International Journal of Regional Development issn 2373-9851 2018

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International Journal of Regional Development 
ISSN 2373-9851 
2018
 
41 
Societal, Culture and Entrepreneurial Opportunities 
Exploitation of New Venture Activities: Mediating Role 
of Proactiveness 
Wang Xuhui 
Professor and Associate Dean in School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of 
Finance and Economics, Dalian, China 
Jia Liu
Professor, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China 
Frida Pacho 
PhD student, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China 
E-mail: [e-mail] 
 
Received: July 20, 2018 Accepted: September 8, 2018 Published: October 11, 2018 
doi:10.5296/ijrd.v5i2.13762 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijrd.v5i2.13762
 
 
Abstract 
An unanswered question is concerned with the influence of culture of individualism, power 
distance and uncertainty avoidance in entrepreneurs’ opportunity exploitation of new venture 
activities in developing economies in the context of societal level. Based on the sample of 
130 individual entrepreneurs in Tanzania, this paper analyses how culture of individualism, 
uncertainty avoidance and power distance influence entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation 
of new venture activities on societal level. The results indicated that the culture of 
individualism contributes highly on entrepreneurs’ opportunity exploitation of new venture 
activities. The results of uncertainty avoidance imply that the greater the uncertainty 
avoidance, the less the entrepreneurs’ chance to exploit opportunities of new venture 
activities. The proactive behaviour that was used as a mediator variable also contributes to the 
relationship between individualism, uncertainty avoidance and entrepreneurs’ opportunity 
exploitation of new venture activities. The study has made a contribution to the developing 
countries literature by focusing on individual entrepreneurs on societal level.