Understanding and Measuring Autonomy: An Entrepreneurial Orientation Perspective

Autonomy is an important component of an entrepreneurial orientation (EO), but most studies that assess the EO construct do not include autonomy measures. This article first addresses the theoretical relevance of autonomy as an element of firm–level entrepreneurial behavior. After a review of existing autonomy measures, it then proposes scale items to test the autonomy dimension of EO. Finally, it reports the results of two studies of the proposed autonomy scale and addresses implications for future EO–related autonomy research.