SMEs’ Survival Apprehension from the University Students’ Perspectives in China

Abstract

China registered more than 34 million SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in 2018; unfortunately, a great proportion of them (50%) vanishes in 3 years. We explored perceived causes and contours of SMEs insolvency from the Chinese students’ perspectives. Using multiple institutional logic, we aimed to identify internal and external primers of students’ judgement about Chinese SMEs insolvency. After interviewing 680 participants over several years, we coded the textual data in three steps: axial coding of the meaning-making unit, thematic coding to integrate sub-unities into 29 categories, and theoretical coding in the extant literature on the SMEs’ insolvency. Our findings divide the responses into two streams: internal versus external factors, and technical versus normative logic. Our study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, we identified primers of attention to the insolvency of SMEs in China. Second, we introduced sixteen potential variables for survey research. Third, the perceived causes of insolvency of SMEs in China highlights the students’ apprehension about entrepreneurship and career development in SMEs. We discuss implications for research and practice in the broader world.