Entrepreneurship leadership, organizational learning and market orientation: Basis for technology-based small and medium enterprises’ competitiveness framework

This study investigated the entrepreneurial leadership, organizational learning, and market orientation of small and medium-sized technology enterprises (SMEs) in China, to develop a framework for enhancing the competitiveness of these SMEs.A self-made questionnaire was used as the data collection tool.The participants of the study were 384 managers from technology SMEs in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.Weighted Mean and Rank were used to describe the performance of entrepreneurial leadership in terms of innovation ability, decision-making style, and incentive mechanisms; describe the performance of organizational learning in terms of learning mechanisms and structures, learning motivations, and learning evaluation and feedback; and assess market orientation from three aspects: market-oriented organizational culture, market-oriented ability to obtain market information, and market-oriented customer relationship management.Spearman Rank (Spearman rho) was used to test significant relationships as part of the non-parametric tests.All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 28.The study revealed that respondents agreed on the entrepreneurial leadership in terms of innovation ability, decision-making style, and incentive mechanisms.Respondents moderately agreed on the organizational learning in terms of learning mechanisms and structures, learning motivations, and learning evaluation and feedback mechanisms.With regard to market-oriented organizational culture, market-oriented ability to obtain market information, and market-oriented customer relationship management, respondents showed moderate agreement on the market orientation of their organization.Significant high correlations were found between entrepreneurial leadership, organizational learning, and market orientation.A competitiveness framework for small and medium-sized technology enterprises (SMEs) was developed.