Effect of Socio-Economic and Cultural Factors on the Performance of Women-Owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) In North-Central Nigeria (Published)
This study examined the relationships between socio-economic and cultural factors, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and business performance among women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in North-Central Nigeria. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 529 women entrepreneurs across seven administrative units between March and July 2025, achieving an 88.2% response rate. The study employed descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using SPSS version 28.0 and SmartPLS 4.0 to test four hypotheses examining direct and mediation effects. Results revealed that social factors have no significant direct effect on women SMEs’ growth (β = -0.017, p = 0.775), while both economic factors (β = 0.146, p = 0.033) and cultural factors (β = 0.154, p = 0.025) demonstrate significant positive direct effects. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy serves as a significant mediator in all relationships: complete mediation for social factors (β = 0.208, p < 0.000) and partial mediation for both economic (β = 0.333, p < 0.000) and cultural factors (β = 0.258, p < 0.000). These findings align with Social Cognitive Theory, highlighting entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a critical psychological mechanism that transforms environmental conditions into business success. The study recommends that entrepreneurship support programs should prioritise confidence-building interventions alongside environmental improvements to maximise women’s entrepreneurial performance in Nigeria’s challenging business landscape.
Keywords: Cultural Factors, Small and Medium-Enterprises (SMEs), economic factors, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, performance of women's SMEs, social factors
Small Business and Start-Up Capital: Grilling the Flora and Configuration of the Financial Capital for a Viable Small Business (Published)
The term finance or financing is comprehensively stared as a kernel and a ‘key’ gizmo that is obligatory for the evolution and functionality of any enterprise. Accessing the appropriate kind of financing in accord to the enterprise’s need is more essential for its survival. However, access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has always been difficult to owners and also, a serious apprehension especially among researchers. Meanwhile, it is on the note that very many small business sector offer support to Nigerian economy by providing employment opportunity to most citizens who in turn improves standard of living. But, in spite of this importance, most of these small businesses collapse within the first five years of operation yet the agencies established by Nigerian Government to offer support to this sector are confronted with difficulties in accessing the finance from financial institutes. Keeping in view the importance of SMEs, this paper grilling the flora and configuration of the financial capital for viable small business is to widen the understanding on the existing financing opportunities available to SMEs and entrepreneurs.
Keywords: Finance, Market, Small and Medium-Enterprises (SMEs), start-up capital
THE EFFECT OF CORRUPTION ON SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES: PERSPECTIVE FROM A DEVELOPING COUNTRY (Published)
This paper investigates the effect of corruption on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Specifically it looks at the relationship between corruption and SMEs performance including price, profit, growth, productivity, wages and employment. Researches on the effect of corruption on SMEs in developing countries are scarce. Therefore, there is a value in investigating the effect of corruption on SMEs. As a result, this paper filled a research gap in the study of SMEs.In order to achieve the purpose of the study, qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. The qualitative research was carried out using semi-structured interviews. Alternatively, the quantitative method was conducted using questionnaires as the principal survey instrument complemented by personal interviews. The data for the study was collected using mainly 340 questionnaires. The sampling design for the survey was based on stratified random sampling. The stratification was by region and business sector.The results from this study indicated that corruption is positively related with price. As predicted, corruption is negatively associated with growth, productivity and employment. But it shows no significant statistical relationship with wages and profit. In addition, the descriptive survey analysis reveals that corruption reduced SMEs owner/managers access to finance. Another interesting finding was that a large number of the respondents perceived corruption as a practice that leads to extortion by government officials. This study contributes to knowledge by providing insights on the effect of corruption on SMEs performance in Sierra Leone. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is one of the few studies ever done in a developing country context.
Keywords: Corruption, Sierra Leone, Small and Medium-Enterprises (SMEs)
CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS ENCOUNTERED BY THE SMES OWNERS IN MUSCAT (Published)
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) plays a decisive role in any developing economy. In Oman about 60 percent of the SMEs are the source of employment. Although there is an increase in the SMEs but there is also innumerable challenges associated with the growth, this research paper explores the specific challenges encountered by the SME owners. In this study simple random sampling was adopted with the data sample size of 35 SME owners and the data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire. The data was further analyzed by using descriptive statistics and ANOVA and represented through tables. It was found that the majority of SMEs face challenges in the form of policy and administrative challenges followed by the marketing and financial issues. It is suggested that the SMEs directorate should form a committee to prepare the SME framework, the rules and regulations associated towards that to avoid cumbersome policies and complexities for those who would prefer registering the business legally.
Keywords: Challenges, Directorates, Framework, Small and Medium-Enterprises (SMEs)