| Keywords [eng] |
Intrapreneurship, Practice Theory, Small Business Operations, IT Sector, Intrapreneurystė, Praktikų teorija, Mažų įmonių operacijos, IT sektorius |
| Abstract [eng] |
IT (Information Technology) sector small businesses are often in the spotlight for their agile, adaptable and dynamic characteristics. However, this size-related advantage comes with drawbacks, as it also accompanies limited resources, informal structures and improvised operational practices, which can hinder their business process management. While intrapreneurship has typically been associated with formal structures and guidelines in larger organizations, IT sector small businesses lack such structures, making their intrapreneuring practices contextually distinct. This makes available research on intrapreneuring hard to be transferable to IT sector small business contexts as within the academy there is a significant gap about studies of intrapreneuring as a practice employed by teams in such organizations. This Master thesis investigates how intrapreneuring teams in IT sector small businesses engage in business process management practices on both operational and strategic levels, with the aim of understanding how these processes emerge in practice and how they can be improved. Grounded in Practice Theory, the study adopts a practice-based lens to examine intrapreneuring as a set of everyday activities shaped by material, relational, and processual arrangements. The research is guided by four objectives: (1) identifying intrapreneuring practices at strategic and operational levels, (2) analyzing the barriers and challenges faced by intrapreneuring teams, (3) constructing a conceptual framework illustrating intrapreneuring as practice, and (4) offering practice-based recommendations for improving business process management in IT sector small businesses. The empirical research was conducted across selected IT sector small businesses within the European Union. Primary data was collected through twenty semi-structured interviews with professionals actively engaged in intrapreneuring work. The interviews were analyzed using an abductive coding approach and thematic analysis supported by MAXQDA. This qualitative methodology enabled an in-depth exploration of how intrapreneuring practices are enacted, sustained, and translated into organizational outcomes in small business settings. The findings reveal that intrapreneuring in IT sector small businesses is largely driven by informal coordination, improvisation, and close human interaction, with strategic outcomes often emerging from everyday team-level practices rather than from formal planning processes. At the same time, structural constraints, resource limitations, and unclear role boundaries create persistent challenges for sustaining intrapreneuring efforts. The thesis concludes by presenting a practice-based theoretical model and actionable recommendations aimed at supporting more coherent and effective business process management in IT sector small businesses. |
