Soft skills in action: Enhancing entrepreneurial growth through commitment and bricolage strategies

  • 14 Views
  • 16 Downloads

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Limited resources have always been critical for the sustainability, growth, and development of micro and small enterprises. Understanding how the available limited resources can be best utilized during adverse conditions seems essential. Accordingly, this study attempts to understand key factors enhancing entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) among micro and small entrepreneurs, leading to better growth aspirations (GA). The study gathered a sample of 280 micro and small entrepreneurs from December 2024 to January 2025 through online and in-person visits to their business locations. Data were analyzed with the help of partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The study has reported that commitment (COM) and soft skills development (SSD) are positively and significantly correlated with EB, and EB positively and significantly influences GA. Furthermore, EB mediates the relationship between COM, SSD, and GA. However, COM reveals no direct connection with GA, but SSD reports a positive connection with GA. The study provides theoretical and practical implications for policymakers, stakeholders, and academic researchers.

Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research, Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia [Grant No. KFU251164].

view full abstract hide full abstract
    • Figure 1. Study framework
    • Figure 2. Path coefficients of the structural model
    • Table 1. Descriptive statistics
    • Table 2. Internal reliability and validity of variables
    • Table 3. Item factor loading result
    • Table 4. Discriminant validity – HTMT
    • Table 5. Multicollinearity test
    • Table 6. Hypothesis testing results
    • Table A1. Questionnaire
    • Conceptualization
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Data curation
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Formal Analysis
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Funding acquisition
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Investigation
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Methodology
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Project administration
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Resources
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Software
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Supervision
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Validation
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Visualization
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Writing – original draft
      Ali Saleh Alshebami
    • Writing – review & editing
      Ali Saleh Alshebami