ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AS A FACTOR OF ADAPTATION OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGERS IN WAR CONDITIONS

Abstract

The entrepreneurial style of management is characterized by an active search for new opportunities, whichcan be used to realize rapid growth in an uncertain environment. Purpose. The aim of the article is to analyzethe entrepreneurial orientation of business managers as a factor of adaptation under martial law conditions.Methods. An online survey of 109 business owners and managers was conducted. We used questionnairesto assess decision-making features (such as cognitive style, habitual pattern of behavioral responseand coping method), typological personality traits, tolerance to uncertainty, perceived stress, and dispositionaloptimism. Entrepreneurial orientation is considered as a unity of three dimensions: innovativeness, risktakingand proactiveness. Results. The average indicators of entrepreneurial orientation of the Ukrainiansample are commensurate with the results of previous studies in English-speaking populations. Ageand gender characteristics of entrepreneurial orientation are revealed. A comparative analysis of groups withdifferent levels of adaptability (normal, problematic and super-successful) demonstrated that proactivenessand innovativeness ensure normal adaptation, that is, they allow maintaining professional and life stability in war conditions. Readiness for risk provides adaptive advantages – it allows you to develop and grow ina crisis situation. Correlations of entrepreneurial orientation with individual features of decision-making, levelof perceived stress and personal characteristics of business managers are considered. Conclusions relate tothe usefulness of studying entrepreneurial orientation for predicting the individual adaptability of entrepreneursand the possibilities of business existence in difficult conditions. An entrepreneurial style of managementensures the successful implementation of business during wartime. A high level of entrepreneurial orientationdirectly correlates with the creativity and spontaneity of managers, with intolerance to uncertainty, dispositionaloptimism, activity, and the need for impressions. A low level is accompanied by an unwillingness to makedecisions and corresponding defensive reactions: hypervigilance, avoidance, shifting responsibility.