The Impact of Entrepreneurial Characteristics on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Bauchi State (2017-2020)

Abstract

Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) play a great role in the economic growth and development. Despite the roles of SMEs, their performance is determined by entrepreneurial characteristics. While empirical studies on impact of entrepreneurial characteristics with SMEs performance using Nigerian data exist, none of the studies combine achievement, motivation, locus of control, need for dominance, passion for work and risk taking/aversion determinants and their impact on SME performance. Thus, gaps in the literature exist in term of both depth of variables coverage, geographically and period of analysis in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of entrepreneurial characteristics on SMEs performance in Bauchi state from 2017-2020. The research design selected for this study was the survey design and data were collected through questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS. The formulated hypotheses were tested through the use of simple regression. Contingency management theory was employed in the study and viewed Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) management from the perspective of entrepreneurial characteristic. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial characteristics have significant positive impact on SMEs’ performance in Bauchi State. It means that SME owner-managers in Bauchi state possessed highly entrepreneurial characteristics such as achievement motivation, locus of control, need for dominance, passion for work and risk taking/aversion This indicates that the more an owner-manager of SMEs possesses entrepreneurial characteristics, the higher his/her SME will perform in the areas of sales growth, customer satisfaction and profit growth. The study recommends that there is a need for combined efforts between governments at all levels and NGOs towards management training and development programmes for SMEs’ owner-managers. Further studies should therefore concentrate much on how owner-managers of SMEs can improve performance using different constructs other than entrepreneurial characteristics as discussed in this research work.