Entrepreneurial orientation, experience, and opportunity identification of smallholder farmers

Although previous studies on agricultural entrepreneurship have paid attention to the role of farmers’ knowledge in identifying opportunities, the findings remain inconclusive in explaining how entrepreneurial-oriented smallholder farmers utilize knowledge integrated with their experience to identify opportunities coming from business environmental changes. This paper investigates the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationships between experience (in linking to modern markets, suppliers, and supporting organizations) and opportunity identification of vegetable farmers in West Java, Indonesia. The data obtained from a survey of 302 vegetable farmers in West Java, Indonesia. The results of partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis demonstrate that entrepreneurial orientation mediates the relationships between farmers’ experience (in linking to modern markets and supporting organizations) and opportunity identification. These findings confirm that being entrepreneurial oriented enables smallholder farmers to benefit from environmental changes by using their experience to identify opportunities. This paper contributes to the literature of agricultural entrepreneurship by addressing the mechanisms enabling smallholder farmers to identify opportunities beyond their existing farm businesses.