E-Commerce and SME Performance: The Moderating Influence of Entrepreneurial Competencies

Arsalan Hussain, Minhas Akbar, Arfan Shahzad, Petra Poulova, Ahsan Akbar and Rohail Hassan
Additional contact information
Arsalan Hussain: College of Business Management, Institute of Business Management, Karachi 75190, Pakistan
Minhas Akbar: Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Sahiwal Campus, Sahiwal 57000, Pakistan
Arfan Shahzad: Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business (OYAGSB), Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia
Petra Poulova: Department of Informatics and Quantitative Methods, Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, 50003 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
Ahsan Akbar: Department of Informatics and Quantitative Methods, Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, 50003 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Administrative Sciences, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: This research aims to examine the mediating role of the use of the e-commerce and moderating influence of entrepreneurial competencies on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study data were collected via a structured questionnaire comprised of a seven-point Likert scale from practitioners serving at the top and middle-level positions in Pakistani SMEs. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was applied on 250 useable returned questionnaires. The results showed that the association between the use of e-commerce and firm performance is positively significant. Moreover, the use of e-commerce mediates the positive association between technological readiness, adoption cost, and firm performance. However, the moderating role of entrepreneurial competencies does not appear as significant between the use of e-commerce and manufacturing SMEs’ performance. The present study is the first to explore entrepreneurial competencies as a moderator between e-commerce adoption and firm performance. The empirical outcomes of this research provide useful theoretical and practical implications for the managers and practitioners to understand the underlying factors for the successful implementation of e-commerce in the SME sector to enhance firm performance.

Keywords: e-commerce; entrepreneurial competencies; small and medium enterprises; technological readiness; adoption cost; resource-based view; diffusion of innovation; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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