Purpose

This paper sought to investigate the conditional indirect relationship between managerial capabilities (MCs) and performance amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the sub-Saharan African economy. The study considered social capital (SC) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) as parallel mediating mechanisms and competitive intensity as boundary conditions within this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from SMEs (n = 206) in a sub-Saharan African nation. Bootstrapping (Process Macro) and hierarchical regression in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) were used to analyse the data.

Findings

The results demonstrate that whereas EO presents a mechanism through which MC influences performance, SC does not mediate the MC–performance relationship. The results further demonstrate that competitive intensity provides various interaction effects such that at high levels of competitive intensity the indirect effect of MC on performance through SC is weakened and strengthened through EO. The study, therefore, provides clarity to the intricate power of interactions of external factors with firm-specific resources.

Originality/value

The study demonstrates that varying combinations of resources influence performance differently. The authors consider the influence of these mediators simultaneously in attempts to extend theory by buttressing the bundling effect of MC on SC and EO in driving performance. They also highlight the impact of the boundary conditions created by competitive intensity (CI) on these mediated relationships.

中文翻译：

---

社会资本、创业导向和竞争强度在管理能力和绩效关系中的作用：来自新兴市场经济的证据

目的

本文旨在调查撒哈拉以南非洲经济中中小企业 (SME) 的管理能力 (MC) 与绩效之间的条件间接关系。该研究将社会资本 (SC) 和创业导向 (EO) 视为平行的中介机制，并将竞争强度视为这种关系中的边界条件。本文的目的就是解决这个问题。

设计/方法/途径

数据来自撒哈拉以南非洲国家的中小企业 (n = 206)。Bootstrapping (Process Macro) 和社会科学统计软件包 (SPSS) 中的层次回归用于分析数据。

发现

结果表明，尽管 EO 提供了 MC 影响性能的机制，但 SC 不调节 MC-性能关系。结果进一步表明，竞争强度提供了各种交互作用，因此在高水平的竞争强度下，MC 通过 SC 对绩效的间接影响被削弱并通过 EO 得到加强。因此，该研究阐明了外部因素与公司特定资源相互作用的复杂力量。

原创性/价值

该研究表明，不同的资源组合对绩效的影响不同。作者同时考虑了这些中介的影响，试图通过支持 MC 对驾驶性能中 SC 和 EO 的捆绑效应来扩展理论。他们还强调了竞争强度 (CI) 所产生的边界条件对这些中介关系的影响。