THE INFLUENCE OF THE LEADER AND LED RELATIONSHIP ON THE INTRAPRENEURSHIP ENVIRONMENT IN UK SMES

This study provides a contemporary insight into to the factors influencing the environment for intrapreneurship in the domain of UK Technology Small or Medium Size Enterprise (SME) as perceived by the company employees. We examine the barriers to intrapreneurship through a critical analysis of the extant literature leading to the identification of 5 hypotheses based on employee perception of the leader and led relationship in their company and the impact of such on the intrapreneurial environment. A conceptual model was developed to test this relationship. Data collection was conducted in 9 UK SMEs comprising162 participants. A Multivariate linear regression was used to test the model. Our findings reveal that the Leader/led relationship significantly influences 5 dimensions of the intrapreneurial environment disseminated throughout the extant literature; organizational boundaries, work discretion/autonomy, time availability, management support and rewards/reinforcement