The Impact of Span of Control on Entrepreneurial Entry
Vincenzo Mazzotta
Lumsa University, Rome, Italy
Abstract—Does the level of span of control affect entrepreneurial entry? In this paper, we aim at investigating an individual contextual factor – span of control - affecting entrepreneurial transition. Following existing literature on entrepreneurship and organizational change, we expect to find out that the level of span of control, i.e. the number of workers who are directly coordinated by a supervisor in an organization, positively influences the supervisor tendency to become an entrepreneur. Furthermore, this impact is positively moderated by a CEO position.
The increase of span of control will increase the innovation in the organization by reducing the hierarchy and rigidity in the organization. At the individual level, higher is the level of span of control and higher is the motivation of the individual to act proactively and to set an entrepreneurial orientation, thanks to the chances to experiment different and deviant behaviours.
The contribution of this research deals with the possibility to improve the ways to detect potential entrepreneurs in an organization and to set a series of tools to avoid that the best talents may leave the company and may reduce the level of competences in the organization.
Index Terms— Span of Control, CEO position, Entrepreneurial transition
Cite: Vincenzo Mazzotta, "The Impact of Span of Control on Entrepreneurial Entry," Journal of Advanced Management Science, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 5-10, March 2019. doi: 10.18178/joams.7.1.5-10
Cite: Vincenzo Mazzotta, "The Impact of Span of Control on Entrepreneurial Entry," Journal of Advanced Management Science, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 5-10, March 2019. doi: 10.18178/joams.7.1.5-10