NEW RESEARCH | How to get more intrapreneurs in your company

The dream for entrepreneurs is to have creative employees who contribute to a competitive business. But how do you create a business environment to foster it? New research provides clues along the way.

Intrapreneur is a relatively new concept and is a term for creative and innovative employees. Those who, with their skills, drive and business acumen, help create a competitive company. An intrapreneur is often described as a dreamer – a “doer” who runs projects to make a profitable reality of their ideas. Jeanette Engzell, at Uppsala University, broadens the picture of an intrapreneur in her doctoral thesis by taking into account the business environment. She identifies three types of intrapreneurs.

The persistent: They work in a corporate environment where time is scarce and workloads are high. There is rarely any time to work on new ideas. But there is a lot of room to decide on their working day and they are rewarded for extra good performance. They are what Engzell calls an A-player who does not give up in adversity.

The neglected: They work in a company where there is plenty of time to perform their tasks but the degree of autonomy in their work is low. The neglected intrapreneur feels unappreciated by his/her employer and is rarely rewarded for exceptional performance. However, they do not perform primarily to get the attention of their boss. Instead, there is a strong internal motivation to do an extra good job.

The privileged: At work there is plenty of time to perform their tasks, they have a lot of freedom to determine their working day and are always recognized and rewarded for good results. The privileged are satisfied with the company environment and enjoy their work.

– The business environment has a major impact on intrapreneurship. Companies can actively create conditions internally that influence employees’ intentions to create new products and services, says Jeanette Engzell, Uppsala University.

Five things to focus on if you want more intrapreneurs in your company:

– Allow your employees to have a high degree of personal autonomy during the working day. Don’t control them.
– Recognize and reward employees for exceptional performance at work.
– Encourage risk-taking and experimentation.
– Show management support for intrapreneurship.
– Highlight role models. Intrapreneurship is contagious.

Jeanette Engzell’s research also shows that women’s and men’s intrapreneurship thrive in different ways.

– A competitive corporate culture favors male intrapreneurs, while a corporate culture with visible intrapreneurial role models favors both male and female intrapreneurs. But especially female ones, says Engzell.

Contact jeanette.engzell@fek.uu.se

More about the thesis
Jeanette Engzell will defend her thesis on November 25, 2021 at 13.15. The thesis is entitled Intrapreneurship as an Engine of Corporate Renewal: Exploring the Intrapreneur and How Corporate Conditions Influence Intrapreneurial Behavior and can be downloaded as a PDF. Follow the defense via Zoom.