Résumé
Determinants of small-firm performance represent a central topic in the entrepreneurship literature. Addressing associations among personal traits, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and small-firm performance, we develop a model to examine how an entrepreneur’s creativity, self-efficacy, and EO affect small-firm performance. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 256 French small-firm owners. The findings show that self-efficacy and EO are positively and directly associated with firm performance, whereas creativity and firm performance are fully mediated by EO. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications.