How does entrepreneurial orientation influence firm performance? The roles of corporate social responsibility and institutional environments

Abstract A growing number of firms are realizing that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is an effective means to cope with competition and maintain sustainable growth. However, with the results of extant studies on EO‐performance relationship are not fully consistent, the potential mechanism about how EO influences firm performance needs to be further explored. Accordingly, this research investigates the mediating mechanism of EO‐performance by considering the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the resource dependence perspective. In addition, we assess the relationship between EO and CSR by examining the moderating roles of institutional support and dysfunctional competition. Using the sample data of 214 Chinese firms to test the hypotheses, we find that CSR mediates the relationship between EO and firm performance. Moreover, institutional support negatively moderates the EO‐CSR relationship and dysfunctional competition positively moderates the relationship between EO and CSR. Based on the above results, our study provides practical implications for entrepreneurial firms striving to translate their EO into superior firm performance.