Opportunity Recognition and Discontinuation of Ownership in SMEs: The Role of Innovation, Opportunity Exploitation, and Instrumental Risk-Taking

Although researchers have tried to quantify the magnitude of the SMEs that have folded, the primary question of how the communities of entrepreneurs interacted with COVID-19 pandemic-induced chaos remains largely unanswered. Integrating the organizational theory and strategy perspective with entrepreneurial theory, this study investigated the mechanisms and pathways that could explain the discontinuation of ownership phenomenon. Conveniently selected owners (n=148) were followed over six months. Participants completed a survey composed of previously validated measures for the constructs of interest. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyse time-to-discontinue ownership data. Structural equation modelling techniques were employed to test the study hypotheses. The recognition of opportunities was positively and significantly associated with the exploitation of opportunities. Innovation moderated this relationship. Opportunity exploitation was negatively and significantly associated with the discontinuation of ownership. Instrumental risk-taking moderated this relationship. Higher innovation and instrumental risk-taking had a significant effect on the strength of the mediated relationship between opportunity recognition and discontinuation of ownership. Gender did not reliably differentiate the discontinuation of ownership. The study contributes to theory and practice on the intersectionality of entrepreneurial action, organizational leadership, and strategy in the management of natural selection challenges in SMEs. © 2022, Small Business Institute. All rights reserved.

Impact of COVID-19 Induced Teleworking Arrangements on Employees in NGOs: Implications for Policy and Practice for Leadership

The article sought to address real or perceived "teleworking hesitancy" by generating empirical evidence on employee exposure to teleworking in a global south context. The results of the empirical investigation were integrated with the growing body of research on the future of the post-pandemic workplace. The results depicted the opposite and significant effects of perceived workload and organizational teleworking support on employee teleworking experience and the (growing) desire to utilize flexible working options. Furthermore, the results showed the significant effects of nonwork demands (negative) and resources (positive) on work engagement and the moderating role of external support contacts. The results further affirmed the mediating role of work engagement on perceived productivity. Based on these results, incremental "A-E" policy and practice considerations that place talent at the heart of organizational efforts to remain sustainably future-fit are proposed. The proposed policies and practices carry a futuristic bias, a conscious recognition that the future workplace will be "hybrid." Areas for future research are presented.