Entrepreneurial Competency, Financial Literacy, and Sustainable Performance—Examining the Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Resilience among Saudi Entrepreneurs

Abdullah Hamoud Ali Seraj, Syed Ali Fazal () and Ali Saleh Alshebami ()
Additional contact information
Abdullah Hamoud Ali Seraj: The Saudi Investment Bank Chair for Investment Awareness Studies, the Deanship of Scientific Research, the Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Syed Ali Fazal: UKM-Graduate School of Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia
Ali Saleh Alshebami: The Saudi Investment Bank Chair for Investment Awareness Studies, the Deanship of Scientific Research, the Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-17

Abstract: This paper investigated the influence of entrepreneurial competency and financial literacy on sustainable small enterprise performance. We simultaneously investigated the mediating role of entrepreneurial resilience on the association between competence and financial literacy with sustainable business performance. We used a quantitative method for collecting data from 220 small business entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire. The collected data were analysed with the help of PLS-SEM. The results reveal that financial literacy significantly positively affects entrepreneurial competency and resilience. Entrepreneurial competency has a significant positive effect on Saudi SMEs’ entrepreneurial resilience and sustainable performance. Finally, entrepreneurial resilience was simultaneously found to have a considerable impact on sustainable performance while mediating the effect of financial literacy and competency on sustainable performance across Saudi SMEs. In line with Saudi Vision 2030, with its profound focus on entrepreneurship and developing a financially independent entrepreneurial community, this research contributes to creating economic opportunities for local entrepreneurs managing small enterprises. Apart from extending the body of knowledge, this research can support policymakers in formulating relevant strategies to encourage SMEs that have been worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic to perform sustainably. Several other implications for financial institutions and entrepreneurs have also been drawn.

Keywords: sustainability performance; entrepreneurial resilience; competency; financial literacy; Saudi Arabia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10689/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10689/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10689-:d:899421

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().