Does Government Support Policy Moderate the Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Bangladeshi SME Performance? A SEM Approach

SMEs are considered as a lubricator for the development of entrepreneurial skills and innovation.Moreover, it is expected that the SME sector leads the economy on a vibrant progression path all over theworld. In this regard, this study examines the role of government support (GSP) policy on entrepreneurialorientation (EO) and Bangladeshi Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) performance relationship.Nevertheless, the aspect of government support policy towards SMEs performance is somewhat neglectedin the field of social science specially in the management studies more especially in an emergingeconomy like Bangladesh. A self-administered questionnaire was used and a total of ۱۵۰ owners of SMEsin Bangladesh were selected randomly as respondents from the list of active SMEs in Chittagong,Gazipur, and Keranigonj area. The data were analysed by using SEM-AMOS package ۲۵.۰. This studyfinds that there is a significant direct effect of entrepreneurial orientation on SME performance. Inaddition, there is a significant effect of government support policy as a moderating variable in thisrelationship. At the corporate level, this study provides insights for the SMEs in making decisions relatedto EO, SME performance and GSP. The implications of the above findings are discussed.

Keywords:

Government support policy (GSP) , Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) , Small and MediumEnterprise (SME) , SME performance , Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) , Bangladesh