Empirical evaluation of social capital management in the performance of small enterprises in cross river and Ebonyi States, Nigeria

Abstract

This study empirically evaluates social capital and the performance of small enterprises in Cross River State and Ebonyi, Nigeria. Small enterprises are not proficient to generate and increase utilization of the affluence of social capital to enhance performance. The underpinning theories for this study were based on Barnes (1954) network theory and resource based theory. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 2332. Taro Yamane’s formula (1967) was used to determine a sample size of 341 from the population. Descriptive statistics were used to determine their frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations. Ordered logit regression model was adopted in data analysis and the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 degree of significance using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The study found out amongst others that social capital provides information through access to broader sources of information and provides information quality, relevance, and timeliness. Based on the findings, this study recommends amongst others that small enterprises should build social relationships that can provide greater access to tangible and intangible resources that can help promote their businesses. Based on the discussion of the findings and theoretical foundations, this study concludes that network relationship helps enterprise to harness tangible and intangible resources to foster innovation and enhance performance.