The Role of Leaders and Intrapreneurial Employees in Large Technology Corporations: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, technological change has introduced an unprecedented amount of competition in the global marketplace. Large corporations are at risk of disruption by global competitors, particularly the start-up community. In today’s highly competitive environment, the goal of every business is to get ahead: this is known as ‘competitive advantage.’ One way to foster competitive advantage is through innovation—the process of change, be it a new product, idea, or method. It can mean adapting the work environment to deliver an improved service or altering the business model. Large corporations are scalable business models by design. When a company establishes a successful business model, it monetizes that model to the fullest extent, supporting the model via corporate structures, processes, tools, and cultures. These companies now face a conundrum: the policies and procedures that make them efficient also stifle innovation, which is critical to business success in today’s ultra-competitive and ever-changing market. Large companies find it especially challenging to innovate successfully within the confines of massive, bureaucratic operational structures. Since most companies are designed to deliver under their current structures, any innovation that requires a change in business model or approach requires structural changes within the company. “Intrapreneurship,” also known as corporate entrepreneurial behaviour, has the potential to resolve the issues of innovation in large corporations. Intrapreneurship is a major competitive differentiator: benefits include increased economic growth, greater efficiency, the ability to manage change effectively, greater employee engagement and development, the ability to attract and retain entrepreneurial leaders, and sustainable growth. However, organizations are not aware of how to cultivate an intrapreneurial environment. In fact, organizations often unintentionally cultivate the opposite, by adopting risk-adverse policies, limiting corporate experimentation. The extant literature examines intrapreneurship at a firm level; however, there is limited literature identifying intrapreneurial traits at an employee level. It is these employee traits and behaviours that enable organizations to act intrapreneurially, resulting in value creation for organizations. Leadership engagement as it relates to intrapreneurship is also an area that is under researched. The support of leaders in innovation efforts is crucial for intrapreneurial employees to thrive and take ideas from a place of conception to implementation. This study takes a qualitative, approach, including semi-structured interviews of employees of a large technological firm and five semi-structured interviews with executives from media, technology, and finance industries. This research identifies specific traits of employees of intrapreneurial employees, including their behaviours and attributes. This research places the employee at the heart of the organization while positioning leaders and cultural elements on the periphery. It identifies curiosity, skilled risk taking, and experimentation as core intrapreneurial traits. This study also identifies the traits and behaviours of successfully intrapreneurial organizations and the role that leadership plays in supporting and developing intrapreneurial environments and cultures. Leadership has significant and positive relations with both empowerment and an innovation-supporting organizational climate. Top managers' leadership style has been identified as being one of the most important factors—if not the most important—when it comes to driving innovation. The findings from this research indicate that leaders need to play more of an active role in developing intrapreneurial activity. They need to evolve their role into shepherds who guide intrapreneurs in navigating the corporate immune systems. This research also evolves the conceptual framework of Antoncic and Hisrich (2001) by adding employee traits and leadership as new paradigms.