FOUNDER SOCIAL IDENTITY AS A PREDICTOR OF CUSTOMER AND COMPETITOR ORIENTATION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

This dissertation explores the association between Founder Social Identity and the two leading component measures of market orientation: customer and competitor orientation. Using the typology of entrepreneurial identities developed by Fauchart and Gruber, this study empirically examines how the degree by which individuals are driven by social motivations captured by the darwinian, communitarian, and missionary founder social identity types predicts the degree by which entrepreneurs enact a customer and competitor orientation. To test this, data was collected from 492 entrepreneurs of small to medium size enterprises across all industries. Results suggest that the social motivations captured by the darwinian founder social identity type are positively related to customer and competitor orientation, the social motivations captured by the communitarian founder social identity type are positively related to competitor orientation, and that the degree to which an individual aligns with the missionary founder social identity type is positively related to customer orientation. These findings extend prior literature suggesting that the social motivations that drive entrepreneurship impact business processes and outcomes by demonstrating their link to key marketing activities.