TITLE:
Entrepreneurship Orientation And Firm’s Performance: An Evidence Of Selected Small And Medium Scale Enterprises In Southeast Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Agu Okoro Agu, Okocha, Ebere Rejoice Ph.D, Obiora-Okafo Chinedu Afamefune, Emerole Gideon A PhD, Dr Vitus Chinedu Ogbunuju
DOI: 10.5110/77. 1110 Page: 74-95 Vol: 19 Issue: 02 Year: 2024
ABSTRACT
Purpose – This paper addresses entrepreneurship orientation and firm’s performance: An evidence of selected small and medium scale enterprises in southeast Nigeria. It addresses the need to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are able to overcome the inherent challenges in their external environment actively and, thus, contribute to economic growth through internal management variables
Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a survey design, utilizing a sample of 369 SMEs covering the southeast in Nigeria. A questionnaire was used for data collection, and data analysis was conducted using simple linear regression with the aid of SPSS Version 22.00.
Findings – The study found that innovativeness , proactiveness, and Risk-taking propensity as dimensions of EO, have a significant effect on firms performance.
Practical implications – The paper provides practical implications for society, as managers and SMEs’ support agencies in emerging markets can be encouraged to focus more on internal management activities to support knowledge sharing within the organisation, given its relevance to improving performance, rather than focusing only on EO.
Originality/value – The study further strengthens and validates the self-determination (SD) theory and contributes to expanding knowledge on the relevance of internal management variables (knowledge sharing) in managing small and medium-scale enterprises. The study further advances theories regarding knowledge management’s role, as a function of internal management system in the EO–performance relationship, thus helping to close the research gap related to these relationships from an emerging-economy perspective.
Keywords:
Entrepreneurship Orientation, Risk-taking, Innovativeness and Proactiveness, Firms Performance
Received: 16 November 2023
Accepted: 22 January 2024
Published: 16 February 2024
