Purpose: This study explores the impact of owner chief executive officers' (CEO) narcissism on the exporting small to medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) decision-making on the international market expansion speed after their initial entry. Specifically, the authors use the mechanism of firms' international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) to examine how owner CEO narcissism may influence SMEs' post-entry speed of internationalization (PSI), both directly and indirectly.Design/methodology/approach: To test the hypotheses, the authors draw on data from a two-wave questionnaire and on archival export data from 291 Chinese exporting SMEs in three municipalities and 17 provinces from 2019 to 2020.Findings: The results support the theoretical predictions that owner CEO narcissism shapes exporting SMEs' decisions on PSI, both directly and indirectly, through the mediation of firm-level IEO.Originality/value: The study extends emerging research on the role of CEO narcissism in the upper echelons literature into the international marketing (IM) context. It also offers new insights into what drives exporting SMEs' IM decision-making from a psychological microfoundations perspective. Furthermore, the authors theoretically establish and empirically demonstrate the key role of a firm's IEO as a mediator to complement the existing literature's focus on the direct influence of CEO narcissism on firms' internationalization decisions.

Entrepreneurs are critical human resources that have a significant impact on the performance of entrepreneurial firms. Yet, the nature of many entrepreneurial resources means that they are in demand by both their work (firms) and their families. Little is known about the impact that such dual demands might have on an entrepreneur’s ability to manage their own resources for their firm’s performance. Drawing upon conservation of resources (COR) theory and family-work literature, this paper develops a model to examine how family-to-work conflict (FWC) and family-to-work enrichment (FWE) shape the performance of entrepreneurial firms, directly and indirectly, through the mediation of entrepreneurial commitments. The model also explores the potential role of entrepreneurs’ key personal resources as a unique type of human resource that utilizes entrepreneurs’ internal dispositions to moderate the relationship between FWC/FWE and entrepreneurial commitments (and, hence, business performance). Empirical results from a study of 261 entrepreneurial firms in China provide support for our conceptual model. The paper has important implications for both HRM and entrepreneurship research and practices.

Employee turnover caused by over-qualification has become a new problem in organizational management. The mechanism underpinning the boundaries between perceived over-qualification and employee turnover, however, remains unclear. To address this gap, the current study employed multi-factor ANOVA, hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap method to analyze the relationship between perceived over-qualification and employee turnover intention based on the survey data of 396 respondents in China. Overall, the results revealed that perceived over-qualification was positively correlated with turnover intention. It was also found that self-efficacy had a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived over-qualification and turnover intention. Further, professional identity had a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived over-qualification and turnover intention. Our findings expand the boundary of influence around perceived over-qualification and provide theoretical support for employee management.

In the context of intensifying global competition, productive entrepreneurship plays an important role in industrial upgrading and sustainable economic development. This study explores how the institutional environment affects productive entrepreneurship through different allocation paths. By integrating multiple institutional logics and using PD-QCA (Panel Data fsQCA) methods, we examined data from 76 countries for the period 2012–2022. The results show that institutional complexity provides entrepreneurs with diversified opportunities and resources, but also brings decision-making challenges due to the conflict of institutional factors. We identified three main models: (1) Government-Market Collaborative Model: driven by government support and property rights protection. (2) Market-Led Model: financial support is crucial. (3) Three-Wheel Drive Model: combines property rights protection, market opening, and social norms that promote entrepreneurship. This study contributes to the literature by revealing the multidimensional effects of institutional complexity and provides practical implications for policymakers seeking to promote high-quality entrepreneurial activity. Limitations include the static nature of the data and the need to further explore dynamic institutional interactions over time.

Existing theory has not documented the potential benefits of facing the challenges of underdog entrepreneurs, who may succeed unexpectedly. This research explains why, and under what circumstances, the underdog status of entrepreneurs can promote entrepreneurial success rather than just hinder it. We predict that the underdog effect has the potential to boost entrepreneurial resource efficiency when entrepreneurs hold an incremental (vs. entity) theory, enter a low-barrier (vs. high-barrier) industry, and are in a favorable (vs. unfavorable) business environment. Study 1 provides support for the positive relationship between underdog status and resource efficiency through an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis, which is accompanied by a moderating effect of the implicit theory, industry context, and business environment. The data was obtained from two nationwide surveys. By extending a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of multiple case studies, Study 2 reveals support for a synergistic effect of the above factors. Our research results examine the assumption that perceiving underdog status is detrimental and offer meaningful insights into why and when underdog entrepreneurs have good performance in entrepreneurial resource efficiency. We provide a psychological and behavioral explanation for the underdog effect, extending the underdog effect theory to the field of entrepreneurship for the first time from the perspective of the actors. Finally, theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed by indicating the limitations of the research.