Entrepreneurial Psychological Antecedents and Sustainable Entrepreneurial Behavior Among SMEs in Oman: The Roles of Passion and Digital Boundary Conditions

This study examines how entrepreneurial psychological antecedents shape sustainable entrepreneurial behavior among small and medium-sized enterprise owners in Oman. Specifically, it investigates the roles of entrepreneurial alertness, orientation, prior knowledge, and trait competitiveness in explaining entrepreneurial passion and subsequent sustainable entrepreneurial intention and behavior. The study also examines the moderating effects of social media marketing and technological task–strategy fit on these relationships. Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, data were collected from 503 respondents involved in Omani SMEs, including SME owners, entrepreneurs, and senior managers, through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings show that entrepreneurial alertness and orientation significantly influence entrepreneurial passion, while entrepreneurial trait competitiveness does not. Entrepreneurial prior knowledge also shows a significant relationship with passion. Entrepreneurial passion significantly influences sustainable entrepreneurial intention and behavior. However, sustainable entrepreneurial intention does not directly predict sustainable entrepreneurial behavior, indicating an intention–behavior gap among SME owners. Social media marketing negatively moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and sustainable entrepreneurial intention, while technological task–strategy fit does not moderate the intention–behavior relationship. Overall, the findings show that sustainable entrepreneurial behavior depends not only on intention but also on entrepreneurial psychological characteristics, passion, and the conditions surrounding digital and technological use.