The Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation Regarding the Mediating Role of Innovative Behaviour on the Job Performance of Mazandaran Agricultural Jahad Organization Employees

Innovation and changeing are becoming important sources of competitive advantage for organizations in today's rapidly changing to environment. In this situation, entrepreneurial orientation is very important for organizations in improving the job performance of employees and guaranteeing a source of sustainable growth. Organizations can ensure a sustainable competitive advantage by searching for pure opportunities through innovative activities, with an entrepreneurial orientation to risk-taking and continue to grow in this era of change. Therefore, there is a growing theoretical and practical interest in entrepreneurial orientation as a main factor to improve organizational performance and pursue growth. Therefor, the aim of the current research is to determine the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the job performance of the employees of Mazandaran Agricultural Jahad Organization, considering the mediating role of innovative behavior.

In terms of purpose, this research is applied, and in terms of data collection, it is a descriptive research and a branch of field studies, and in terms of the relationship between research variables, it is causal. The statistical population of the present study is 440 employees of Mazandaran Agricultural Jahad Organization. In this research, 214 people were selected as a sample using the simple random sampling method and the Karjesi-Morgan table. Research data were collected using standard questionnaires. In this research, the methods of "content validity" and "construct validity" were used by a group of experts to check the validity of the questionnaire. Its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was determined to measure entrepreneurial orientation (0.875), innovative behavior (0.899) and job performance (0.876).

The results of structural equation modeling showed that entrepreneurial orientation has a direct and significant effect on job performance and innovative behavior; Also, the positive and significant effect of innovative behavior on job performance was confirmed. Finally, the mediating role of innovative behavior, the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and job performance was confirmed.

Based on the findings of the research, thinking of measures to increase the innovative behavior and entrepreneurial activities of the employees of Mazandaran Agricultural Jahad Organization can lead to the improvement and increase of their job performance in this organization.