Entrepreneurial orientation of charter school leaders in California

This study examined how charter school leaders at stand-alone charter schools and those associated with a charter management organization differ on the entrepreneurial orientation construct as defined by Lumpkin and Dess (1996). The findings of this study identified the entrepreneurial orientation of charter leaders by using a modified model of the research instrument created and used by Lumpkin and Dess (1996) to evaluate entrepreneurial orientation in the areas of autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, pro-activeness, and competitive aggressiveness. In addition, the study identified the relationship of gender, years of experience as a charter leader, experience in the business sector, grade level of the school and level of education completed of the participating leaders' on their entrepreneurial orientation. For purposes of this study, charter school leaders included; directors, principals, assistant principals, deans and coordinators who are employed at a charter school in California. The Entrepreneurial Orientation construct has been studied for over 40 years in the business sector, and has proven to be valid. It is presumed that incorporating the entrepreneurial orientation research into the field of education would benefit school leaders. One hundred and twenty-two participants completed the online survey for this study. The findings found that overall charter leaders associated with a charter management organization were more likely to exhibit proactiveness while charter leaders at stand-alone schools were more likely to exhibit autonomy. Risk taking is not a common characteristic of either of the charter leader groups. Charter leaders scored the lowest on risk taking of all the subscales. The study also identified that the more experience a charter leader had the less likely they were to be entrepreneurially oriented. Females who hold a doctorate degree have a higher level of entrepreneurial orientation and are more likely to be employed by a charter management organization.