Moderating Effect of Business Monitoring on the Relationship Between Business Advisory Services and SMEs Performance in Nigeria

Abstract

Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is critical to the attainment of sustainable growth and development of any economy. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine the moderating effect of business monitoring on the relationship between business advisory services and performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. A cross sectional survey method was adopted using a structural questionnaire. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting a total sample size of 488 SMEs owner-managers as respondents. SPSS (version 25) was used in screening the data obtained. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the aid of Smart PLS version 3.0 software was applied for the test of hypotheses. This study has found that generally a significant relationship was found to exist between business advisory services and SME performance. The results of this investigation show that the moderating effect of business monitoring explains a negative insignificant variance in the relationship between business advisory services and SME performance. Despite the negative insignificant moderated effect, this study recommended that SMEs owner-managers and business organizations in general should engage effective business advisory services so that they would constantly improve strategic business practices such as market research and development for product innovation.