Mediating and moderating effects of social networks and business environment on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable competitive advantage among small and medium Malaysian firms in Cambodia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study seeks to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) with social networks (SNs) as a mediator and the business environment (BE) as a moderator among Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in Cambodia. Using a snowballing sampling methodology, the study gathered data from 103 SMEs to undertake the moderation-mediation analysis. The findings show that SN mediates and BE moderates the association between EO and SCA, demonstrating that entrepreneurs focus on leveraging external resources to compete in the marketplace, especially when embedded in a highly dynamic but hostile BE. The evidence shows that a profound understanding of small business internationalisation and operational factors can assist home and host governments to support better the relocation and functioning of SMEs abroad.