DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS GROWTH OF SMES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between digital entrepreneurship and sustainable business growth of SMEs in Nigeria. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the dimensions of digital entrepreneurship (website services, email services and social media services) and measures of sustainable business growth (customer satisfaction, market share growth and profitability growth). Three (3) research questions and hypotheses were developed to address the objectives of the study. The study adopted the positivist research philosophy and cross-sectional survey research design. The population of this study consisted of all the SMEs in the Information and Technology (IT) sector in South-South Nigeria. The exact number of SMEs in the IT sector is unknown as there are no current statistics to show the exact population of SMEs in the IT sector in South-South Nigeria. Therefore, the Cochran’s formula was applied to arrive at a sample size of 384 digital entrepreneurs. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed statistically using Spearman rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rho) which helped to test the hypotheses. The bivariate analysis was performed with the aid of the SPSS version 24.0. The findings revealed that website services are significant predictors of sustainable business growth of SMEs in Nigeria as it is positively and significantly related to customer satisfaction, market share growth and profitability growth of SMEs. Email services were also reported to be a significant predictor of sustainable business growth of SMEs in Nigeria. Social media services were equally reported to be a significant predictor of sustainable business growth of SMEs in Nigeria. Since website, email and social media are significant predictors of sustainable business growth, it is therefore concluded that digital entrepreneurship has significant relationship with sustainable business growth of SMEs in Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that entrepreneurs of SMEs in Nigeria especially those that are yet to digitalized their operations should take advantage of digital technology to improve the quality of their services as it would enable them sustain their business growth.