Private Financing and Human Resource Practices of Small Local and Foreign-Owned Cosmetological Businesses

Patient Rambe

doi:10.22610/jebs.v9i2.1657

Abstract

There exists a growing body of empirical studies that explore both the sources of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME) funding, and the quality of their human resource practices. However, there is paucity of literature that interrogates the impact of private funding of local and foreign SMMEs on the quality of human resources. Nevertheless, the wide recognition of the economic significance of SMMEs in emerging economies and the pivotal role that funding plays in the growth of such firms suggest that the nexus between SMME private funding and human resourcing is integral to this condition and growth. As a result, the current study examined the influence of private financing of local and foreign-owned hair salon SMMEs on the quality of their human resources, in an attempt to bridge the aforementioned research gap. The study, which drew on a quantitative approach, is based on a survey conducted on 150 South African and foreign immigrant-owned hair salon businesses. The findings suggest that the private financing structure was dominated by a combination of debt and equity financing, followed by debt financing, with equity financing as the least employed funding model. The study established the significant impact that access to private equity financing has on recruitment, selection and compensation. However, the level of private debt financing, attractiveness of interest rates for private debt financing and financial value of funding from private institutions (banks) do not have any impact on human resources management practices. A major observation from the results is that, some aspects of private financing impact negatively on human resources management albeit a small effect size, which somehow raises critical questions about the popular claims that financing, contributes positively to the quality of human resources of firms.

Highlights

IntroductionThe foreign and female-owned SMMEs encounter challenges such as poor access to financial assistance, credit and lack of collateral
Data analysis: Data was first entered into excel, cleaned to eliminate incomplete responses and correct errors and exported to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 for detailed analysis
Almost half of the hair salons surveyed with regard to the constitution of private funding, employed a combination of both debt and equity funding

Summary

Introduction

The foreign and female-owned SMMEs encounter challenges such as poor access to financial assistance, credit and lack of collateral Their business activities tend to fall predominantly in the informal sector, where engagement in value-adding activities, prospects of business growth, and transition to the mainstream economy is severely limited (Small Enterprise Development Agency, n.d.). The SMMEs’ more sophisticated HR practices require stable and consistent private funding, which is highly dependent on the sophistication of financial markets, the regulatory environment within which financial institutions operate and their ability to assess, manage and price the risks associated with loan products for SMMEs (Falkena et al, 2001)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion