This chapter is about using self as case in teach-the-teacher entrepreneurship courses. As participants likely will engage as teachers in entrepreneurial education, the course has potential to affect many future students. I argue that two types of cases are needed. The first kind places the teachers in entrepreneurial situations where they have first-hand experience of what they want their future students to experience, which easily can be mimicked in their own teaching. The second type is about cognitively understanding what entrepreneurial education is about and what teacher skills and competences are needed to teach entrepreneurially. In others words—professional tools for teaching entrepreneurially. In both these situations, the 'case' is the teacher. By reflecting on your own real-time or retrospective entrepreneurial action for the first type, and by reflecting on yourself as an entrepreneurial educator for the second type, each teacher becomes their own case. Two such case tasks of each kind are presented that build on five pillars of entrepreneurial education presented in the chapter. Although the content is most relevant for those engaging in teach-the-teacher courses in entrepreneurship, it is also relevant for traditional entrepreneurship teachers as cases can be applied in their teaching or as tools to develop their teaching.

This research aims to analyze the effect of a five-stage strategyelaborated within the Erasmus+ project FOrSE (Framework forOrganizing Studies Entrepreneurially) realized by three EUuniversities. The strategy was integrated into a study course ofPedagogy to enhance entrepreneurial mindsets and behaviors offirst-year international Master students who did not have anyopportunity for face-to-face studies because of the quarantine.The key focus of the strategy is to promote students’ ability toanalyze the problems facing them during the COVID-19pandemic and identify and/or realize new opportunities in theface of the worries and uncertainty. The qualitative contentanalysis of the Master students’ reflections and the analysis ofthe challenges faced, and new opportunities identified and/orrealized showed that they tried to adjust their inner world to theevents which take place in the outer world for gaining selfconfidenceand achieving harmony.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the European Union’s strategies both set goals for solving environmental challenges faced by societies and communities. As part of solving these challenges, both the UN and the EU stress the development of entrepreneurial and innovative education. Teacher education plays a crucial role in these efforts, since teachers and teacher educators have a significant impact on educating citizens far into the future. In this research, we studied how Nordic (Finnish, Swedish, and Icelandic) primary teacher education curricula involve entrepreneurial, sustainable, and pro-environmental education. For this study, the authors analyzed the B.Ed. curricula of three academic teacher education institutions in Spring 2021. We used qualitative content analysis as our research method. According to the results, all three curricula incorporated both entrepreneurship education and sustainable development to some extent, although often not very explicitly. Given the urgency of problems such as global climate change, the educational goals and contents in these curricula related to entrepreneurial education and sustainable development are very limited. The idea of integrating environmental/sustainable and entrepreneurship education could be promoted in the future more explicitly, with these interdisciplinary educational themes emphasised more strongly in the curricula and education policies.

Entrepreneurship education is an area of growing importance within entrepreneurship research. This book critically discusses innovation and entrepreneurship in new and varied contexts in Europe. Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Education explores the need for researching innovation and learning in family firms, micro firms, SMEs and in rural and network contexts. The chapters offer new insights into the antecedents of business performance in SMEs by investigating social capital and marketing capabilities. The book includes a new typology for analysing entrepreneurship education programmes, discusses opportunities for embedding entrepreneurship in teacher education and explores entrepreneurship in the informal learning arenas in universities. This book includes a wide range of studies from different analytical and methodological perspectives and from various regional and industrial contexts. As such, it is a valuable tool for advanced students of European entrepreneurship. Researchers in entrepreneurship will also benefit from the up-to-date research analysis in this book.

A rapidly changing homecare service sector implies difficulties to control safety and health risks for staff and to guarantee standardised deliveries of services to recipients. This study aimed to describe staff perceptions of safety climate and practices in homecare service teams, and suggestions for improvements. A second aim was to identify if and how the appraisals of safety climate were related to individual perceptions of safety, mental strain and adverse events/injury. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used. Nursing assistants and care aides (133 in total, representing 11 work teams) in the north of Sweden replied to a survey and participated in focus group interviews. Results were analysed with ANOVA (inter-team differences) and by qualitative content analysis. Significant diversity was identified between the teams in five of seven dimensions of safety climate. Important areas for improvement were: a need to define and agree on criteria for a safe working environment; leadership prioritising safety at work; and management able to provide trust, support and time. A prerequisite for these agreements was improved authority and communication between all parties involved. The safety climate dimensions were related to personal perceptions of safety and mental strain and, partly, to adverse events/injuries.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present and develop models of educational approaches to entrepreneurship that can provide complementary analytical structures to better study, enact and reflect upon the role of entrepreneurship in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

A general framework for entrepreneurship education is developed by using theory as well as practical experiences from the fields of business, engineering and pedagogy. The paper is mainly conceptual where the unfolding Swedish practice is used as contextual backdrop.

Findings

The FOR/IN/THROUGH/ABOUT (FITA) taxonomy is presented and used to develop three models of how to approach entrepreneurship in higher education depending on purpose. As there exists a didactical divide between entrepreneurial education for business and entrepreneurial approach to teaching and learning, educators and researchers ought to let their specific context influence the adoption of the taxonomy as well as the presented models.

Research limitations/implications

The differentiations suggested by the presented models can be used to both structure the designs and limit claims of future research. More heuristic research is called for.

Practical implications

The use of FITA in the designing of entrepreneurship education offers new opportunities for enhancing complementary student learning in higher education.

Social implications

The study suggests that any political or scholarly initiative must acknowledge the diversity of entrepreneurship education and chose different approaches depending on what is to be achieved.

Originality/value

The multidisciplinary approach has made it possible to present and create models that denote a common ground for a productive discussion on how to better understand and make use of entrepreneurship in higher education.

Small- and start-up firms in the high-tech industry usually engage in networking to overcome resource, knowledge, and competence constraints in creative, innovation-based competition. Quite often, however, network relationships fail due to lack of network capability (NC), defined as the ability to manage and gain benefits from external relationships. In the present study, we propose and examine an updated five-dimension NC construct and test its effect on innovativeness and performance. Two independent high-tech samples of small firms and start-ups support measurement properties of the proposed NC construct and suggest that the often-overlooked dimension in NC research of network relationship building is important to include in a complete NC construct. Doing so can help explain organizational innovativeness and effects on the customer, sales, and innovation performance more effectively. As a result, we find support for the proposed NC scale and the importance of network capabilities for small companies and start-ups to remain competitive.

Strategies for entrepreneurship in the educational system are present not only in the Nordic countries, but also in the majority of other Western countries. Linked to these strategies different research efforts have been made. Although the research efforts have a common origin in supranational policies on entrepreneurship, there has been little research analysing the similarities and differences in how the topic is addressed by researchers in different countries. Being able to relate to both the policy and the available research in a nuanced way is important especially in the context of teacher education. The purpose of this article is to review the most recent research in pedagogical entrepreneurship from three countries: Finland, Iceland and Sweden. The aim is to discover whether the common phenomena of entrepreneurship in an educational context are approached differently in these three countries. The review of 21 articles in all, covering aim, method, concepts, references and results, draws a rather fragmented picture of the research. The main results are that the reviewed research was mostly qualitative and covered the entire spectrum from theoretical research to practice-oriented research. A variety of concepts were used. The analysis of the use of references uncovered a need to be more aware of including research from neighbouring regions. The research field seems to be quite lively and is still developing. However, it would benefit from a better dialogue between researchers in order to strengthen the contribution of Nordic research on pedagogical entrepreneurship.

The railway network is a complex system with several technologies and a multitude of stakeholders working together to solve problems created by the increasing demands on capacity, speed and mobility for the transportation of goods and passengers. However, the presence of many different stakeholders complicates knowledge management and transfer. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the potential for improving inter-organisational knowledge management in the maintenance of railway signalling systems and make concrete suggestions for improvements. Even if information logistics processes can disseminate explicit knowledge on the maintenance of railway signalling systems, they cannot handle the tacit knowledge transfer that often is crucial. The study finds considerable potential for improving the knowledge management process. It suggests possible measures and makes suggestions for future studies.

Background. Physical activity provides fundamental health benefits for children and youth. The aim of the study was to explore the possibility of conducting an empowerment-inspired intervention and examine the impact of the intervention in promoting moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among adolescents. Method. A nonrandomized trial with a concurrent control group was carried out. Physical activity data were collected before and after the intervention with daily questions by short message service. Self-efficacy, social support, and attitude were also measured before and after the intervention since they were possible mediators. Results. The intervention was created by the students, the researchers, and the teachers using an empowerment-based approach. Students in the intervention group (n = 21) increased their MVPA on average by 4.9 (SD = 28.9) minutes per day, and students in the control group (n = 25) reduced their MVPA on average by 25.4 (SD = 23.0) minutes per day (p = .000). Conclusions. The intervention might have contributed to a promotion of physical activity among students in the intervention group. The most valuable contribution this study provides is the knowledge that it is possible to develop and conduct an empowerment-inspired intervention to promote adolescent physical activity.

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework for testing the motivation to engage in improvement work. The framework is based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB), that we suggest can be used to facilitate the implementation of improvement programmes. By using the model and probing intentions, attitudes, norms and perceived ability related to improvement work, we believe hindrances for implementation of improvement programmes will be exposed. When operationalising the framework we developed a survey instrument based on TPB and then made an initial empirical test by distributing it to 124 employees (response rate 67%) of three manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises. Factor analysis and regression were used to analyse the survey and follow-up interviews with employees and managers were used to validate the results. This initial test of the instrument showed that it has sound measurement properties, indicated by clear factor structure and good internal consistency. Interview data also validated that the instrument was able to capture important aspects related to implementation of improvement work. Based on the result, we conclude that TPB may be useful for guiding management actions. However, since our study only draws on a limited empirical sample, future research is needed to test the contextual validity.

In Sweden the introduction of entrepreneurial learning into curricula in the entire school system has prompted a need for competence development and research on the subject to satisfy the demand for practical guidance on the practical level and policy development on the different government levels. To address this, Luleå University of Technology together with Umeå University will build a competence center for entrepreneurial learning with a special focus on northern Sweden. In this presentation we will describe and reflect on 1) the current situation in terms of actors and resources linked to entrepreneurial learning; 2) the process we plan to apply in building this competence center, including attracting international actors to a reference group, Swedish national actors as partners and local actors as core center participants; 3) the content in terms of research, education, competence development and collaboration; and 4) guiding principles for how the center will work where the idea is to practice aspects of entrepreneurial learning (i.e. be proactive, creative and initiate action that have potential to provide positive change). One area where we will try to use our innovative power is on how we in a sparsely populated area can reach out to places far away from the University using new technology for communication and collaboration. Here the center can collaborate with CiiR (Center for interorganizational innovation research) an existing Vinnova excellence center at LTU/UmU focusing on innovation in sparsely populated areas.

In this paper, we examine the horse-related industry in terms of entrepreneurship and gender. Based on reports of the industry, a mapping of the entire sector (N= 7504) and a questionnaire (N=520) we find that the industry is portrayed as female gendered, but dominated by men. However, we also find evidence that the industry is changing gender, as women dominate among younger entrepreneurs. The strongest motives for the horse-related entrepreneurs (regardless of gender) are realizing a dream and being able to combine interest with work. We also found that entrepreneurs in this industry mainly network inside the industry.

Background: Municipal home care workers provide high-quality services to an increasing proportion of elderly people living in private homes. The work environments and working conditions of these workers vary to a great extent, implying rapid prioritymaking among both employers and employees to ensure that the work can be performed in a safe way. Objectives: This study aims to examine home care workers perceptions of health, risks, working conditions and risk management within their organisation. Method: The study was based on cross-sectional data collected from home care service staff' in a municipality in the north of Sweden. Nursing assistants and care aides(n=133) replied to a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and between-group differences were analysed. Results: Home care work was perceived to require high levels of professional skill and ingenuity, a good psychosocial work situation, but required a high physical workload. The general health, the capacity and self-efficacy of the staff in relation to work were good. Difficulties in performing risk assessments and to follow safety regulations due to lack of time, equipment and information were identified.Conclusion: There is a need to increase participation in risk assessments among the staff, improve management support, structures and cooperation with other divisions of the social services and the medical care organisations.

Projektets mål är att • öka medvetenheten om roller och betydelsen av entreprenörskap i de deltagande högskolorna och andra offentliga institutioner i norra Skandinavien. • påverka attityder och kultur i de deltagande högskolorna och deras regionala partners mot ett mer entreprenöriellt tänkesätt och handlingsmönster. • utveckla och främja åtgärder som kan bidra till att integrera den entreprenöriell verksamheten i högskolornas läroplaner och deras dagliga verksamhet • uppmuntra studenter och lärare att starta företag och/eller agera entreprenöriellt i deras dagliga verksamhet. Syftet med projektet är att: 1. utveckla ny kunskap dvs. hur man på ett effektivt sätt skall bedriva utbildning som stärker entreprenörskap och innovation i en gles perifer miljö i samverkan mellan olika länder 2. genomföra pilotutbildningar inom entreprenörskap och innovation med minst två universitet/högskolor delaktiga i varje omgång. 3. skapa möjligheter för kunskapsutbyte mellan universiteten/högskolorna med fokus på lärare inom entreprenörskap och innovation. Eftersom detta inte är något som görs idag behöver projektaktörerna göra detta i projektform och lära sig mer om hur detta sedan kan bli en del i den ordinarie verksamheten 4. skapa möjligheter för bredare kunskapsutbyten inom och utanför regionen genom att skapa virtuella mötesplatser och workshops.

In workplace health promotion, all potential resources needs to be taken into consideration, not only factors relating to the absence of injury and the physical health of the workers, but also psychological aspects. A dynamic balance between the resources of the individual employees and the demands of work is an important prerequisite. In the home care services, there is a noticeable trend towards increased psychosocial strain on employees at work. There are a high frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, and a low prevalence of sustainable work ability. The aim of this research was to identify factors promoting work ability and self-efficacy in care aides and assistant nurses within home care services.This study is based on cross-sectional data collected in a municipality in northern Sweden. Care aides (n = 58) and assistant nurses (n = 79) replied to a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 46%). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the influence of several independent variables on self-efficacy (model 1) and work ability (model 2) for care aides and assistant nurses separately.Perceptions of personal safety, self-efficacy and musculoskeletal wellbeing contributed to work ability for assistant nurses (R2adj of 0.36, p < 0.001), while for care aides, the safety climate, seniority and age contributed to work ability (R2adj of 0.29, p = 0.001). Self-efficacy was associated with the safety climate and the physical demands of the job in both professions (R2adj of 0.24, p = 0.003 for care aides), and also by sex and age for the assistant nurses (R2adj of 0.31, p < 0.001).The intermediate factors contributed differently to work ability in the two professions. Self-efficacy, personal safety and musculoskeletal wellbeing were important for the assistant nurses, while the work ability of the care aides was associated with the safety climate, but also with the non-changeable factors age and seniority. All these factors are important to acknowledge in practice and in further research. Proactive workplace interventions need to focus on potentially modifiable factors such as self-efficacy, safety climate, physical job demands and musculoskeletal wellbeing.

Prior studies suggest that open innovation activities positively influence innovation outcomes in large firms. However, few studies have investigated the implications of SMEs’ adoption of open innovation. We address this research gap by investigating the effects of four inbound open innovation activities on innovation performance of SMEs. In doing so, we draw on data from 252 high-tech SMEs. Our results reveal that different open innovation activities are beneficial for different innovation outcomes. For instance, technology sourcing is linked to radical innovation performance, whereas technology scouting is linked to incremental innovation performance. These findings hold several important theoretical and practical implications.

This chapter examines strategic managerial work in SMEs using a theoretical framework based on structuration and entrepreneurship theory. Three managerial episodes illustrate how CEOs deal with strategic situations in SMEs. Several propositions about strategic managerial work in SMEs, which is multifaceted and complex, are offered. Such work is a social practice that is ingrained with symbolism, emotions, and power. The propositions of this study are that the level of strategic intensity is an influential contingency factor that affects the balance of those aspects of the practice, and that strategic intensity depends on whether strategic managerial work relies more on already established structures or on managers’ original actions. The conclusion is that structuration provides a promising framework for understanding the subtle complexities of strategic managerial work in SMEs.

In this paper, we develop a testable holistic procurement framework that examines how a broad range of procurement related factors affects project performance criteria. Based on a comprehensive literature review, we put forward propositions suggesting that cooperative procurement procedures (joint specification, selected tendering, soft parameters in bid evaluation, joint subcontractor selection, incentive-based payment, collaborative tools, and contractor self-control) generally have a positive influence on project performance (cost, time, quality, environmental impact, work environment, and innovation). We additionally propose that these relationships are moderated or mediated by the collaborative climate (i.e. the trust and commitment among partners) in the project and moderated by the overall project characteristics (i.e. how challenging the project is in terms of complexity, customization, uncertainty, value/size, and time pressure). Based on our contribution, future research can test the framework empirically to further increase the knowledge about how procurement factors may influence project performance.

Several studies suggest that open innovation (OI) practices positively influences innovation efforts of large and small firms. However, few studies have investigated implication of adapting OI in the SMEs context. In this study, we address the research gap by investigating the effects of four in-bound OI practices on innovative performance based on data from 252 technology-based SMEs. Our results reveal that different OI are beneficial for different innovation performances. For instance, technology sourcing is linked to radical innovation, while technology scouting is linked to incremental innovation. Based on our study, it seems worthwhile to further study OI issues in SMEs.

In this paper, we examine the horse-related industry in terms of entrepreneurship and gender. Based on reports of the industry, a mapping of the entire sector (N= 7504) and a questionnaire (N=520) we find that the industry is portrayed as female gendered, but dominated by men. However, we also find evidence that the industry is changing gender, as women dominate among younger entrepreneurs. The strongest motives for the horse-related entrepreneurs (regardless of gender) are realizing a dream and being able to combine interest with work. We also found that entrepreneurs in this industry mainly network inside the industry.

Introduction Small firms are widely recognized as being in need of managing social and professional networks with other actors and are therefore no longer considered as individual and self-fulfilling units that do not require other actors to be competitive. Rather the individual firm can be seen as an “organizer” that interacts with other actors in order to be able to carry out a strategy and build competitive advantage that is far beyond the limitations of the single firm. Studies have also reported that all collaborating partners can focus on their core activities and by interlinking these, competitive advantage can be achieved (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Ebben and Johnson, 2006; Hong and Antoncic, 2003). As such, authors like Anand and Khanna (2000) and Kale et al. (2002) concludes that having a capability to know about and tap into other firm’s resources seems to be a valuable asset in the harsh competitive landscape of today’s business environment. Unfortunately, although prior research much emphasizes the value of such a network capability, there are not many scales or approaches integrating such scales in models of small firm entrepreneurial orientation and performance, with the exception of Hagedoorn et al. (2006) and Walter et al. (2006). As a response, our study develops and tests an operationalization of network capability, and examines the significance of this concept in order to understand small firm performance and entrepreneurial orientation. Based on scholars such as Walter et al. (2006, p.542) we define network capability as the firm’s “ability to develop and utilize inter-organizational relationships to gain access to various resources held by other actors”. Network capability includes the following components: a) the firm’s ability to coordinate collaborative activities , b) the firm’s relational skills , c) partner knowledge, i.e. possessing organized and structured information about their partner organizations, and, d) the firm’s internal communication. However, in our effort to refine the concept we also add a dynamic aspect, that is, a capability in locating and building up new relations. For small firms in today’s dynamic business environment, such a capability may be very valuable for both pursuing entrepreneurship and ultimately performing well (Kim and Aldrich, 2005). Consequently, we also see the relevance of e) skills in locating and building up new relations with future partners, as a potential part of network capability. Aware of problems using laundry lists of items in questionnaires, we test a measurement of these five dimensions of network capability with very limited set of items (three) in each dimension. As such, our research can also be considered as an assessment of a short scale of network capability. Besides evaluating measurement properties of a short scale of network capability we also investigate whether network capability has any effect on small firm behaviors and outcomes in terms of entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. While developing this line of argumentation, we posit that entrepreneurial orientation could potentially be an important construct to consider, when understanding the network capability-performance linkage. Thus, this paper attempts to contribute towards the literature of “inter-organization network research” (Anand and Khanna, 2000; Kale et al., 2002; Oliver, 2001; Powell et al., 1996) and towards the entrepreneurship literature (Covin and Slevin, 1991; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996; Wiklund, 1999). Thus, based on the above background we propose three hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Network capability consists of five prominent and distinct dimensions: coordination, relational skills, partner knowledge, internal communication, and building new relationships.Hypothesis 2: Network capability is positively related to entrepreneurial orientation.Hypothesis 3: Once the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance is controlled for, network capability is still positively related to firm performance.Research MethodWe used two independent samples of small firms (i.e. firms having less than 50 employees) in Sweden to be able to reach our aim. The samples are selected based on their relevance for the study at hand. The first survey sample involved ICT-related firms. The sample is from single industry and we have under-sampled the smallest firms (i.e. less than five employees. The other survey is a random sample of firms that started their business 2003, representing firms that are fairly young and in their start-up phase. We believe that both these conditions (turbulence and start-up) constitute cases where networking is important and are worthy candidates in a study of networking capability. Both surveys were done in summer 2007. Altogether 462 answers were obtained, where 291 came from the ICT sample and 171 came from the start-up sample. This corresponds to response rates of 21 % and 12 % respectively. A non-response analysis shows little difference between respondents and non-respondents for both samples.The operationalization of networking capability is much based on refinements of the research of Walter et al. (2006). Three items from their study that measure each of the four dimensions (coordination activities, relationship skills, partner knowledge and internal communication) were selected as inputs for the scale. The wording was changed in some items based on feed-back from several pre-tests. We have also added a building component and measure it by three items. As with those noted above, also this measure was pre-tested and refined by being put to test to both scholars and practitioners before sending the surveys. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is measured based on the scale developed by Lumpkin and Dess (2001), where we consider the “classics” innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking. Consistent with prior small firm research, we used a perceived measurement of firm performance, where the respondents rate their performance in relation to their competitors (Walter et al., 2006 and Lichtenthaler, 2009). According to Chandler and Hanks (1993), asking firms to evaluate their performance in comparison with that of their competitors leads to a higher level of reliability and validity. Firm performance is captured by two items reflecting the firm’s sales performance. We used firm size, environmental dynamism and hostility, and actual networking (number of current partners) as controls. The statistical analysis is based upon factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory) and hierarchical regression analysis.Result and Discussion The result from on the network capability scale showed acceptable reliability and discriminant validity. In both samples, all factors had good Cronbach’s alpha (Hair et al., 2006) between 0.72 and 0.90 and correlations between the five factors varying between 0.2 and 0.4, which indicates that these five aspects form an overall scale for network capability. In support of accuracy, a confirmatory factor analysis also report acceptable model fit measures. In evaluating the structural model we followed recommendations to interpret multiple model fit indexes (Bollen, 1990). For the start-up sample, we notice that model chi-square is significant, but that traditional goodness-of-fit indices are in line with recommended levels (2 = 150.62, df = 80, p < .001, NFI = .91, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = .073). The corresponding numbers for the ICT sample is similar (2 = 169.10, df = 80, p < .001, NFI = .92, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = .062). Overall, this provides support for Hypothesis 1 and our condensed scale operationalization suggesting that network capability consists of five prominent and distinct dimensions: coordination, relational skills, partner knowledge, internal communication, and building new relationships.When performing regressions to estimate influences on firm performance and entrepreneurial orientation as dependent variables, we get interesting results. For the start-up sample, two aspects of network capability is significant to explain entrepreneurial orientation, namely capabilities in building (0.27, p<0.01) and partner knowledge (0.15, p<0.10). Our control, the actual networking is also significantly affecting EO. The explanatory power is rather high with an R square adjusted at 0.363. For firm performance, the block of network capability do not increase explanation over and above what the controls and EO do. The link from EO on performance is in line with earlier research (Limpkin and Dess, 1996; Wiklund, 1999). For the ICT sample, there are three dimensions of network capability that show significant results in relation to EO. Both the internal communication (0.19, p<0.01) and the building (0.20, p<0.01) dimension have strong positive coefficients, while the coordination dimension has a marginally significant negative coefficient (-0.13, p<0.10). Among controls, firm size, hostility and networking have positive effects on EO. The level of R square adjusted (0.171), indicates a satisfactory explanatory power for the full model. For firm performance, two dimensions are significant. These are internal communication (0.21, p<0.01) and coordination (0.15, p<0.05). The effect from EO on firm performance is still strong, but the inclusion of the network capability block makes it somewhat more modest. Among controls, networking is a strong positive influence while a perceived dynamic environment influences the performance negatively at a lower significance level. Like the EO model, the overall explanatory level is satisfactory with an R square adjusted at 0.189. Overall, the above tests clearly support Hypothesis 2 suggesting that network capability is positively related to entrepreneurial orientation. Several network capability dimensions are related to EO. Hypothesis 3, positing that once the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance is controlled for, network capability still is positively related to firm performance received mixed support. While no dimension proved significant for performance in the start-up sample, two network capability dimensions proved to be useful for improving firm performance in the ICT sample.To conclude, our results suggest that we have constructed a short but yet adequate scale for measuring network capability and that network capability seems to be important to understand mainly entrepreneurial behavior but also small firm performance in at least some contexts. Aspects of network capability explain significant parts of entrepreneurial orientation and moreover help to explain firm performance over and beyond what entrepreneurial orientation does. It is especially interesting to note that the most influential aspect of network capability when it comes to explain entrepreneurial orientation is the aspect we developed for this study. The capability to find and build a new relation thus seems vital to use in future studies on a firm’s network capability and its associations to entrepreneurship and performance. We encourage others to study network capability in other contexts and also contribute to the development of a robust scale for network capability. The current one definitely seems useful, but it needs to be further scrutinized to establish it’s convergent and discriminant validity before it can be used more broadly in entrepreneurship research.

Purpose: The present study aims to describe home care service workers' perceptions of safety climate and safety activities at work as well as working conditions, self-efficacy, and health and work ability. Relevance: High frequencies of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and injuries and low prevalence of sustainable work ability in home care services workers are of great concern. They are to provide high quality services to an increasingly proportion of elderly people living in private homes. In order to promote health and safety for the home care workers, increased focus should be on organisational, psychosocial and physical factors contributing to a healthy working environment. Participants: 158 nursing assistants and nursing aides divided in 18 work units participated in this study. They all met the criterion of having worked in the same home care services unit in the last 6 months. Their mean age was 46 years, the majority were women, and the distribution of nursing aides and nursing assistants was about 40/60%. Methods: This study is based on cross-sectional data gathered in February 2009 in home care services in a municipality in the North of Sweden. All the home-care work units shared the experiences of using a model for participatory risk management in home care services. Data were obtained through a comprehensive self-administered questionnaire, covering working conditions, safety climate, safety activities, self-efficacy, health and work ability. Analysis: Descriptive statistics as well as data on between-group differences are analysed. Results: In general, the results showed fairly good levels of safety climate but only moderate levels of safety activities and of perceived safety grade at work. These variables differed significantly between work units. Environmental barriers, such as lack of time and equipment, were given as reasons for not complying with safety rules or participating in proactive risk assessment. Besides a high frequency of musculoskeletal symptoms and high physical exposure at work, the home care workers in general reported being in good health and with good work ability. They also expressed high decision making latitude, skill discretion, social support and self-efficacy. Conclusions: To promote health and safety for the home care workers, interventions could build on the high levels of safety climate and proactive activities in single work units, proposing good solutions and safe behaviour. Focus need to be placed on improved safety climate, communication and coordination with all professionals forming the home care services setting. Also, on individuals' and work units' awareness of safe behaviour and on alternatives of actions in critical risk situations at work. This may act preventive on musculoskeletal well-being and a good working environment. Implications: There need to be an increase in means given to physical therapists in occupational health services, to work with these issues. The ergonomic skills and the safety climate of the front-line home care services workers need to be addressed, as well as the organisational prerequisites for workplace safety and health.

The objective of the study was to assess sense of coherence (SOC) many years after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and explore the relationship between SOC and self-rated life satisfaction (LS) as well as measures of functioning and disability, sex, age at injury, injury severity and time post-injury. Sixty-six individuals (aged 18-65 years) who were 6-15 years post-injury were interviewed. Data on SOC (SOC-13 item scale), measures of functioning and disability (Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory, MPAI-4), LS (Satisfaction with Life Scale, SWLS), and sex, age at injury, injury severity and time post-injury were analysed with hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results showed that SOC in the study group did not differ from the general population and was strongly associated with LS. Regression analyses revealed that emotional factors, social participation, SOC, and time since injury, were more influential than sex, age at injury, and injury severity in explaining LS. It was concluded that SOC in this group of individuals with TBI who were many years post-injury was similar to nondisabled individuals. SOC, together with emotional factors, social participation and injury-related factors, were determinants of LS. These results confirm that LS after TBI is a complex phenomenon dependent on several factors that are important targets for rehabilitation professionals.

In this paper we explore the use of a novel governance form – internal contracts - in the Swedish public school system, in terms of its effect to promote intrapreneurship in the organization. We studied a public school that during the time period 2007-2010 was a test case, by performing interviews with management and staff and through a questionnaire measure entrepreneurial behaviour and other relevant aspects in this school and two control schools. The results show that the internal contract gave the school room to act entrepreneurially and that it is a promising organizational tool for renewing the public sector.

Prior studies have suggested that networks are important for new ventures and small firms as a provider of access to entrepreneurial opportunities and as a tool to increase firm performance. Although the strategic value of networks on a general level is undisputed, one major shortcoming of prior studies has been to evaluate the effects of specific network configurations. Moreover, small firms have all too often been treated as a homogeneous group, expected to reveal similar needs and patterns of behavior. The purpose of this explorative study was therefore to examine the effects of different network configurations on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance for two categories of small firms - new ventures and established small firms. The results were achieved by using empirical data from two independent samples of new ventures (n=171) and small firms (n=291) and show that network relationships have quite different effects in the two samples. While networking is overall positively linked to EO and performance for small firms, no positive effect from networking is evidenced for new ventures' EO and performance. For both samples, we found a strong link between EO and performance. This paper concludes with a discussion on the results and suggestions for future research.

Objective: To describe health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) and life satisfaction many years after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and assess possible associations with variables related to the time of injury and follow-up and the individuals' self-appraisal of the impact of the TBI. Method: Sixty-seven individuals (18-65 years), on average 10 years post-injury, were interviewed. Data on HRQoL, using the SF-36 questionnaire, were compared with a Swedish age-and sex-matched reference sample, and life satisfaction, using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), were compared with a nationwide Swedish sample of students. The participant's self-appraisal of the TBI was assessed with two supplementary questions. Data were analysed with hierarchical multiple regression analyses.Results: HRQoL as well as life satisfaction were lower compared with the reference samples. From the regression analyses, the individuals' own appraisal of the impact of the TBI and whether they were vocationally productive or not were strongly associated with their current physical health and life satisfaction.Conclusion: These results confirm the importance of TBI as a cause of long-term disability and the impact of the injury on the individuals' self-perceived values of health, quality-of-life and life satisfaction

En studie av företagande, ledarskap och genus i hästbranschen. Projektet pågick 2009-2011 med finansiering från Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning (2,5 milj kr). I projektet medverkade Lena Abrahamsson, Mats Westerberg och doktorand Lena Forsberg.

Successful succession in small family firms may be a key to sustainability for the individual firm but also to regional growth. This paper examines how leadership succession factors associated to attitudes, norms and perceived havioural control of leading actors in a small family firm can be related to how well the succession process works and to the firm's post-transition performance. We structure factors pointed out in earlier studies according to Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TpB) where we put forward hypotheses for the three areas. The results based on a survey of 55 small family firms that have experienced a leadership succession show that TpB works well for understanding a successful succession process, but is dismal for understanding post-transition performance. The strongest results are found for aspects linked to perceived behavioural control and attitudes.

This paper takes a novel approach to investigate functions ascribed to the Balanced Scorecard in local governments. First, we develop a measurement scale of balanced scorecard functions based on a literature review. Then, by combining qualitative interviews and quantitative data (based on 101 respondents) from four local governments in Sweden, we examine the measurement scale and put it to use. The results show that politicians, managers and accountants in local government recognize multiple functions, instrumental as well as symbolic. Based on the results, we generate propositions to be tested in future research.

Affärsrelaterade aspekter på varumärkesbyggande ("branding") har länge varit på tapeten i såväl styrelserummen som hos forskare. Det är dock först på senare år som offentlig verksamhet också har tagit fram branding som ett viktigt verktyg i verksamheten. Inom den Europeiska universitetsvärlden har Bolognaprocessen drivit på universiteten att bli unika och attrahera personal och studenter på en mer avreglerad marknad. För att hantera detta har många universitet försökt bygga sitt varumärke. Frågan är om det fungerar? I denna studie undersöker vi om en överensstämmelse mellan brand identity (dvs. det varumärke universitet vill bli känd som) och brand image (så som anställda och studenter uppfattar varumärket) påverkar prestation, nöjdhet och vilja att stanna kvar hos studenter och anställda. Luleå tekniska universitet har under ett antal år bedrivit omfattande aktiviteter för att bygga ett varumärke som primärt skulle kommunicera "forskning och utbildning i världsklass" och sekundärt värme och närhet eller "vänlighet". Arbetet har varit ifrågasatt både för att det varit relativt kostsamt (är det värt pengarna?) och för att inte alla känt sig hemma med budskapet. Därför har vi genomfört en kvantitativ studie av effekterna av detta varumärkesbyggande. En enkät med frågor om 1) aspekter på det universitets varumärke, 2) andra möjliga "images" för en organisation baserat på Aaker's personlighetsdrag, 3) uppfattning om nöjdhet, prestation och vilja att lämna organisationen, samt 4) bakgrundsfaktorer konstruerades. Enkäten skickades till samtliga studenter på tre program och till samtliga anställda på dessa programs heminstitution. Studien baseras på svar från 275 studenter (svarsfrekvens 23 %) och 210 anställda (svarsfrekvens 33 %). Faktoranalys och hierarkisk regressionsanalys användes för att analysera materialet. Resultaten visar på att varumärkesbyggandet hade varit någorlunda framgångsrikt då såväl studenter som anställda identifierade universitetet med världsklass och vänlighet. Medelvärdet var mellan 4,3 och 5,1 på en sjugradig skala där vänlighet och studenter hade något högre medel. Vidare fanns det tydliga kopplingar mellan identifikation med universitetets varumärke och individernas nöjdhet med sitt arbete/sina studier samt deras vilja att stanna kvar. I båda grupperna kan identifikation med världsklass koppas till nöjdhet och benägenhet att stanna, medan identifikation med vänlighet kan kopplas till nöjdhet. Däremot finns det ingen koppling till prestation hos vare sig studenter eller anställda. Det verkar utifrån denna studie som om arbete med att bygga varumärke kan vara bra. Det bygger dock på att de individer som ställer upp på varumärket är de man helst vill ha kvar, eftersom de som inte identifierar sig med varumärket visar upp lägre nöjdhet och mindre vilja att stanna kvar. Att bygga rätt image är därför helt avgörande.

Objectives - To assess long-term functioning and disability after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Material and methods - Individuals (n = 88) in Norrbotten, northern Sweden, who had been transferred for neurosurgical care were assessed with internationally established TBI outcome measures 6-15 years post-injury. Results - There was an improvement in overall outcome from discharge from inpatient rehabilitation to follow-up. Many individuals had a high degree of motor and cognitive functioning, which enabled them to live independently in their own home without assistance, but there remained a disability related to community reintegration and social participation. This affected their productivity and to some degree their marital stability. The remaining disability and reduced productivity were related to the age at injury and the injury severity. Conclusions Our data showed that individuals with a TBI can achieve and maintain a high degree of functioning many years after the injury. Increasing age and a greater injury severity contributed to their long-term disability.

This study examines the extent to which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability is possessed and utilised by technology-based small firms and investigates the contingent effect of firm size and age on ICT capability. The empirical base is a survey with data from 291 technology-based small Swedish firms. The result suggests that technology-based small firms are high users of ICT in several areas. Regarding contingency effects, firm size was related to significant differences in the utilisation of ICT. Although the smallest firms as a whole use ICT less, a substantial part of them are high users.

The aim of this study is to differentiate small firms based on their network structure and observe differences in terms of absolute levels and relationship between ICT capability, networking capability and entrepreneurial orientation. The study's main contribution is towards the "inter-organizational networking research" and entrepreneurship literature. The analysis is based on 291 ICT related Swedish small firms. The results show that small ICT related small firms can be divided into four different clusters, namely; (1) low collaboration with low networking capability, (2) low collaboration with high networking capability, (3) high collaboration with low networking capability, and (4) high collaboration with high networking capability. Small firms with low collaboration and low networking capability were less entrepreneurial compared to the other three groups of firms. However, since networking capability and ICT capability were linked to entrepreneurial orientation it is possible for these firms to improve their situation by developing these two capabilities.

I mars 2008 beslutade tre svenska mindre företag att öka takten i sitt förbättringsarbete och anställde gemensamt en förbättringskonsult på heltid. Detta dokument beskriver företagens arbete och presenterar resultat från en undersökning baserad på Ajzen's teori om planerat beteende, riktad till samtliga anställda och genomförd efter nio månader. Resultaten visar att arbetstagarnas avsikt att genomföra förbättringsarbete var korrelerade med tron på den egna förmågan att utföra förbättringsarbete, och med ledningens normer. Således kan nyckeln till ett framgångsrikt förbättringsarbete för dessa företag ses ligga i att ha en engagerad ledning och erbjuda anställda utbildning och handledning.

Småföretag, d v s företag med mindre än 50 anställda, har av tradition inte setts som någon naturlig partner då samhälle och akademi skall samverka med näringslivet. Småföretagens ökande betydelse för sysselsättning och välfärd har dock under senare år delvis förändrat denna bild. En intressant fråga är hur pass vanlig olika former av samverkan med samhälle och universitet/högskolor är bland dagens svenska småföretag. Den här studien presenterar resultat och analyser baserade på data om hur svenska småföretag samverkar med andra aktörer, och vilken betydelse samverkan i olika former kan ha för innovativitet och framtidstro. Resultaten baseras i huvudsak på en större enkätstudie som Tilläxtverket/NUTEK tillsammans med SCB genomförde i småföretag i Sverige hösten/vintern 2007-2008. I denna studie ingår data från 6 758 företag med mellan 5 och 49 anställda fördelade på olika branscher/verksamheter. Av studiens resultat framgår bl a att samverkan med samhälle och akademi inte är ovanligt bland svenska småföretag. Mer än vart annat småföretag har utvecklad samverkan med minst en aktör i denna grupp. När det gäller effekterna av samverkan finns det positiva kopplingar till samverkan med universitet och nationella myndigheter, medan en negativ koppling finns till samverkan med gymnasieskolan.

Past research does not reveal much about whether and how entrepreneur characteristics (experience, level of tolerance for ambiguity, and self-efficacy) and management control (planning, internal and customer orientation) influence the entrepreneur's honing and enterprising actions, and ultimately a firm's performance. In a study of 162 firms, we found these factors important; however, the contingent influence of environmental uncertainty, task complexity, and strategic competence determine, to a large degree, which factors are relevant to consider. We elaborate upon this complexity and note a need for further research in this area.

This study examines CEO succession in small firms and the impact of CEO honing and enterprising competence on firm performance within a contingency framework. In a study of 162 small firms, we hypothesize that a newly appointed CEO will bring entrepreneurship to its small firms, but the results do not support this. Instead, the results indicate that a new CEO tends to introduce honing in the firm. Only CEO market enterprising had a direct relation to better performance. However, we find several instances of moderation effects attributable to strategic competence, environmental uncertainty, and the nature of tasks in the company.

Modern ICT is widely understood as important for enabling a more effective communication, collaboration and internal operational efficiency in today's businesses. For small firms with limited in-house resources, and especially for technology-based small firms, ICT is expected to play a vital role. The empirical evidence supporting such an understanding are however rare. This paper elaborates on the extent to which ICT capability is employed by technology-based small firms and investigates the influence of ICT capability on network configuration and networking capability. The results provide some new evidence on how ICT may enable more effective networking in this specific category of small firms, and indicates e.g. that technology-based small firms are high users of ICT for gaining flexibility in working hours, accessing vital information, maintaining collaboration with existing business partners, enable a better handling communication within the firm and providing superior customer service. ICT capability was also found to influence small firms networking configuration. Particularly, there is a clear link between higher ICT use for collaboration and more extensive partnership networking, and a higher ICT use for communication and more extensive customer networking. Furthermore, we also found support for a strong relation between ICT capability and networking capability.

Numerous small technological firms are today operating in an uncertain and challenging environment. It can be argued that in such environment, the firm's capability to better utilizing their limited resources can be a source of better performance. This study focuses on two such firm capabilities, namely dynamic capability (DC) and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) capability. However, as Wang and Ahmed (2007) suggest, this link might not be direct but instead mediated through the firm's strategy. We will therefore also include entrepreneurial orientation (EO) as a possible mediator in our study.DC is seen as firm's ability to achieve competitive advantage especially in a turbulent environment (Teece et al., 1997). The research on DC has indicated a number of challenges. First, it has been difficult for scholars to clearly conceptualize DC and relate it to competitive advantage (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000) and secondly, the research on DC has resulted in inconsistent and unrelated results (Zahra et al., 2006). During the literature review of DC, we identified three sub-parts of DC, namely absorptive capability, adaptive capability, and networking capability. Firms with higher degrees of absorptive capability are better able to identify and utilize external knowledge for commercial purpose (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990), firms with adaptive capability are able to quickly "identify and capitalize on emerging market opportunity" (Oktemgil & Greenley, 1996) and finally, firms with high degrees of networking capability are able to utilize inter-organizational relationships for own competitiveness. Using sub-facets (or specific constructs) to capture dynamic capabilities is consistent with prior research. For example, a recent study by Ahmed & Wang (2007), reviewed DC and suggested that it consists two or our three concepts as part of dynamic capability similar as those defined above. For technological firms ICT capability also seems indispensable and it may also produce competitive advantage (Venkatraman, 1994; Johannessen, 1999). We define ICT capability as a firm's ability to use a wide array of technology ranging from e-mails to local area networks for business purposes (Matlay & Addis, 2003). As both these concepts are a possible source for a firm's competitive advantage, we expect them to influence firm performance. However, as stated above, the influence from capabilities on performance may not be direct, but rather work through the firm's strategy and therefore EO can be a crucial link between capabilities and performance. EO is considered the small firm's strategic orientation and the relations between EO and performance is well established in the literature (Wiklund, 1999). So, if capabilities have a positive influence on EO, it could lead to better performance. The overall purpose for this paper is thus to investigate the effects dynamic capabilities and ICT capabilities have on EO and firm performance.Method:This study is mainly exploratory and to reach our purpose, we conducted a survey on 1471 small technological firms in Sweden. Technological firms are the frontrunners for global economy, and are likely to need the capabilities we discuss above. The firms we targeted were to have less then 50 employees (i.e. be small firms according to EU definition), have more then 1 million SEK in sales (to ensure an active firm) and doing business with IT related products or services. The questionnaire was sent out in Swedish during summer 2007 and resulted in 277 usable replies (20% response rate). Our key measurements were based on well established scales in literature and the questionnaire was pre-tested using small firm managers in similar industries as the targeted. Firm performance is multi-dimensional and includes three aspects (customer, sales and innovation). We control for environment factors (dynamism, hostility and heterogeneity.) and firms size (number of employees). During exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, we did not observe any unexpected cross-loading or irregularity and the alpha value were satisfactory (between 0.67 - 0.88). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for the analysis.Results and Implications:Preliminary results from the SEM analysis show interesting results. If we look at ICT capability first, we find a strong link to dynamic capability for both the collaboration and communication facet. This supports thoughts of scholars that use of ICT influences firm capabilities (DC) by enhancing the firm's communication and information flow (Venkatraman, 1994). ICT capability is also weakly linked to EO (communication facet), but not at all to firm performance. Thus, ICT capability is not directly linked to better performance, but it enhances other capabilities (DC) which can be used for better performance (Porter, 2001; Mata et al., 1995). However, when looking at dynamic capabilities there are strong significant results both to EO and directly to firm performance. When looking closer at the results it becomes clear that all three aspects of DC show strong significance. Absorptive and adaptive capability is linked to EO and adaptive and networking capability is linked directly to firm performance (which also is the case for EO). Based on this, it seems dynamic capabilities is key to achieve completive advantage both in terms of EO and firm performance. Building and maintaining these capabilities should therefore be a priority for small firms, especially in a technological context, where constant change is likely to be a factor.Finally, since we tested the link between EO and performance with rather strong rival constructs (i.e. DC), we add strong further evidence for the EO - performance link (Wiklund, 1999).