Government Policy as a Catalyst: Linking Entrepreneurial Mindset to SME Success

Existing literature underscores the relevance of the entrepreneurial mindset and government policy initiatives on sustainable business growth. Yet, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries like Nigeria fail to achieve the desired level of success, as they are persistently prone to low competitiveness, low patronage, low profitability and premature collapse. So, this research highlighted the crucial influence of government policy on entrepreneurial mindset and SME success. This research draws support from the resource-based view (RBV) and the self-determination theory (SDT) to examine the moderating effect of government policy on the relationship between the multidimensional entrepreneurial mindset and SME success. In establishing causality between the variables, a personally administered questionnaire was used to collect data and responses from 219 SME managers, which was empirically analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Smart PLS version 3.0. According to findings, the effect of elaborating mindset and implemental mindset on SME success was statistically established. Yet, the findings showed that government policy has a direct significant effect on the relationship between elaborating mindset, implemental mindset and SME success. However, it was further established that the effect of automatic mindset on SME success lacks statistical support, even when moderated by government policy. Therefore, the findings bring an important insight into the domain of government policy, entrepreneurial mindset and SME success research.