Corporate entrepreneurship : it’s a matter of engagement

Abstract: Organisations of varying sizes often implement changes at the strategic, operational and employee level to foster a culture of entrepreneurship. These entrepreneurial actions within existing organisations are referred to as corporate entrepreneurship (CE). CE is regarded as multi- dimensional in nature, influenced by environmental, managerial and organisational factors and often results in a multitude of outcomes such as enhanced internal and market performance. Whilst CE is seen as a firm-level initiative, it is employees who implement and practice such initiatives. An employee’s proactive nature towards their work is essential and hence, work engagement is vital in achieving business outcomes. However, to date, there is limited research on the linkages between corporate entrepreneurship and work engagement. This study is qualitative in nature and presents a conceptual paper. A deductive approach is employed by combining prominent literature on CE and work engagement as described in seminal works, thereby proposing a novel conceptual framework linking work engagement, CE and business outcomes. The study provides insights into a framework which, when tested empirically, has the potential to enhance and achieve business outcomes. The framework therefore holds significant potential to improve employee engagement in business, particularly within the ambit of the fourth industrial revolution