through improved financial mechanisms, infrastructure investment, and strengthened stakeholder networks; thereby providing localised insights to inform policy and sustainable development in South Africa. Full article

Our environment deteriorates primarily due to the emissions of carbon dioxide. Scientists and entrepreneurs promote carbon offset to reduce the emissions. Scientists and investors explore the investments of carbon offset. Some scientists encouragingly construct portfolio selection models but do not completely optimize them. Some scientists encouragingly construct capital asset pricing models (CAPM) but do not completely justify them. Under such contexts, this paper proposes a model of multiple-objective portfolio selection (MOPS) and preliminarily explores multiple-objective capital asset pricing models (MOCAPM). By the classical transition from portfolio selection to CAPM, we introductorily conjecture the extended transition from MOPS to MOCAPM. Specifically, we prove mathematical properties for the model. For instance, its minimum-variance surface is convex, and its feasible region is bounded by the convex surface. We examine whether a point on the minimum-variance surface is nondominated. By the properties, we heuristically prove different tangent planes for MOCAPM (instead of the unique tangent line for CAPM). We tentatively hint the conditions for a unique tangent plane. This paper acts as a footstep of the introductory conjecture. Full article