Informal sector participation has been described as a trap associated withimpoverishment (Cassim, 1982); as the survivalist responses of marginalised personswith no alternatives (Habib, 2005); yet it has also been described as potentiallydynamic (House, 1984). The former conceptions prescribe an identity to informalsector participants, with little consideration given to individual potential andindividual action as means to escape impoverishment and a survivalist condition.An entrepreneurial orientation is associated with increased earnings in certainenvironments according to Lumpkin and Dess (1996), a process orientation that canbe learned. Research testing the relationship between entrepreneurship andperformance has been problematic due to the different definitions offered by differententrepreneurship scholars (Cunningham and Lischeron, 1991; Lumpkin and Dess,1996). In this context, entrepreneurial orientation as a construct was utilised toovercome these challenges. Entrepreneurial orientation or certain of its dimensionshave been associated with positive effects related to performance (Chow, 2006;Coulthard, 2007; De Clerq and Ruis, 2007; Jantunen, Puumalainen, Saarenketo, andKylaheiko, 2005) or with negative relationships (Naldi, Nordqvist, Sjőberg andWiklund, 2007).Innovativeness, competitive aggressiveness, risk taking propensity, autonomy andproactiveness, the dimensions of an entrepreneurial orientation (Lumpkin and Dess,1996), and the effects of certain contextual factors were tested as to their associationswith entrepreneurial performance. Entrepreneurial performance was defined in thiscontext as a construct comprising earnings and continuance satisfaction. In terms ofentrepreneurial performance, the contention of Lumpkin and Dess (1996) that anentrepreneurial orientation is associated with learning: the how of entrepreneurship, orthe learnable process conception of Stevenson and Jarillo (1990), was also tested byinvestigating contextual factors and how they shaped an entrepreneurial orientationand contributed to entrepreneurial performance.iiIn this context a quantitative investigation of informal sector street traders andproviders of street-side services was undertaken using a survey format. The specificrelationships influencing entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial performancewere investigated. Results contested assumptions that prescribed a theoreticallypermanent and immutable survivalist orientation to certain informal participants inthat education and learning related factors were found to be associated withentrepreneurial orientation and increased earnings. Entrepreneurial orientation wasfound to be associated with increased earnings along the dimension of risk takingpropensity, and higher levels of autonomy were found to be associated withcontinuance satisfaction. The relationships between entrepreneurial and contextualfactors were investigated and insights developed regarding potential street traderupliftment.
