1. INTRAPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION IN THE TRANSPORT INDUSTRY: A PILOT STUDY
Dr. C Schachtebeck

2. INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship - an engine for innovation, organisational growth, employment creation
Importance of creating SMEs widely acknowledged
Beneficial nature of entrepreneurial actions by existing employees, a.k.a. corporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship, is underappreciated
Current studies connect intrapreneurship to achievement of organisational objectives
Intrapreneurship at the organisational level has been explored in some detail, not at the employee level
Entrepreneurial actions by employees are referred to as an employee’s Intrapreneurial Orientation (IO)
“an individual employee’s predisposition to accept entrepreneurial processes, practices and decision-making characterised by a preference for innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness”
Little research conducted in South Africa in this field
Despite the transport industry experiencing high levels of business failures, mainly attributable to a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, no study to date has attempted to investigate the IO in this industry

3. RESEARCH AIMS
To generate preliminary insights into levels of Intrapreneurial Orientation in the South African transport industry, from the perspective of employees.
Piloting an adapted measuring instrument by assessing practicality, reliability and implementation issues.

4. LITERARY OVERVIEW – Entrepreneurship
“A person who sees an opportunity in the market, gathers resources and creates and grows a business venture to satisfy these needs. He/she takes the risk of the venture is rewarded with profit if it succeeds”
“A person who seeks to generate economic and social value through the creation or expansion of economic activity, by identifying and exploiting opportunities for new products, processes, markets and for meeting outstanding social and environmental needs”
Contribution to GDP
Majority of SMEs fail within the first two years of operation, with only 25% surviving for a period longer than two years
Entrepreneurial Employee Activity, is amongst the lowest in the world, at 0.7%

5. LITERARY OVERVIEW – Intrapreneurship
Viewed in same light as entrepreneurship, but performed internally in an organisation
Regarded as a “semi-autonomous group operating within the overarching structure of the parent organisation
Improves performance and enhances competitive positioning
Allows innovation and entrepreneurial practices to be weaved into day-to-day processes, by adopting best practices and improving internal responsiveness
Enhances organisational growth, internal performance, profitability and strategic renewal
Efforts need to be operationalized

6. Environment
Dynamism
Technological Opportunities
Industry Growth
Demand for New Products
Unfavorability of Change
Competitive Rivalry
Organization
Communication
Formal Controls
Environmental Scanning
Organizational Support
Competition-related Values
Person-related Values
Intrapreneurship
New Business Venturing
Innovativeness
Self-renewal
Proactiveness
Performance
Growth
Profitability

7. LITERARY OVERVIEW – Intrapreneurial Orientation (IO)
Evolved from the Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) concept
EO = a strategy-making process that aims to inspire entrepreneurial actions within an organisation, usually in the form of “policies and practices that provide a basis for entrepreneurial decisions and actions”
EO = usually at the organisational-level through policies and SOPs
Characterised by risk-taking, proactiveness, innovativeness, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy
IO = entrepreneurial ambitions of the individual employee
Employees become an integral component of internal innovation efforts
Implementation of IO a fusion between Industrial Psychology and entrepreneurship
Implementation of IO also depends on EO policies and practices
Same 5 components, but important role of ‘management’ added
Required managerial tasks include: goal setting, rewards and innovation systems, Intracapital, effective two- way communication, intrapreneurship championing, staff input, intrapreneurial freedom
Source: Gupta & Adil (2014)

8. METHODOLOGY
Quantitative Research, pilot study, using a newly developed measuring instrument
Main constructs in instrument split into managerial factors and personal factors (risk-taking, proactiveness, innovativeness, personal control, self-esteem and achievement orientation). Also contained eight growth variables
5 point Likert-scale
Four piloting principles were followed to ensure methodological correctness. 1. stating the purpose of the study clearly, 2. ensuring population representativeness and testing procedural elements, 3. accurate reporting of outcomes, 4. participants drawn from the population under investigation
Random sampling approach in online databases
Questionnaires distributed online and by hand
Analysed in SPSS
Tests for reliability, descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations)

9. Findings 30 responses (21 male and 9 female)
Most respondents below the age of 40 and located in Gauteng
Most working in an SME with more than 51 employees
Results w.r.t. piloting principles
Population representativeness met – drawn from target population
Outcomes reported in next slide
Problems encountered with procedural and administrative elements: length of the questionnaire, difficult phrasing of some questions (can be due to adaptation from international instruments).
Administration issues: response rates from online surveys was low, paper-based questionnaire recording higher response rates (due to lack of internet access and low rates of engagement with the instrument)

10. Findings – reliability
Construct
Cronbach’s Alpha
Number of Items
Mean Inter-Item Correlation
Risk-taking
0.626 4
0.294
Innovativeness
0.685
0.354
Proactiveness
0.760 5
0.397
Achievement Orientation (AO)
0.662
0.333
Self-esteem (SE)
0.528
0.278
Personal control (PC)
0.708
0.384
Growth
0.829 8
0.392
Management
0.873 14
0.331

11. Findings – descriptive statistics
Construct
Mean
Standard Deviation
Risk-taking
3.92
1.05
Innovativeness
4.01
0.96
Proactiveness
4.29
0.85
Achievement Orientation (AO)
4.45
0.83
Self-esteem (SE)
4.35
0.89
Personal control (PC)
4.36
0.87
Growth
3.90
1.07
Management
3.81
1.22

12. CONCLUSION
Findings of this study revealed moderate to high levels of risk-taking propensity, managerial support, proactiveness, personal control, self-esteem, autonomy and innovativeness.
Can inform decision on future large-scale studies, procedural elements for noting or amendment, as well as confirms usability of the newly developed measuring instrument
Value for academia: initial insight into the IO phenomenon and expands on the existing body of knowledge. The measuring instrument can provide the basis for other studies
In practice, provides insights and instrument can also be utilised in industry to identify and pinpoint areas of concern and improvement
Recommendations
Test on larger sample
Test pre-and post-IO implementation
Conduct studies in other emerging markets
Make changes to management of employees and IO efforts/implementation