Leveraging Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Orientation to Achieve Operational Excellence in Aviation Organizations

Abstract

In the aviation industry, operating in a high velocity, safety critical and capital-intensive environment, aviation organizations are only competitive, safe and profitable when they are operating effectively: Operational Excellence (OE).

This research aims to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and intrapreneurial orientation (IO) to operational excellence in U. S. aviation firms, such as airlines, maintenance-repair-overhaul (MRO) companies, airport operators, and aviation logistics companies.

A cross-sectional survey design with a structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect data from 280 aviation managerial and operational level employees from U.S. aviation organizations. The data analysis was conducted by descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) using partial least squares (PLS-SEM).

Results show that both EO and IO have a significant positive influence on operational excellence and the influence of IO is slightly stronger than that of EO because IO is an internal, process-based measure. Both of these relationships are partially mediated through organizational agility.

The results contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship beyond the context of aviation operations and provide practical recommendations for aviation business leaders who want to embed innovative and proactive actions while maintaining compliance to the regulations and aviation safety requirements.