Intrapreneurship as an Engine of Corporate Renewal : Exploring the Intrapreneur and How Corporate Conditions Influence Intrapreneurial Behavior

The aim of this thesis is to explore the characteristics of the intrapreneur and subsequently probe the question of how various internal corporate conditions influence intrapreneurial behavior. Using an evolutionary framework as the overarching theoretical point of departure to understand the core phenomena, the questions are tested on a comprehensive dataset of employees in the private sector in Sweden. The analyses are conducted in four individual papers following a quantitative research design. The thesis expands the classic intrapreneur stereotype “a dreamer who does” by offering a more comprehensive perspective of an intrapreneur and showcasing various types of intrapreneurs such as resilient intrapreneurs, neglected intrapreneurs, and privileged intrapreneurs. Additionally, the findings reveal a set of corporate conditions that influence employees’ intentions to become engaged in intrapreneurial behavior. They also open up the relatively unexplored gender perspective on intrapreneurship, showing that some components of corporate culture can encourage intrapreneurship and that these components relate to existing gender roles within the corporation. Overall, these findings contribute to prior research on the intrapreneur and intrapreneurship in the Swedish context.