Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of SMES in Nigeria. The roles of managerial experience and network ties.

Mansi, Nera Ebenezer (2021) Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of SMES in Nigeria. The roles of managerial experience and network ties. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Researchers have argued that the results of the EO-performance relationship are context specific and not universal. They emphasize that the results are mixed and require further investigations to get context specific results in different economies to clarify and address inconclusive arguments. Again, the performance implication of EO is shown to be contingent on several factors, such as the firm network ties and manager’s characteristics, especially in developing countries. It would therefore be very necessary to ascertain the intervening factors influencing the EO-performance relationship in the Nigerian context. Drawing from the resource-based view (RBV) and the resource dependency theory, this research project investigated the moderating and mediating roles of managerial experiences and network ties on the relationship between EO and firm performance. The study applied the structural equation modelling techniques to analyse survey data from Nigeria between 2019-2020 and found that the performance effect of innovativeness and proactiveness is positively significant, while that of risk-taking is insignificant after introducing control variables, such as firm age, firm size, and the industry effect. This study further shows a positive mediating effect of business network ties on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance. However, the study found that political network ties do not mediate the EO-performance relationship. These findings give unique insight and useful knowledge on how business network ties create optimum benefits in enhancing firm performance in the Nigerian context. Again, this study advances empirical knowledge in the Nigerian context by confirming that managerial experience negatively influences the relationship between innovativeness and firm performance. Finally, the current study expands the EO literature by providing empirical evidence supporting the general assumption that EO positively relates to firm performance and that this finding is consistent across groups (e.g., gender and ownership status). This project contributes empirically to the extant literature in different ways, especially the unique insights and novelty of its findings in Nigeria.