Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics

1-38

Authors: Mao Seng Ting, Yen Nee Goh, Salmi Mohd Isa

To date, luxury consumption-related research has primarily focused on conspicuous consumption and counterfeit consumption behaviour. Investigation into the influence of inconspicuous consumption behaviour is limited. This study explores the factors that influence consumers’ purchase intention towards subtle luxury fashion goods or inconspicuous consumption behaviour. This paper examines a Triandis model that clarifies the consumers' purchase intention of subtle luxury fashion goods. A systematic literature review was used to conduct a database search. Articles published from 2010 to 2020 were considered, and 49 studies were key factors influencing consumers’ inconspicuous consumption behaviour. This review highlights how consumers’ inconspicuous luxury consumption is based on attitudinal, social, and affective factors. Furthermore, two moderators, namely perceived knowledge and habit, were identified. These moderators might close the relationship gap between consumers' purchase intention of subtle luxury fashion products and their actual buying behaviour to these subtle products. This paper may encourage future scholars to study inconspicuous consumption-related studies. Furthermore, this paper may have practical implications that may benefit luxury marketers, luxury owners, and luxury retailers.

72-95

Authors: Albert Hasudungan, Dewa Gede Sidan Raeskyesa

This study aims to explore the relationship between the expansion of oil palm plantations and income inequality in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The relationship was investigated using panel data analysis from 2000 to 2019. The results indicate a mixed effect of palm oil expansion on inequality, in which land use for oil palm farming has a significant and negative effect on income inequality as measured by the Gini Index. However, fertilizer consumption and yield in oil palm activities have positive relationships with income inequality. This suggests the importance of supporting equal access to both financing and capacity building. Lastly, this study presents scenarios with and without government intervention.

113-131

Authors: Henrik Egbert

Certain religious entrepreneurial minded communities are highly successful. It is tempting to assume that the underlying social mechanism of business success can be used as a blueprint for the development of larger social entities. Recently, Javaid, Shamsi and Hyder (2020) have argued that inefficiencies of markets and bureaucracies may be avoided if religious entrepreneurial communities are considered an alternative for members’ business investment, capital- and expertise-support to businesses, and the redistribution of wealth in favor of economically vulnerable community members. Consequently, the title of their paper is “Religious entrepreneurial communities as a solution for socioeconomic injustice”. I address this problematic position by an extended comment and point out inefficiencies induced by such an approach. I apply the concepts of networks and clubs to tackle problems of religious entrepreneurial communities as sub-groups of larger social entities. Individual beliefs, individual preferences, and norms of cooperative behavior can occur among members of any community, with or without common religious beliefs. Consequently, a shift from the areligious, market-oriented form of economic organization towards specific sets of religious beliefs will not, by itself, endanger business success. These issues require considerable attention before a transfer of behavioral pattern prevalent in small communities can be applied to larger groups. I emphasize the danger of generalizations from small case study results of specific entrepreneurial communities to larger social entities, such as societies.

174–217

Authors: Flair J Karaki

In recent years, the role of entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) has gained attention, especially in developing economies. They contribute to productivity growth, job creation, and promotion of innovation and business internationalization. There is an increasing number of entrepreneurial actors within regional economies, so it is essential to shift from focusing on specific activities involved in entrepreneurship to a more holistic understanding of the environment in which entrepreneurs and MSMEs are operating, the so-called entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE). In Palestine, due to the limited resources and the high unemployment rate, entrepreneurship has become a national priority and an opportunity for wealth-seeking individuals. Mapping EE of Palestine is considered a basis for managing and evaluating conditions and performance of Entrepreneurship. Investigation of the elements of EE in Palestine has been built based on Isenberg's (2011) domains: conductive policy, markets, capital, human skills, culture, and supports. The investigation shows that Palestine is yet under development and in the infancy stage. The efforts by governmental authorities to support MSMEs are limited, coupled with a poor business market, the ineffectiveness of the credit market, and the limited role of supporting institutions working in Palestine. The national culture also obstructs the performance of entrepreneurship because of its deep-rooted traditions. Furthermore, there is a gap between traditional education and what it should be to improve entrepreneurial skills. A pyramid structure of activities executed by different actors according to their impact and influence is recommended to improve EE.

1-31

Authors: David Leong

Disequilibrium and complexity are the distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneurial phenomena. How do the entrepreneurs arbitrage, leverage and benefit in the disequilibria and what spur them to action? The force that drives entrepreneurial ventures, from creation to sustaining through to exit, and then through innovation to extend the game or recreate another play is an imminent force that holds and sustains entrepreneurial momentum. Entrepreneurial energy, a coined terminology in this paper, is that endogenous force. There are scarce relevant researches. In particular, there is no specific mention of the “entrepreneurial energy” in the theory of entrepreneurship. The closest proxy is entrepreneurial passions. Passion cannot be held in equal doses throughout the venture pathway. John Maynard Keynes coined the phrase "animal spirits" in his 1936 book “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”. He used the term to describe emotions that influence human economic behaviour. Animal spirits create an ambience of trust and faith and are necessary for human actions, more than quantitative logic. Keynes felt animal spirits were needed as a goad to economic action rather than inaction. Schumpeter came up with the German word Unternehmergeist, meaning entrepreneur-spirit, adding that these individuals controlled the economy because they are responsible for delivering innovation and technological change. Whether its entrepreneurial energy, animal spirit or entrepreneur-spirit, it is a force that needs reckoning with in entrepreneurship study. Entrepreneurship is a science of turbulence and change, not continuity. A certain force causes turbulence. Such is the force in entrepreneurship like the wind is felt but not seen through the leaves' ruffle but not the wind itself. This paper will demonstrate that entrepreneurial energy can be better understood if examined through the lens of complexity and quantum science to address this omission. The indeterminacy in uncertainties and chaos theories best describe the dynamically complex, fast, volatile, uncertain disrupted, diverse, ambiguous, hyper-turbulent and hyperconnected entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper contributes to entrepreneurship research by developing a complexity-based and uncertainty-based definition of entrepreneurial energy. This energy will be referred to in the context of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (space) where the entrepreneurs (object) exist over time. Building on this definition, it connects the research on the entrepreneur to venture-level complexity and entrepreneurial multi-finalities/pathways. It explores how these force originates and is sustained- that will influence entrepreneurial emergence and continuation- from the intentionality of entrepreneurs and the coherence of entrepreneurial activities, through the exploration and exploitation of perceived opportunities within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Beyond theory development, it explores how scholars can examine entrepreneurial energy as a complex play of forces through interpretivist methods. This paper has implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers.

82-120

Authors: Shanmuganathan Palanisamy, Shankar Chelliah, Rajendran Muthuveloo

The purpose of the study is to enhance organizational performance among the SMEs in Malaysia in the digital age, particularly the manufacturing sector, which has an important contribution to the Malaysian economy. This study attempts to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between the four dimensions of talent farming and organizational performance in response to previous scholars' call on the influence of talent on SMEs' organizational performance. The dimensions considered in the study are talent harnessing, talent acquisition, talent retention and talent displacement. A total of 157 responses from a cross-sectional survey from Malaysian manufacturing SMEs were investigated using SPSS software version 24 and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that talent retention and talent displacement has significant influence organizational performance, but talent harnessing and talent acquisition have no influence on organizational performance. This research highlights the importance of talent retention and talent displacement by SME owners or leaders compared to investing on internal talent harnessing and acquiring external talent to embrace and develop their skills as a crucial step towards achieving sustainable performance for their companies. The paper provides strategic insights, practical knowledge and policies that assist SMEs in the manufacturing sector to strategies to explore another alternative approach to prepare well for the digital competencies workforce in the digital age. The novelty of this study to assist SMEs in the manufacturing sector to understand better talent farming and its important approach in formulating effective human capital strategy. The dimension of Talent Farming and conceptual research framework was chosen and formulated based on I-TOP Strategic Agility Model and Dynamic Capability Theory, respectively. The empirical analysis and the tentative conceptual framework make an important contribution towards a demand-led policy framework in the area of digital talent competencies to support for Manufacturing SMEs to overcome the talent shortage in Malaysia. The contribution and limitations of the research are discussed, and recommendations for future research are also presented.

163-201

Authors: Hooi Gee Koay, Rajendran Muthuveloo

Organisational performance has become the main issue as organisations are struggling for business sustainability. Organisations have not achieved the expected organisational performance in the dynamic environment. This research aims to examine the influence of disruptive innovation, organisational capabilities, and people on organisational performance. A quantitative study was designed, and one hundred and twenty-one (121) data among organisations involved in the manufacturing of electrical and electronics (E&E) products in Malaysia were gathered through a structured questionnaire using stratified sampling techniques. Data gathered were analysed with SPSS software version 24 and Smart Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) version 3.2.7. The result demonstrated that disruptive innovation, organisational capabilities, and people significantly influence organisational performance. From the academic aspect, the conceptual framework articulated based on the research gap, the I-TOP Strategic Agility model, and dynamic capabilities theory provides more insights into optimising organisational performance. In addition, this study measured organisational performance from the perspective of happiness that comprises of employee happiness, customer happiness, and shareholder happiness. Practitioners could utilise this study's findings to formulate a more effective strategy to optimise their organisational performance that is critical for business sustainability.

230-274

Authors: Junshuai Cheng, Shankar Chelliah, Ai Ping Teoh

This paper aims to establish a comprehensive framework for relationships between parent and subsidiary (subsidiary autonomy, subsidiary position, organizational trust) on knowledge transfer efficiency. Then shed light on how the long-ignored characteristics of the subsidiary (characteristics of the knowledge transfer participant) play a role in the knowledge transfer of MNCs. The study highlights and tests the influence of two parts by subjecting a dataset of 212 Chinese MNCs to a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analysis: one is the impact of relationships between parent-subsidiary (subsidiary autonomy, subsidiary position, organizational trust) on the knowledge transfer efficiency. The other is the subsidiary characteristics (subsidiary age, subsidiary size) moderates the relationship between them. The robust results indicate that subsidiary autonomy, subsidiary position, organizational trust have a significant positive influence on the knowledge transfer efficiency of Chinese MNCs. As well as one of the subsidiary characteristics (subsidiary age) only moderates the relationship between subsidiary autonomy, organizational trust and knowledge transfer efficiency. While the other characteristic (subsidiary size) has no moderation. The findings indicate that the ignored subsidiary characteristics (subsidiary age, subsidiary size) have some moderations in the knowledge transfer efficiency, and it is useful to help MNCs improve knowledge transfer efficiency by copying and creating the implicit meaning of characteristic.