Intrapreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship in state-owned enterprises: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Objective: The article aims to synthesise and appraise the evidence on intrapreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship in state-owned enterprises and to explain how state ownership conditions entrepreneurial activity inside these firms.

Research Design & Methods: The study applied the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol and reports the selection with a PRISMA 2020 flow diagram. OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar and the Directory of Open Access Journals were searched for journal articles published between 2000 and September 2026, and 45 of the 307 records retrieved, covering 42 studies, met the criteria. The reports were coded with the theory, context, characteristics and methodology framework and appraised with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.

Findings: The evidence has grown quickly since 2020, is concentrated in China and Indonesia and relies mainly on single-informant surveys, with the 23 empirical reports read in full meeting on average 2.1 of five quality criteria. Autonomy, competition, supportive governance, an entrepreneurial climate and dynamic capabilities were associated with entrepreneurial activity. The evidence on ownership conflicts, as four reports linked state ownership to weaker activity and three linked it to stronger returns.

Implications & Recommendations: Boards of state-owned enterprises and ownership ministries can support intrapreneurship by widening managerial decision rights, rewarding initiative and tolerating well-managed failure. Future studies should use multilevel, longitudinal and quasi-experimental designs and measure public value outcomes.

Contribution & Value Added: The review brings individual intrapreneurship and firm-level corporate entrepreneurship in state-owned enterprises together and appraises the quality of the evidence behind them. It shows that state ownership matters mainly through the internal conditions it creates and offers a framework and research agenda for the field

                                             Contribution & Value Added: The review brings individual intrapreneurship and firm-level corporate entrepreneurship                                               in state-owned enterprises together and appraises the quality of the evidence behind them. It shows that state ownership                                                 matters mainly through the internal conditions it creates and offers a framework and research agenda for the field