Scholars often cite an entrepreneur’s actions and their skills, know-how and entrepreneurial competencies (ECs) as the most influential factors related to the accomplishment of important venturing outcomes. Yet the joint impact of these factors on venturing accomplishments is yet to be explored. This paper aims to fill this void by empirically developing and testing a mediation model exploring three EC mechanisms by which entrepreneurial actions—specifically discovery and exploitation activities—led to the achievement of specific venturing accomplishments—namely the time to breakeven and turnover achieved. Data were collected from 1150 South African entrepreneurs using an online survey. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Results show that entrepreneurial action (EA) significantly impacts on the efficiency and effectiveness of a venture through the development of three key ECs. Furthermore, the type of action taken by entrepreneurs during the entrepreneurial process differentially influences competency development and venturing accomplishments. More specifically, opportunity discovery and exploitation activities have a varying impact on EC development, as the engagement in these distinct venture-related activities provides unique feedback for the development of appropriate behavioral scripts for specific contexts which lead to distinct venturing accomplishments. This research offers novel insights into the newly emerging scholarly conviction that engagement in the entrepreneurial process itself may affect key entrepreneurial abilities and accomplishments. In so doing, this paper builds on, and has implications for, theories of competency development and venturing performance, as well as pedagogical interventions aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship.

中文翻译：

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创业行动与能力：探索成就成就的途径

学者们经常将企业家的行为及其技能，知识和企业家能力（EC）视为与完成重要创业成果相关的最有影响力的因素。这些因素对创业成就的共同影响尚待探讨。本文旨在通过经验开发和测试一种中介模型来填补这一空白，该中介模型探讨了三种EC机制，通过这些EC机制，企业家行为（特别是发现和开发活动）导致了特定的创业成就（即收支平衡时间和营业额）。使用在线调查从1150名南非企业家那里收集了数据。基于协方差的结构方程模型用于测试假设的模型。结果表明，企业家行为（EA）通过开发三个关键EC来显着影响企业的效率和效力。此外，企业家在创业过程中采取的行动类型会不同地影响能力发展和创业成就。更具体地说，机会发现和开发活动对EC的发展具有不同的影响，因为参与这些与风险相关的独特活动为特定环境下适当行为脚本的开发提供了独特的反馈，从而导致了独特的冒险成就。这项研究为新兴的学术信念提供了新颖的见解，即参与创业过程本身可能会影响关键的创业能力和成就。