IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/intemj/v14y2018i4d10.1007_s11365-017-0485-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does entrepreneurs’ socialist imprinting shape their opportunity selection in transition economies? Evidence from China’s privately owned enterprises

Author

Listed:
  • Weiqi Dai

    (Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics)

  • Yang Liu

    (South China University of Technology)

  • Mingqing Liao

    (South China University of Technology)

  • Qiao Lin

    (Zhejiang University)

Abstract

Drawing on imprinting theory and the attention-based view of strategy, this study extends previous literature on the implications of imprinting for opportunity selection by examining how Chinese entrepreneurs’ socialist imprinting from their formative experiences in the Danwei system guides them to pursue lucrative policy-induced opportunities arising from government deregulation, reform, and incentives in certain industries. Using data from 3803 privately owned enterprises in China, we find that (1) privately owned enterprises with entrepreneurs bearing the socialist imprint are more likely to act on policy-induced opportunities to make a quick profit; (2) the relationship between socialist imprinting and the selection of these opportunities is mediated by the entrepreneurs’ attention to government policies; (3) the positive association between socialist imprinting and the selection of these opportunities is less salient for privately owned enterprises located in regions with higher institutional development.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiqi Dai & Yang Liu & Mingqing Liao & Qiao Lin, 2018. "How does entrepreneurs’ socialist imprinting shape their opportunity selection in transition economies? Evidence from China’s privately owned enterprises," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 823-856, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:intemj:v:14:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11365-017-0485-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11365-017-0485-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11365-017-0485-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11365-017-0485-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jim Dewald & Frances Bowen, 2010. "Storm Clouds and Silver Linings: Responding to Disruptive Innovations Through Cognitive Resilience," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(1), pages 197-218, January.
    2. Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. Mcmullen & William Ocasio, 2017. "Is that an opportunity? An attention model of top managers' opportunity beliefs for strategic action," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 626-644, March.
    3. Djula Borozan & Josip Arneric & Ilija Coric, 2017. "A comparative study of net entrepreneurial productivity in developed and post-transition economies," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 855-880, September.
    4. Seung Ho Park & Yadong Luo, 2001. "Guanxi and organizational dynamics: organizational networking in Chinese firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 455-477, May.
    5. Haiyang Li & Yan Zhang, 2007. "The role of managers' political networking and functional experience in new venture performance: Evidence from China's transition economy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 791-804, August.
    6. William Ocasio, 2011. "Attention to Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1286-1296, October.
    7. Nan Jia & Kyle J. Mayer, 2017. "Political hazards and firms' geographic concentration," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 203-231, February.
    8. Christopher S. Tuggle & David G. Sirmon & Christopher R. Reutzel & Leonard Bierman, 2010. "Commanding board of director attention: investigating how organizational performance and CEO duality affect board members' attention to monitoring," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(9), pages 946-968, September.
    9. Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2010. "Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: The Role of Institutions and Generational Change," IZA Discussion Papers 4805, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Wubiao Zhou, 2011. "Regional deregulation and entrepreneurial growth in China's transition economy," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(9-10), pages 853-876, December.
    11. Hung-Gay Fung & Alan Guoming Huang & Qingfeng Wilson Liu & Maggie Xiaoqin Shen, 2006. "The Development of the Real Estate Industry in China," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 84-102, February.
    12. Dean Xu & Klaus E. Meyer, 2013. "Linking Theory and Context: ‘Strategy Research in Emerging Economies’ after Wright et al. (2005)," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(7), pages 1322-1346, November.
    13. Mathias, Blake D. & Williams, David W. & Smith, Adam R., 2015. "Entrepreneurial inception: The role of imprinting in entrepreneurial action," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 11-28.
    14. Huang,Yasheng, 2008. "Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521898102, November.
    15. Anderson, Alistair R. & Miller, Claire J., 2003. ""Class matters": human and social capital in the entrepreneurial process," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 17-36, March.
    16. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    17. George A. Shinkle & Aldas P. Kriauciunas, 2012. "The impact of current and founding institutions on strength of competitive aspirations in transition economies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 448-458, April.
    18. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    19. David Smallbone & Friederike Welter, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and institutional change in transition economies: The Commonwealth of Independent States, Central and Eastern Europe and China compared," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 215-233, April.
    20. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2009. "Managerial (In)attention to Competitive Threats," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 157-181, March.
    21. Barton H. Hamilton, 2000. "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns to Self-Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 604-631, June.
    22. Andrew J. Hoffman & William Ocasio, 2001. "Not All Events Are Attended Equally: Toward a Middle-Range Theory of Industry Attention to External Events," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 414-434, August.
    23. John C. Dencker & Marc Gruber, 2015. "The effects of opportunities and founder experience on new firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1035-1052, July.
    24. Lucía Garcés-Galdeano & Martín Larraza-Kintana & Carmen García-Olaverri & Marianna Makri, 2016. "Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: the moderating role of technological intensity and performance," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 27-45, March.
    25. Zhao, Hongxin & Lu, Jiangyong, 2016. "Contingent value of political capital in bank loan acquisition: Evidence from founder-controlled private enterprises in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-174.
    26. Michael J. Fern & Laura B. Cardinal & Hugh M. O'Neill, 2012. "The genesis of strategy in new ventures: escaping the constraints of founder and team knowledge," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 427-447, April.
    27. Michael Fritsch & Elisabeth Bublitz & Alina Sorgner & Michael Wyrwich, 2014. "How much of a socialist legacy? The re-emergence of entrepreneurship in the East German transformation to a market economy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 427-446, August.
    28. Bill McEvily & Jonathan Jaffee & Marco Tortoriello, 2012. "Not All Bridging Ties Are Equal: Network Imprinting and Firm Growth in the Nashville Legal Industry, 1933–1978," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 547-563, April.
    29. J. Michael Haynie & Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2009. "An Opportunity for Me? The Role of Resources in Opportunity Evaluation Decisions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 337-361, May.
    30. Theresa S. Cho & Donald C. Hambrick, 2006. "Attention as the Mediator Between Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change: The Case of Airline Deregulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 453-469, August.
    31. Weilei (Stone) Shi & Sunny Li Sun & Mike W. Peng, 2012. "Sub-National Institutional Contingencies, Network Positions, and IJV Partner Selection," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1221-1245, November.
    32. Charles JP Chen & Yuan Ding & Chansog (Francis) Kim, 2010. "High-level politically connected firms, corruption, and analyst forecast accuracy around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1505-1524, December.
    33. Isabell M. Welpe & Matthias Spörrle & Dietmar Grichnik & Theresa Michl & David B. Audretsch, 2012. "Emotions and Opportunities: The Interplay of Opportunity Evaluation, Fear, Joy, and Anger as Antecedent of Entrepreneurial Exploitation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(1), pages 69-96, January.
    34. Suddaby, Roy & Bruton, Garry D. & Si, Steven X., 2015. "Entrepreneurship through a qualitative lens: Insights on the construction and/or discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-10.
    35. John McMillan & Christopher Woodruff, 2002. "The Central Role of Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 153-170, Summer.
    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. Ailing Liu & Xiaojun Ma & Meimei Zhou & Lichen Zeng & Jijian Lu, 2023. "Performance Model of Youth Entrepreneurship Platform in the Context of Common Wealth Returning to Hometown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, October.
    2. Li Xiong, 2022. "Improvise to win: the relationship between entrepreneurial improvisation and start-up competitive advantage," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 184-204, April.
    3. Kun Jiang & Susheng Wang, 2024. "Survival tactics for distressed firms in emerging markets," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 823-866, June.
    4. Weiqi Dai & Mingqing Liao & Qiao Lin & Jincai Dong, 2022. "Does entrepreneurs’ proactive attention to government policies matter?," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 396-431, July.

    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. 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.
    2. Weiqi Dai & Mingqing Liao & Qiao Lin & Jincai Dong, 2022. "Does entrepreneurs’ proactive attention to government policies matter?," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 396-431, July.
    3. Weiqi Dai & Mingqing Liao, 2019. "Entrepreneurial attention to deregulations and reinvestments by private firms: Evidence from China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 1221-1250, December.
    4. Shinkle, George A. & Hodgkinson, Gerard P. & Gary, Michael Shayne, 2021. "Government policy changes and organizational goal setting: Extensions to the behavioral theory of the firm," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 406-417.
    5. Zhou, Wubiao, 2013. "Political connections and entrepreneurial investment: Evidence from China's transition economy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 299-315.
    6. Su, Ruixin & Shui, Xiaolong & Zhang, Minhao & Li, Si, 2024. "Too hot to be innovative: Examining the relationship between high temperatures and corporate green innovation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    7. Nan Zhang & Qiaozhuan Liang & Huiying Li & Xiao Wang, 2022. "The organizational relationship–based political connection and debt financing: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 69-105, January.
    8. Healey, Mark P. & Bleda, Mercedes & Querbes, Adrien, 2021. "Opportunity evaluation in teams: A social cognitive model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    9. Shepherd, Dean A. & Majchrzak, Ann, 2022. "Machines augmenting entrepreneurs: Opportunities (and threats) at the Nexus of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    10. Kleinknecht, Robert & Haq, Hammad Ul & Muller, Alan R. & Kraan, Karolus O., 2020. "An attention-based view of short-termism: The effects of organizational structure," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 244-254.
    11. Choi, Jaeho & Rhee, Mooweon & Kim, Young-Choon, 2019. "Performance feedback and problemistic search: The moderating effects of managerial and board outsiderness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 21-33.
    12. Zhiyong Niu & Xiaoyan Zhou & Hongzhou Pei, 2020. "Social determinants of sustainability: The imprinting effect of social class background on corporate environmental responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2849-2866, November.
    13. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    14. White, George O. & Hemphill, Thomas & Weber, Thomas & Moghaddam, Kaveh, 2018. "Institutional origins of WOFS formal contracting: A judicial arbitrariness perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 654-668.
    15. Dean A. Shepherd & Marc Gruber, 2021. "The Lean Startup Framework: Closing the Academic–Practitioner Divide," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 967-998, September.
    16. Wang, Xincheng & Li, Yuan & Tian, Longwei & Hou, Ye, 2023. "Government digital initiatives and firm digital innovation: Evidence from China," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    17. Du, Jialin & Bai, Tao & Chen, Stephen, 2019. "Integrating corporate social and corporate political strategies: Performance implications and institutional contingencies in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 299-316.
    18. Boeker, Warren & Howard, Michael D. & Basu, Sandip & Sahaym, Arvin, 2021. "Interpersonal relationships, digital technologies, and innovation in entrepreneurial ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 495-507.
    19. Feng Zhang & Haina Zhang & Geoffrey G. Bell, 2021. "Corporate religiosity and individual decision on conducting entrepreneurial activity: The contingent effects of institutional environments in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 955-978, September.
    20. Jones, Raymond J. & Barnir, Anat, 2019. "Properties of opportunity creation and discovery: Comparing variation in contexts of innovativeness," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-10.

    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:spr:intemj:v:14:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11365-017-0485-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.