Should I Stay or Should I Grow? - a comparative case study between entrepreneurial growth intentions in Singapore and Stockholm

Sammanfattning: Entrepreneurship is often considered a key driver of economic and social progress, resulting in new venture growth becoming one of the most widely studied topics within entrepreneurship research. Such research has revealed different growth intentions among entrepreneurs, determined by the decision-making of the individual. Since entrepreneurs do not act in isolation but in an interaction with his or her contextual setting, external influences must be studied to fully understand these diverging entrepreneurial growth intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the growth intentions of entrepreneurs in different contextual settings, exploring how and why these may differ depending on personal and environmental influences. A comparative case study between Singapore and Stockholm was thus carried out using pilot, main and post interviews with a total of 24 participants. The findings show that the Singapore sample group is more influenced by the personal and environmental factors of the contextual setting, in comparison to the Stockholm sample group. This results in the Singapore sample group having an externally-driven approach to growth intentions and the Stockholm sample group having an internally-driven approach to growth intentions. These results enhance the research field of entrepreneurial growth, acknowledging the entrepreneur as a social being who is influenced by his or her contextual setting. Further, the study contributes to practitioners within entrepreneurial ecosystems, primarily entrepreneurs who should be aware of external influences and ensure that their decisions are not just a reflection of these but benefit the firm.