IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i11p5794-d559624.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Entrepreneurs Traits/Characteristics and Innovation Performance of Waste Recycling Start-Ups in Ghana: An Application of the Upper Echelons Theory among SEED Award Winners

Author

Listed:
  • Kouame Dangui Dorcas

    (School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), N0.2006, Xiyuan Ave, West Hi-Tech Zone, Chengdu 611731, China)

  • Bekolo Ngoa Celestin

    (Faculty of Management Science and Economics, Yibin University, no 8 St.luke, Wuliangye, Yibin 644000, China)

  • Shao Yunfei

    (School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), N0.2006, Xiyuan Ave, West Hi-Tech Zone, Chengdu 611731, China)

Abstract

Waste management has become a pressing environmental, social, and economic issue. In Ghana, the government has decentralized the waste management system to include private sector actors as key players to improve the collection, disposal, and recycling of waste. With this development, a heterogeneous population of entrepreneurs has engaged in waste recycling, achieving mixed results in terms of performance. The aim of this paper is to identify shared personality traits and characteristics of entrepreneurs that make certain firms engage in waste recycling more innovatively than others. An extensive literature review was used to identify these personality traits and characteristics, which were then modeled using upper echelon theory (UET) to investigate their impact on innovation performance. A regression analysis approach was adopted based on the data collected from 157 entrepreneurs’ founders, co-founders, and shareholders among the waste recycling firms in Ghana selected for the annual Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (SEED) Award competition. The key contribution of this research is to better understand the relationship between entrepreneur traits and innovation performance. Given the fact that in small start-ups, the founder plays the most important role, this paper serves as a foundation for defining individual-level factors critical in sustaining sustainable innovation performance in the waste recycling sector. The results of this study will help shareholders and policymakers better understand and implement strategies for determining and selecting innovative waste recycling entrepreneurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Kouame Dangui Dorcas & Bekolo Ngoa Celestin & Shao Yunfei, 2021. "Entrepreneurs Traits/Characteristics and Innovation Performance of Waste Recycling Start-Ups in Ghana: An Application of the Upper Echelons Theory among SEED Award Winners," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:5794-:d:559624
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5794/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5794/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    2. Joern H. Block & Christian O. Fisch & Mirjam van Praag, 2017. "The Schumpeterian entrepreneur: a review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behaviour and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 61-95, January.
    3. Ross Levine & Yona Rubinstein, 2013. "Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay?," CEP Discussion Papers dp1237, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Burke, Andrew & Millán, José María & Román, Concepción & van Stel, André, 2018. "Exploring the impact of different types of prior entrepreneurial experience on employer firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 107-122.
    5. Protogerou, Aimilia & Caloghirou, Yannis & Vonortas, Nicholas S., 2017. "Determinants of young firms’ innovative performance: Empirical evidence from Europe," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1312-1326.
    6. Gault, Fred, 2018. "Defining and measuring innovation in all sectors of the economy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 617-622.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    8. Ross Levine & Yona Rubinstein, 2017. "Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Do They Earn More?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 963-1018.
    9. Anisya S Thomas & Stephen L Mueller, 2000. "A Case for Comparative Entrepreneurship: Assessing the Relevance of Culture," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(2), pages 287-301, June.
    10. Cucculelli, Marco & Ermini, Barbara, 2013. "Risk attitude, product innovation, and firm growth. Evidence from Italian manufacturing firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 275-279.
    11. Yu-Ming Zhai & Wan-Qin Sun & Sang-Bing Tsai & Zhen Wang & Yu Zhao & Quan Chen, 2018. "An Empirical Study on Entrepreneurial Orientation, Absorptive Capacity, and SMEs’ Innovation Performance: A Sustainable Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, January.
    12. Maurice J. Lyver & Ta-Jung Lu, 2018. "Sustaining Innovation Performance in SMEs: Exploring the Roles of Strategic Entrepreneurship and IT Capabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-27, February.
    13. Shan, Peng & Song, Michael & Ju, Xiaofeng, 2016. "Entrepreneurial orientation and performance: Is innovation speed a missing link?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 683-690.
    14. Michael Addaney & Richard Kyere & Jonas Ayaribilla Akudugu, 2019. "Decentralization and Solid Waste Management in Urbanizing Ghana: Moving beyond the Status Quo," Chapters, in: Hosam M. Saleh (ed.), Municipal Solid Waste Management, IntechOpen.
    15. Curado, Carla & Muñoz-Pascual, Lucía & Galende, Jesús, 2018. "Antecedents to innovation performance in SMEs: A mixed methods approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 206-215.
    16. A. Watson & O. Dada & B. López-Fernández & Rozenn Perrigot, 2020. "The influence of entrepreneurial personality on franchisee performance: A cross-cultural analysis," Post-Print hal-02638431, HAL.
    17. Quartey, Peter, 2001. "Regulation, Competition and Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30625, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    18. Ye Dai & Gukdo Byun & Fangsheng Ding, 2019. "The Direct and Indirect Impact of Gender Diversity in New Venture Teams on Innovation Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 505-528, May.
    19. Newman, Alexander & Tse, Herman H.M. & Schwarz, Gary & Nielsen, Ingrid, 2018. "The effects of employees' creative self-efficacy on innovative behavior: The role of entrepreneurial leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-9.
    20. Dai, Weiqi & Si, Steven, 2018. "Government policies and firms' entrepreneurial orientation: Strategic choice and institutional perspectives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 23-36.
    21. Hermann Frank & Manfred Lueger & Christian Korunka, 2007. "The significance of personality in business start-up intentions, start-up realization and business success," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 227-251, May.
    22. Scott Shane, 2009. "Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 141-149, August.
    23. Edward Nissan & Inmaculada Carrasco & María-Soledad Castaño, 2012. "Women Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Internationalization," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Miguel-Angel Galindo & Domingo Ribeiro (ed.), Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economics, chapter 0, pages 125-142, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Riptanti, Erlyna Wida & Harisudin, Mohamad & Kusnandar & Khomah, Isti & Setyowati, Nuning, 2024. "Effect of entrepreneur personality and social network sites on innovation performance: evidence from Indonesia," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 10(1), March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & Tina Xu, 2017. "Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature," NBER Working Papers 24097, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Piñeiro-Chousa, Juan & López-Cabarcos, M. Ángeles & Romero-Castro, Noelia María & Pérez-Pico, Ada María, 2020. "Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge in the business scientific field: Mapping the research front," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 475-485.
    3. Joern H. Block & Christian O. Fisch & Mirjam van Praag, 2017. "The Schumpeterian entrepreneur: a review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behaviour and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 61-95, January.
    4. Audretsch, David & Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Rasmussen, Einar, 2020. "Innovative start-ups and policy initiatives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    5. Neil Lee & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and the fight against poverty in US cities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(1), pages 31-52, February.
    6. Pietro Santoleri, 2020. "Innovation and job creation in (high-growth) new firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(3), pages 731-756.
    7. Sebastian Kruse & David Bendig & Malte Brettel, 2023. "How Does CEO Decision Style Influence Firm Performance? The Mediating Role of Speed and Innovativeness in New Product Development," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 1205-1235, July.
    8. Elert, Niklas & Andersson, Fredrik W. & Wennberg, Karl, 2015. "The impact of entrepreneurship education in high school on long-term entrepreneurial performance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 209-223.
    9. Agyemang Rama & Bekolo Ngoa Celestin & Shuangying Chen & Konan Martin, 2022. "Assessment of Eco-Innovation Drivers within the Informal Sector in Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-19, June.
    10. M. Mahdi Moeini Gharagozloo & Fatemeh Askarzadeh & Ali Moeini Gharagozloo, 2022. "More power for international entrepreneurs: the effect of digital readiness of economies on channeling national R&D resources to entrepreneurship," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 474-502, September.
    11. Andrew Burke & Serhiy Lyalkov & Ana Millán & José María Millán & André Stel, 2021. "How do country R&D change the allocation of self-employment across different types?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 695-721, February.
    12. Christopher Dawson & David de Meza & Andrew Henley & G. Reza Arabsheibani, 2014. "Entrepreneurship: Cause and Consequence of Financial Optimism," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 717-742, December.
    13. Åstebro, Thomas & Tåg, Joacim, 2015. "Jobs Incorporated: Incorporation Status and Job Creation," Working Paper Series 1059, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    14. Tom Astebro & Serguey Braguinsky & Yuheng Ding, 2020. "Declining Business Dynamism among Our Best Opportunities: The Role of the Burden of Knowledge," ISER Discussion Paper 1099, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    15. Elena-Loreni Baciu & Delia Vîrgă & Theofild-Andrei Lazăr, 2020. "What Characteristics Help Entrepreneurs ‘Make It’ Early on in Their Entrepreneurial Careers? Findings of a Regional Study from Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-27, June.
    16. Vladasel, Theodor & Lindquist, Matthew J. & Sol, Joeri & van Praag, Mirjam, 2021. "On the origins of entrepreneurship: Evidence from sibling correlations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).
    17. Alexander Konon & Alexander Kritikos, 2018. "Prediction Based on Entrepreneurship-Prone Personality Profiles: Sometimes Worse Than the Toss of a Coin," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1012, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. Ondřej Dvouletý & Stjepan Srhoj & Smaranda Pantea, 2021. "Public SME grants and firm performance in European Union: A systematic review of empirical evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 243-263, June.
    19. Papageorge, Nicholas & Ronda, Victor & Zheng, Yu, 2014. "The Economic Value of Breaking Bad: Misbehavior, Schooling and the Labor Market," Economics Working Paper Archive 64574, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics, revised 16 Jun 2020.
    20. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & Victor Querol, 2016. "Social progress orientation and innovative entrepreneurship: an international analysis," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1033-1066, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:5794-:d:559624. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.