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An Empirical Study on Sustaining Entrepreneurial Behaviour inUniversity Enterprises in the Peoples Republic of China

K.F. Chan and T. Lau, Department of Management,Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Abstract

A number of models of entrepreneur motivations are proposed in theliterature. The variables used in explaining entrepreneurial behaviourin the process of new business creation can also be applied in thestudy of entrepreneurial behaviour within organizations. Building onthe integrated model of entrepreneur motivation, this paper proposesa modified model for sustaining entrepreneurial behaviour within theorganization and reports the results of testing this specific model in anempirical study of Chinese managers in university enterprises in the

People's Republic of China (PRC). The analyses suggest that managers'entrepreneurial behaviour can be predicted by the managers' personalentrepreneur characteristics, the organization's requirement withregard to entrepreneurial behaviour and the types of rewardsexpected. Surprisingly, expectancy motivation forces, such as theimplementation-to-outcome relationship and the expectation-to-outcome relationship, are not significant in explaining managers'entrepreneurial behaviour in the case of Chinese universityenterprises, implying that contextual variables and environmentvariables must be taken into account when applying theentrepreneurship motivation models.