Use of latest technologies as a mediator between entrepreneurial aspiration and open innovation development

Abstract

© 2018, Kauno Technologijos Universitetas. All rights reserved. Through their role, entrepreneurs differently contribute to economic activity and economic development of national economies. Some of them are driven by the development of new products/services and new markets, others try to increase their business and number of employees in line with their company’s needs, while some of them see their opportunity in other markets, often beyond the borders of their country. The key issue, as well as the overall orientation of this research, is related to the analysis of the impact of entrepreneurs’ aspiration (innovation, growth and internationalization) on the technological orientation, i.e. the use of new technologies in entrepreneurial venture. In order to provide deeper insight into the subject of the research, the analysis extends to cooperation with other organizations for the implementation of the open innovation strategy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of entrepreneurs’ aspirations on technological orientation of entrepreneurs and their cooperative capacities for the development of open innovations, and to analyze the impact of technological orientation of entrepreneurs on the implementation of the open innovation strategy. The main source of data of the analyzed factors (variables) in this study is the GEM research database for 2012. The results of path analyses of Structural Equation Modelling indicate a positive direct and indirect impact of innovation as well as entrepreneurs’ aspirations and business internationalization on technological orientation of entrepreneurs and cooperation with other organizations. The positive impact was not found during the analysis of the impact of business growth and its direct impact on the technological orientation of entrepreneurs, as well as the indirect impact on cooperation with other organizations. However, when observing the growth of business enterprise and its direct impact on cooperation with other organizations, the positive impact of the observed variable is identified.