Abstract
Purpose The birth and survival rate of youth-owned businesses has been a major concern for policymakers, industry and academics alike. Learning and innovation play important roles and more critical is the mediating factors and how it impacts the enterprise competitiveness of youth-owned businesses and hence worth studying. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of mediating factors such as government support, informal network society and external knowledge infrastructure on learning and innovation in youth-owned small businesses in Lagos, Nigeria, from a cross-sectional perspective. Design/methodology/approach Leveraging the sectoral system of innovation theory, we use a primary research method and data obtained from a structured questionnaire administered among a sample of 1,000 registered youth-owned small businesses in Lagos, while 30 in-depth interviews were also conducted. The exploratory factor analysis was used for data examination. Findings The findings show that even though government support, informal network society and external knowledge all have a positive relationship with learning and innovation in youth-owned small businesses, government support has the most impactful impact. The informal network society via a trade association, professional network and social media are also critical in knowledge transfer in youth-owned businesses. Originality/value The significance of learning and innovation is more important as many small businesses do not have the privilege of standard human resource management (HRM) systems. This paper looks at the mediating factors affecting the introduction of innovative practices in youth-owned and managed small businesses and how productivity is enabled in a developing county context.
Highlights
At present, Africa is at the center of global discussions
The findings show that even though government support, informal network society and external knowledge all have a positive relationship with learning and innovation in youth-owned small businesses, government support has the most impactful impact
The informal network society via a trade association, professional network and social media are critical in knowledge transfer in youth-owned businesses
Summary
Africa is at the center of global discussions It is the world’s youngest continent with an average age of 19 years and an estimated fertility rate of 4.66 (see Worldometer). (Fox et al, 2016; Yeboah and Jayne, 2018) Several young Africans find solace in creating own-small businesses, whether in the formal or informal settings, leveraging limited or inexperienced human resource management (HRM) capabilities. These young Africans have confidence in their abilities to take up the entrepreneurial challenge irrespective of the chosen settings’ prevailing circumstances (Madzivhandila and Dlamini, 2015; Tony, 2016)
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