Research on entrepreneurship and especially corporate entrepreneurship has been fragmented and lacks accepted definitions. This study develops an objective definition of corporate entrepreneurship from two areas of entrepreneurial research. Using a statewide sample of savings and loans, this research classifies organizations as entrepreneurial and conservative and empirically tests hypotheses relating to the notion of corporate entrepreneurship. MANOCOVA analysis, controlling for size, supported the hypotheses that in entrepreneurial organizations, (a) decision making is more participative, (b) decision making relies more on specialized personnel, (c) performance objectives are developed from shared participation, and (d) managers will not be penalized if risky projects fail. It was not found that managers of entrepreneurial organizations rely less on integration processes to assist in implementing decisions.
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