What Do They Think and Feel about Growth? An Expectancy–Value Approach to Small Business Managers’ Attitudes toward Growth
- 1 July 2003
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
- Vol. 27 (3), 247-270
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-8520.t01-1-00003
Abstract
This study focuses on small business managers’ motivation to expand their firms. More specifically, we examine the relationships between expected consequences of growth on the one hand, and overall attitude toward growth on the other. Data were collected in three separate studies over a ten–year period using the same measuring instrument. The results suggest that noneconomic concerns may be more important than expected financial outcomes in determining overall attitude toward growth. In particular, the concern for employee well–being comes out strongly. We interpret this as reflecting a concern that the positive atmosphere of the small organization may be lost in growth. We conclude that this concern may be a cause for recurrent conflict for small business managers when deciding about the future route for their firms.Keywords
This publication has 39 references indexed in Scilit:
- Replication in strategic management: scientific testing for validity, generalizability, and usefulnessStrategic Management Journal, 1998
- ATTITUDES AND ATTITUDE CHANGEAnnual Review of Psychology, 1997
- Innovation, growth and survivalInternational Journal of Industrial Organization, 1995
- The earth is round (p < .05).American Psychologist, 1994
- Entrepreneurial characteristics and the size of the new firm: A model and an econometric testSmall Business Economics, 1994
- The Design of Replicated StudiesThe American Statistician, 1993
- Introduction to special issueOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1991
- The theory of planned behaviorOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1991
- Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research.Psychological Bulletin, 1977
- Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix.Psychological Bulletin, 1959