Strategic orientations reconfiguring capability, environmental turbulence and export performance of SMES in Nigeria

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationships between entrepreneurial
orientation (EO), export market orientation (EMO), learning orientation (LO) and export
performance (EP) of SMEs in Nigeria. The study also aims at determining the mediating effect of reconfiguring capability (RC) as well as the moderating effect of environmental turbulence (ET) on those relationships. This study emanated from the fact that only few studies have examined how the integration of strategic orientations and RC in the turbulent environment can drive the SMEs’ export performance, and subsequently give rise to
growth and employment creation. Based on a theoretical consideration a model was proposed and nine hypotheses were formulated. Survey questionnaires were used in the data collection and a total of 201 useable responses were received from the owner/managers of exporting SMEs in Nigeria. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed in the data analysis. The findings suggest that significant relationship was found to exist between EMO and EP, and between LO and EP, while RC mediates both the relationships between EO and LO on EP. In addition, ET was
found to moderate the relationship between EO and EP, and between EMO and EP. The significant of this study can be seen in the incorporation of RC as a mediating tool to explain the relationship between EO, EMO & EO and EP. This suggests that SMEs could benefit from reconfiguring and renewal of their asset base and act in response to opportunities and threat to realize first order transformation in growth and employment creation. Besides, this study provides research conclusion on the appropriateness of LO and EMO when there is environmental turbulence. The study concludes with the discussion on the contributions, limitations as well as the suggestions for future research