ENTREPRENEURIAL LEARNING AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE: TEST OF THE MEDIATING EFFECTS OF INNOVATIVENESS AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Although the relationship between entrepreneurial learning and the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been established in the literature, the mechanisms that explain this relationship remain unclear. To address this lacuna, the present study proposed innovativeness as a mediator between entrepreneurial learning and SMEs performance. Furthermore, in this study we employed a cross-sectional research design and tested a series of hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The sample comprised of 268 SMEs operating in Kano metropolis’s manufacturing sector in the northwest geo-political zone of Nigeria. Results showed that entrepreneurial learning was positively related to SMEs performance. Also, the results indicated that innovativeness plays a significant role in mediating the relationship between entrepreneurial learning and SMEs performance. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.