Accounting for the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on SMEs’ job creation capabilities: A social capital and self‐determination perspective

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Victoria A. Ademilua,Taiwo T. Lasisi,Oluwatobi A. Ogunmokun,Juliet E. Ikhide
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2413

ACADEMIC PAPER

Accounting for the effects of entrepreneurial orientation

on SMEs’job creation capabilities: A social capital and

self-determination perspective

Victoria A. Ademilua

1

| Taiwo T. Lasisi

2,3

| Oluwatobi A. Ogunmokun

2

|

Juliet E. Ikhide

2

1

Department of Administration, Federal

Cooperative College, Ibadan, Nigeria

2

Department of Tourism Management, Eastern

Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Turkey

3

Department of Management, South Ural

State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia

Correspondence

Taiwo T. Lasisi, Department of Management,

South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk,

Russia

Email: taiwo.lasisi@emu.edu.tr

Hinged on the tenets of both social capital and self-determination theories, this study

is designed to unravel the impact of entrepreneurial orientation of cooperative socie-

ties in job creation and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance.

Research into cooperative societies and entrepreneurial orientation in SMEs is

burgeoning, yet our understanding of the mechanism of operation or impact between

cooperative membership and performance remains unclear. Given the lack of empiri-

cal research on the role of cooperative society's membership and entrepreneurial ori-

entation on performance in the SMEs, especially in an African context, the current

study addresses the relationships between cooperative society, entrepreneurial ori-

entation, job creation, and business performance in the Nigerian SMEs. Data were

generated from 500 Nigerian businesses and the results were analyzed using hierar-

chical multiple regression. Results confirm the study hypotheses. Implications for

management are discussed, along with suggestions for further research.

1|INTRODUCTION

Cooperative societies are considered as an association of people who

come together voluntarily to advance their monetary advantages,

through joint effort, and common offer of assistance (Aribaba,

Ahmodu, & Yusuf, 2018). The concept of a cooperative society was

developed for the purpose of harnessing the power of a group to the

advantage of its individual members. Individuals meet and pull their

assets together in cooperatives, in order to use them in the most ideal

way to jointly realize some basic advantage. Small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) are independent, non-subsidiary businesses

that hire less than a certain number of employees. They usually do

not involve huge initial investments in sectors like snacks and non-

alcoholic beverage bars, beauty salons, agriculture, full-service

restaurants, child day-care services, etc. At the heart of national

socioeconomic growth is the significant contribution of small- and

medium-scale enterprises (Etuk, Etuk, & Baghebo, 2014). For develop-

ing nations, in particular, the support and survival of SMEs is the

lifeline of economic growth (Asiedu, Shortland, Nawar, Jackson,

& Baker, 2019). One of the ways SMEs contribute to economic

growth is through job creation (Uwitonze, 2016).

The projection by the World Bank in 2014 was that 122 million

different employment opportunities would be created by the year

2020 in Africa in order to absorbits growing population and lower the

unemployment rate(World Bank Group, 2015). Most of these jobs are

expected to come from SMEs because they account for more than

95% of trade in Africa(Agbola & Amoah, 2019). Several scholarlyworks

have studied SMEsas the principal source of job creationat the macro-

economic level,and one of the key performance indexesof SMEs is job

creation (Uwitonze, 2016). Cooperatives do not only contribute to SME

development but are small-scale businesses themselves. In Nigeria,

Garandi and Hassan (2020) describe cooperatives as a network of

SMEs. They are renowned supporters in the founding and growth of

SMEs via their rolein small-scale industrialization; raising capital; entre-

preneurshippromotion; developing smallholder agriculture;provision of

infrastructural facilities (Ademilua, 2017). Cooperative has likewise

been described as a remedy to majority of the difficulties SMEs are

faced with (Nwankwo,Ewuim, & Asoya, 2012).

Received: 22 June 2020 Revised: 10 August 2020 Accepted: 15 August 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2413

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https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2413