Innovativeness, firm performance and managers’ educational level: A study of selected SMEs in Yobe State, Nigeria

Abstract

The objectives of the study are two folds: to investigates the relationship between innovativeness and firm performance, and to moderate such relationship with educational level of managers. In attempt to justify the effect of innovativeness on SMEs performance, structured questionnaire in a 5-point Likert Scale was applied in collecting data. Total of 259 respondents were drawn as sample. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25 version for descriptive statistics, normality and common method variance. Analyses of measurement model for internal consistency, discriminant validity, and composite reliability were conducted in PLS 3. Hypotheses of the study were confirmed by applying (SEM) technique in PLS-SEM. The current study moreover, indicates that managers’ educational level moderates’ relationship between innovativeness and firm performance. The study declares that educational level of managers affect relationship between innovativeness and performance of SMEs in Nigeria. Thus, the findings could be used by government to develop policy decision on loan advances to be based on one’s level of education. Prior to this study, there has been no study that tries to blend managers’ own level of education with innovativeness and firm performance with a view to assessing its moderating effect, this study fills this gap.