ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of middle-level managers on the internal factors that may influence or condition their entrepreneurial behavior in organizations. The study develops and tests the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument that allows to identify the internal conditions that influence the participation of middle-level management in the activities of organizational entrepreneurship. The sample consists of 66 middle-level managers with functions in nonfinancial companies with activity in Portugal. In the data analysis, descriptive analysis and statistical inference techniques were used. Intrapreneurship is a means by which companies can develop the capacity of their employees to innovate. Middle-level managers present positive levels of perception regarding the internal environment of the organization and in the discretion at work, where the results are more positive. The study suggests that intrapreneurship has effects on entrepreneurship in organizations. This is useful to understand the behaviors of organizations toward their entrepreneurial orientations and for managers of the middle-level level in order to obtain support for their decisions. The reduced number of data obtained limits the range and depth of the theme exploration. The corporate entrepreneurship assessment instrument (CEAI) instrument is reliable. However, it was not possible to validate for the Portuguese population due to the low number of responses. This emphasizes the importance of future research with the CEAI. This study contributes to a greater understanding of the advantages of organizations having an entrepreneurial culture as a factor to increase their competitiveness.
