The characteristics and influencing factors of entrepreneurial behaviour: The case of new state-owned firms in the new energy automobile industry in an emerging economy

Although research on entrepreneurial behaviour has drawn a great deal of attention, contextualised studies of entrepreneurial behaviour, such as those conducted in emerging economies, are limited and leave many issues unsolved. In this paper, we analyse the characteristics and influencing factors of entrepreneurial behaviour for new state-owned firms in the new energy automobile industry in the context of China's emerging economy. Using an exploratory case study and the qualitative research software SQL Nvivo 10.0, we show that new state-owned firms in the new energy automobile industry in an emerging economy demonstrate opportunity-resource integrated entrepreneurial behaviour. We propose that entrepreneurial firms can recognise institutional opportunities based on the resources acquired from their initial resource endowments and social networks and then bundle their resources to exploit opportunities and eventually shape the institutional environment. Moreover, we reveal that institutional environment, initial resource endowment and social network are the three major influencing factors of the entrepreneurial behaviour of new state-owned firms in the new energy automobile industry, which has significant theoretical and practical implications for the cultivation and development of emerging industries in emerging economies.